How much did the original 1977 Star Wars cost to make?

Question

Cifra · Accepted Answer

$11,000,000. Star Wars was made for about $11 million and grossed over $775 million. Fox thought so little of it that it let George Lucas keep the sequel and merchandising rights instead of a bigger fee — a decision that eventually cost the studio billions. Adjust for the era. A major studio film in the mid-1970s cost single-digit millions, and an effects-heavy science fiction production would be at the upper end of that — around ten million. Comparing to a modern blockbuster at thirty times the price is comparing two different industries. The return is the extraordinary part: a gross of over seven hundred and seventy-five million against eleven million spent. That ratio is far beyond anything a modern blockbuster achieves, because modern budgets have grown much faster than modern audiences have. The rights decision in the explanation is the most consequential business mistake in film history: the studio let the director keep sequel and merchandising rights rather than pay a larger fee. Nobody knew merchandising was worth anything in 1977, and the value of a franchise was invented by the thing they gave away.

Source	Lucasfilm production records reported by the American Film Institute
Figure refers to	1977
Last checked	September 1, 2026
Unit	dollars

How much did the original 1977 Star Wars cost to make?

The answer

How to get close to this number

Where this number comes from

Think you can do better?

Related questions