Star Wars Price Tag: $4.06B. Star Wars Ticket Sales: $4.06B

Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational film franchise. Disney bought Lucasfilm for a staggering $4.06 billion in 2012. Now the Hollywood Reporter notes that after just three films, Disney has already recouped that massive sum. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have together surpassed $4.06 billion in global ticket sales as the most recent entry, The Last Jedi, exceeded $934 million on Thursday. There are, of course, a few asterisks to add: Disney spent millions making the films and raked in other millions merchandising the films, etc. Regardless, the quick payoff of its purchase of Lucasfilm is one of the reasons Disney is the most successful film studio in America. The other reasons: Marvel and Pixar. (More Disney stories.)