Between 1977 and 1978, Star Wars sold $100 million worth of toys. Over the next 35 years, those toys went on to produce $3 billion in revenue. There is also the $3.5 billion in video games, $2 billion in book sales and $1.3 billion in licensing deals. Per https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2019/star-wars-disney-movie-merchandise-revenue/">pyments.com
The sale of toys and merchandise, arguably, are what made George Lucas a very rich man. https://www.forbes.com/sites/aswathdamodaran/2016/01/06/intergalactic-finance-how-much-is-the-star-wars-franchise-worth-to-disney/#50745a8c1e3b">According to Forbes, Star Wars movies have historically generated $1.80 in revenues from toys/merchandise for every dollar in box office revenues. Clearly the crown jewel of the Lucalfilm purchase.
However, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/21/why-arent-star-wars-toys-selling-as-well-this-year/#5957815354e5">again according to Forbes, Star Wars toys peaked in 2016 with sales of $760 million. Sparked by the Force Awakens, sales for original trilogy and prequel toys ballooned. Sales from the new series never really took off. Things quickly changed in 2017.
Disney Star Wars Toy Sales (Estimate)
- 2016 $760M
- 2017 $431M
- 2018 $279M
According to sources, Star Wars toys dropped 47% in 2017 and then 28% in 2018. So toy revenue dropped by more than half well into the new trilogy. (Note: These numbers are estimates, Disney does not release toy sale information separately in its financial statements.)
References: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/21/why-arent-star-wars-toys-selling-as-well-this-year/#5957815354e5)">1 Forbes, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-toy-shipments-down-sharply-force-awakens-1069479">2 Hollywood Reporter, https://www.jeditemplearchives.com/2019-07-01-how-much-money-does-hasbro-still-make-with-star-wars/">3 Jedi Temple Archives
In addition https://www.jeditemplearchives.com/2019-07-01-how-much-money-does-hasbro-still-make-with-star-wars/">Jedi Temple Archives did a detailed analysis of Hasbro toy sales also showing a substantial drop year by year. Not as big as the Disney numbers, but still a large drop off.
Hasbro Star Wars Revenue
- 2016: $333 million
- 2017: $243 million
- 2018: $176 million
Arguably, Disney Star Wars has only produced 1 new character, Rey. The other characters are merely supporting roles, not co stars as in the original movies. In addition, the New Order isn't clearly explained and their origin and level of success in Galaxy conquest are cloudy at best. Thus, there isn't much story from the Disney movies to sell.
Couple this data with the downward trends resulting from the Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, and it is clear that under Kathleen Kennedy's reign, Star Wars has gone from the greatest movie merchandising franchise of all time, to just a shadow of itself.