How Star Wars Made $27 Billion

Given the lasting relevance of Star Wars over the past four decades, it shouldn’t shock anyone that the franchise has made a metric shit ton of money. But exactly how it made its money might surprise more than a few of you.

As our infographic breaks down, nearly half of the $27 billion in revenue that Star Wars has earned over the years has come from the sales of toys. Neither earnings from the six blockbuster films, nor the income from the many successful video games comes anywhere close to the $12 billion in collectible figures and lightsaber replicas snapped up by the most rabid of fans.

So the next time someone wonders why the design of a lightsaber matters so much, you can just point him to this. -Adrian Covert