Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker budget nears eye-watering sum

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It was already known that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was a very costly film, but recent reports indicate the actual budget was even greater than originally estimated.

The Rise of Skywalker was the ninth Star Wars film and concluded the main story arc that began with the very first movie in 1977.

There was a lot of excitement for the movie when it came out in 2019, but ultimately, both critics and audiences were let down. It received a low score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite earning over $1 billion worldwide, *The Rise of Skywalker*’s financial success is diminishing because its production budget has ballooned to a huge sum.

Cost of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker approaches $600 million

According to Forbes, the production budget for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reached $593.7 million. This makes it one of the most expensive films ever made, falling just behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World: Dominion, which is believed to be the priciest film of all time.

Even though the film was primarily filmed in the UK, Disney continues to release related merchandise six years after its release.

The studio needs to share its financial records to qualify for UK tax benefits. This process starts before filming begins, during pre-production, and continues even after the movie is released.

Surprisingly, the sequel also cost less to make than expected. Forbes reported that, as of March 2019 – just after filming finished – the production company indicated the movie was on track with its planned budget.

Fortunately, post-production turned out to be cheaper than anticipated, and within two weeks of its release, the movie had already earned back its entire production cost.

This was probably because the editing process was rushed to ensure the film could be released in December, matching the release timelines of previous movies in the series like *The Force Awakens* and *The Last Jedi*.

The next Star Wars movie, featuring The Mandalorian and Grogu, will be released on May 22, 2026. While you wait, you can explore the complete Star Wars timeline, discover the most popular characters, and find out everything we currently know about the 2027 film, Starfighter.

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2025-10-15 17:50