In case you haven’t heard, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi has now joined the billion dollar club. While that’s hugely exciting news in and of itself, what’s even more impressive is that when you throw its current box office gross into the pile along with what the rest of the franchise has brought in, Lucasfilm’s crown jewel has now surpassed Harry Potter. Though only by a bit.
Cumulatively, that galaxy far, far away has earned $8.55 billion worldwide, which only just beats out the Boy Who Lived, as the current total to date for the Potter films stands at $8.53 billion. But, as staggering as the number attached to Star Wars may be, it’s still not the highest grossing franchise of all-time. Can you guess what is?
Yes, it’s none other than Disney’s other prized possession – the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige and co. have rustled up $13.5 billion worldwide to date. Though given that they’ve also got seventeen films under their belt, it’s not really a fair comparison. Potter and Star Wars are easier to stack up against one another and it’ll be interesting to see how things continue to progress between them.
After all, The Last Jedi still has some ways to go before its theatrical run comes to a close and then there’s also Solo: A Star Wars Story to consider, which arrives in May. For the Wizarding World, meanwhile, we’ll be getting Fantastic Beasts 2 in November, which is sure to be a big release. Not to mention that there’s also been rumors of WB mulling over another Harry Potter film, but that’s far from confirmed.
Right now, all we can do is sit back and watch these two franchises continue to dominate theaters and rest easy in knowing that neither of them are going anywhere. After all, we’ve been told that the Fantastic Beasts series will span 5 outings, while once J.J. Abrams delivers Episode IX to us, Rian Johnson will be spinning up a whole new Star Wars trilogy.
No matter which of these properties ultimately winds up on top of the box office, I think we can all agree that it’s a good time to be a movie buff.
