For more than 40 years,Star Warshas been an enduring force within the pop culture landscape. FromA New HopetoThe Mandalorian, George Lucas' beloved creation has entertained generations and inspired one of the most sprawling franchises in history. Even though it appears to be a few years until a newStar Warsfilm hits theaters, withRogue Squadronremoved from Disney’s schedule, the franchise is still going strong withAndorset for release on Disney+, followed shortly by bothThe Bad Batchseason 2 andThe Mandalorianseason 3.
It also happens to be, unsurprisingly, one of the most financially successful film series of all time with nine of the 12 films released theatrically being the highest-grossing films of their respective years. That’s exactly why Disney paid $4.05 billion to purchase Lucasfilm in 2012.
Updated June 21, 2025: WithStar Warscontinuing to be a hugely successful franchise, this article has been updated with additional context and the latest box office numbers.
Since its inception, theStar Warsfranchise has grossed more than $10 billion at the globalbox office, not even adjusted for inflation. From some of the biggest movies of all time to some truly unexpected disappointments, the iconic sci-fi property has truly run the gamut. But which ones made the most money? Which ones underperformed? Admittedly, it is difficult to create a precise ranking — not only were several of these films re-released in theaters over the decades, but the USD changes from inflation every year (and even every month). On top of that, the olderStar Warsfilms weren’t initially released on such a massive worldwide scale as is common today, when the Chinese market contributes significantly to the global box office. Nonetheless, we’re here to attempt it, and this is our breakdown of everyStar Warsmovie’s performance at the worldwide box office, adjusted for inflation.
12Star Wars: The Clone Wars- $93 Million
The often forgotten relic of the franchise cinematically, 2008’sStar Wars: The Clone Warswas the first animated movie in the history of the series. The first several episodes of the Cartoon Network series, which went on to have an incredibly successful run years after theGenndy Tartakovsky’s greatClone Wars, were repurposed as a feature-length movie that made its way to theaters. Unfortunately, those first few episodes were rough. The episodes were stitched together as a movie and premiered just three years after the release ofRevenge of the Sith.
The Clone Warsfailed to capture the attention of the fanbase and mainstream audiences and opened at number three at the box office behind newcomerTropic Thunderand reigning box office champThe Dark Knight. The critically-lamentedClone Warsmovie earned just $68.9 million worldwide during its run (roughly $93 million in today’s dollars). However, while it was a bumpy start it did serve as the humble beginning to a show that became a pillar of theStar Warsuniverse that still captures the imagination of viewers today.
11Solo: A Star Wars Story- $462 Million
This is truly the only failure, relatively speaking when it comes tolive-actionStar Warsmovies.Solo: A Star Wars Storywas released in May 2018, just a handful of months after the release ofThe Last Jedi, which may have led to some franchise burnout. That, coupled with a troubled production that saw Ron Howard take over as director more than halfway through the shoot, and a good portion of the movie requiring extensive reshoots, proved to be a recipe for disaster.
Han Solo’s solo outing, which stars Alden Ehrenreich as the character first brought to life by Harrison Ford, earned a mere $393.1 million globally ($462 million adjusted for inflation). That would be a success for certain blockbusters, but byStar Warsstandards, it was a major disappointment. The low return might have not been so bad, had the reshoots not ballooned the budget of the movie to become the most expensiveStar Warsmovie ever made at approximately $300 million. No matter how you slice it, that’s rough;the box office flop ofSolowould fundamentally change Lucasfilm, leading to an increased (almost sole) focus on streaming TV series.
10Attack of the Clones- $1.075 billion
Attack of the Cloneswas so many things. A sequel that had to both improve upon thecritical disappointment ofThe Phantom Menace. It was the middle entry in the saga of Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader. The first major Hollywood production to be shot entirely on digital, as opposed to film. AStar Warsmovie with much less Jar Jar Binks and much more Yoda with a lightsaber. It was a lot. To what degree it succeeded as a cinematic story can be debated for days.
Related:These Are the Top 12 Characters From the Star Wars Movies, RankedIt was, at the end of the day, a middling financial success, relative to the rest of the franchise.Episode IItook in $653 million worldwide, or $1.075 billion when adjusted for inflation. Taking into account the $115 million production budget it certainly made a great deal of money, though not as much as its predecessor. It was also the first time aStar Warsmovie was not the most successful film at the domestic box office, as it was beaten by bothSpider-ManandLord of the Rings: The Two Towers. But the fact that an entry many consider to be a major low-point for the series managed to make so much money demonstrates whyStar Wars, to this day, is so very valuable in the media landscape.
9The Rise of Skywalker- $1.2 Billion
2019’sThe Rise of Skywalkerdid not have an easy path to walk down. This was not only the conclusion to Disney’s sequel trilogy, but it had to follow upThe Last Jedi, which wound up being a shockingly divisive movie. J.J. Abrams, who had previously re-introducedStar Warsto the masses once again withThe Force Awakens, returned to finish what he started, attempting to please everyone and close out the saga satisfyingly. To what degree the movie (Episode IXin the official narrative) was successful will be debated from now until the end ofStar Warsfandom (i.e. the end of time).
But it was another financial success for the Disney era of Lucasfilm, taking in$1.07 billion globally. In the three years since the film’s release, the overall worldwide gross adjusted would be about $1.2 billion. Granted, there was quite the drop-off betweenEpisode VIIIandEpisode IXto the tune of nearly $260 million. Be that as it may, any time a movie grosses $1 billion or more, it is tough to call that a failure.
8Rogue One: A Star Wars Story- $1.3 Billion
When Disney purchased Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion in 2012, it was assumed that the studio would make use of the franchise beyond just making another trilogy. But 2016’sRogue One: A Star Wars Storywas certainly a risk. Not counting the pair of Ewok movies that are not considered canon, no spin-offs had ever been attempted. This was going to tell the story of how the Death Star plans wound up in the hands of the Rebel Alliance, focusing largely on new characters. The presence of Darth Vader certainly helped director Gareth Edwards out, but this presented a test forStar Warsthat it hadn’t faced. It was a painstaking process with reshoots, help from Tony Gilroy, and much speculation ahead of its release.
Related:Star Wars: Episodes 10, 11 and 12 - Should Lucasfilm Make Another Trilogy?In the end,Rogue Onewas a huge success. Riding high off the renewed enthusiasm forStar WarsfollowingThe Force Awakensthe previous holiday season,Rogue Oneopened the week before Christmas and became a high hit over the holiday weekend.Rogue Onetook in $1.05 billion globally, including a stellar $522.9 domestically. Adjusting the box office for inflation would elevate this to about $1.303 billion. Domestically, it was the highest-grossing movie of 2016 (number two worldwide behindCaptain America: Civil War), soRogue Oneproved that the franchise had gas in the tank beyond the Skywalker saga.
7Revenge of the Sith- $1.3 Billion
By the timeRevenge of the Sithhit theaters in 2005, it seemed some things came together for the prequel trilogy. The story of Anakin Skywalker was reaching its conclusion. George Lucas had refined things a bit — less Jar Jar, more of what people want to see (lightsabers, space battles, meaningful drama). At the time, many fans assumed this was the lastStar Warsmovie they were ever going to see. The final product is the closest the prequels came to delivering a truly great movie, and it paid off. People wanted to see how this played out.
Riding a wave of generally positive reviews, at least compared to the preceding two movies,Episode IIIearned a strong $868 million at the box office (roughly $1.3 billion today), including $380 domestically. While it was not the biggest movie at the worldwide box office (it was beaten byHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), it was the highest-grossing film in the summer of 2005 and the highest-grossing film of the year at the domestic box office. Even taking its $115 million production budget into account, this was a home run, andRevenge of the Sithholds up today. It turned outnotto be the final entry in the Skywalker saga though, thanks in large part to Disney.
6Return of the Jedi- $1.4 Billion
This is where things get interesting — time lends perspective, and it’s important to remember that this is all relative.Return of the Jediserved as the conclusion to the originalStar Warstrilogy. Many likely thought this would be the end of the franchise, and for 16 years it was. Richard Marquand directedEpisode VI, which earned $475.1 million worldwide. As stated, international markets weren’t nearly as big in the ’70s and ’80s as they are now.
The breakdown was $309.2 million domestically and $165.9 internationally, which at the time made this one of the highest-grossing movies of all time and made more than the previous film,The Empire Strikes Back. Not to mention, this doesn’t account for inflation, which is roughly $1.4 billion. Plus, the movie was made for a budget of just $32.5 million. That means it earned more than 14 times what it cost to produce.Return of the Jediwas and still is a massively successful movie.
5The Last Jedi- $1.6 Billion
Director Rian Johnsonwas tasked with taking over for J.J. Abrams following the release ofThe Force Awakens, which was hugely successful and kicked off the sequel trilogy in a big way. Johnson’sThe Last Jedi, released in 2017, remains the most divisive entry in the history ofStar Wars. Disney and Lucasfilm seemed blindsided by the sharp divide among fans and critics. A loud, particularly vocal minority ofThe Last Jedihaters online truly poisoned the well and made the situation ugly in the months that followed. Be that as it may, moviegoers turned out in droves to seeEpisode VIII, which promised tobring Luke Skywalker backto the forefront following his momentary appearance at the end ofThe Force Awakens.
The movie earned $1.33 billion at the worldwide box office, including an amazing $620.1 million domestically. The box office is even more impressive when adjusted for inflation, with a worldwide adjusted total of $1.6 billion.The Last Jediwas the highest-grossing movie of 2017 domestically and worldwide. Divisive though it may be,The Last Jediranks as the 16th highest-grossing movie at the worldwide box office.
4The Phantom Menace- $1.7 Billion
There was a time when the world thoughtReturn of the Jediwas it for the franchise. Yes, hardcore fans could turn toStar Warsbookssuch as theHeir to the Empiretrilogy, along with video games, and comics. But for the general public, there were no movies. There were no TV shows. Then, George Lucas decided it was time to show us the journey that Anakin Skywalker took to become Darth Vader. One can argue ad nauseam about the successes and failures ofThe Phantom Menace, butthere is no denying that in 1999, this felt like the biggest pop culture moment in a generation. People flooded theaters just to see the trailer in the era before such things were readily available on YouTube. At the time,CNNestimated that 2.2 million full-time employees missed work just to see the movie on opening day. It simply cannot be overstated just how big of a deal this was.
Regardless of the reception, it performed like gangbusters at the box office.Episode Ihas earned $1.02 billion since its debut, in part thanks to a 3D re-release. While it is becoming somewhat commonplace for movies to pass the $1 billion milestone,The Phantom Menaceearning the kind of money it did when it did was virtually unheard of. Adjusted for inflation,The Phantom Menacegrossed over $1.7 billion worldwide, showing just how great the desire to seeStar Warsreturn was back in 1999.
3A New Hope- $1.814 Billion
This is it. This is where it all began. George Lucas delivered one of the all-time cinematic classics in 1977 withStar Wars, later subtitled to includeEpisode IVandA New Hope. Fox famously had little to no faith in the movie. It’s easy to take for granted now but at the time, this didn’t seem, on paper, like a blockbuster waiting to happen. But Lucas delivered the goods in a way nobody could have possibly predicted. It became, without exaggeration, the biggest movie the world had ever seen. For a while, it was the most successful movie of all time, and even its re-release in 1997 brought in an impressive total. To date, the movie has earned $775 million globally. Adjusted for inflation, that would be over $3 billion; however, it’s not so easy.
Let’s do some math, because there have been some arguments about exactly how muchA New Hopeas made. The originalStar Warsfilm made $307,263,857 in 1977 (just domestically; if it had an international market, it would have been much more). When adjusted for inflation, that’s $1,509,305,091. It then made $15,476,785 in a 1982 re-release, $138,257,865 in the 1997 ‘special edition’ release, and about $578,000 in the past decade for a May the 4th release and a theatrical release specifically in Asian and Middle Eastern markets. The rates of inflation obviously change based on each year of these releases, and when combined, they form $1.84 billion.
That’s already a tremendous amount of money, but when the relatively tiny $11 million budget is factored in, one could still argue this is the single biggest cinematic win in history, not to mention the untold millions it generated in merchandise sales. Much of this went directly to Lucas since he locked up the merchandising rights in what has to be one of the great business moves in the history of Hollywood as well.Star Warswas an event that everybody saw, and it became part of the cultural zeitgeist for generations. While a couple ofStar Warsfilms technically made more money, the fact thatA New Hopebirthed such a lucrative franchise means it’s arguably worth more than any other release. It is just hard to truly grasp not only how bigStar Warswas in 1977, but how it changed everything.
