Back‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ debut to reach $528 mn worldwide: Iger
The first live-action 'Star Wars' film in a decade will nourish Disney's studio, theme-park and merchandise businesses for years
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Los Angeles: Walt Disney Co. chairman and chief executive officer Bob Iger said “Star Wars: The Force Awakens" may reach $528 million in box office sales worldwide in its record weekend debut, more than the company anticipated.
“It’s bigger than we thought it would be yesterday," Iger, said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle and David Westin.
The first live-action “Star Wars" film in a decade will nourish Disney’s studio, theme-park and merchandise businesses for years. The Burbank, California-based company acquired “Star Wars" owner Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, one of several deals Iger used to build for the future.
Using his most optimistic estimates, Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne figures Disney could earn $1.35 billion from “The Force Awakens." That forecast assumes $2.25 billion in worldwide ticket sales and almost $1 billion more from home entertainment, TV and merchandise royalties. He put the film’s production budget at $200 million, a sum that doesn’t include many millions more for marketing and distribution.
Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh estimated that “The Force Awakens" and four additional “Star Wars" pictures scheduled through 2019 could generate $7.8 billion in total revenue and $4.2 billion in profit for Disney.
It remains to be seen whether the earnings from “Star Wars" and some of the company’s other film properties can counter the loss of subscribers Disney is seeing at cable TV networks such as ESPN and the Disney Channel.
Disney rose 1.7% to $109.50 before the markets opened. Bloomberg
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