An Epically Costly Hollywood Mistake
Once it was released in 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope became a runaway box office success. The original movie generated massive demand for toys and merchandise based on characters and vehicles. George Lucas had contracted with Kenner. Like 20th Century Fox, however, the toy manufacturer had not expected the movie to become so popular, or the resultant demand for tie-in merchandise to be so gargantuan. Demand outran supplies, and seven months after the film hit theaters, Kenner had to sell empty boxes, with certificates redeemable for action figures once they became available.
By 2012, the first six Star Wars films had produced about $20 billion in merchandise revenue. By 2023, after the release of three more sequels and other standalone films and TV series, that figure had jumped to $32 billion. In what turned out to an epically costly mistake, 20th Century Fox had given up on that lucre when it agreed to cede it all to Lucas in exchange for $500,000. One major studio’s flub turned out to be another major studio’s gain. Decades after 20th Century’s Fox’s costly mistake, Disney bought both that studio and Lucas’s Star Wars empire. So now both the movie the movie and merchandising rights belong to the same owner.
