Regardless of all the debate surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the latest entry in the long-running space opera continues the success set by its predecessors and proves that it’s still one of the most valuable franchises in film history.

As we already know, the film made north of $1.3 billion in its global revenue, currently taking its place at the No. 9 spot of all time worldwide box office grosses. Even though it finds itself a lofty $700 million-plus from its predecessor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens — which brought in $2.07 billion worldwide — it finds itself surrounded by fairly good company (Frozen is one slot beneath it and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is one slot above).

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But we all know these movies aren’t cheap. In addition to the hefty cost of the movies themselves, we also have to take into account marketing costs, the theaters’ cuts, and all kinds of other stuff. Deadline crunched the numbers, and after all that, the studio netted a profit of $417.5 million.

Although The Force Awakens took in a whole lot more at the box office, its own profits were at $780.1 million. The Last Jedi may be a step-down, but it’s still a lot of money for anyone to be taking in. Plus, with J.J. Abrams taking the helm in the next one, they seem poised to continue their streak of high-performing films (though we’ll see how Solo: A Star Wars Story fares). Thus far, the first three Star Wars films alone have given Lucasfilm and Disney a collective profit of $1.5 billion — around 40 percent of what Disney purchased Lucasfilm form.

It sounds to us that the decision has paid off pretty well. Let’s hope they can keep it up, and that they’re able to win back hardcore fans with successive entries.

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SOURCE: Deadline