We're approaching six years since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released in theaters, and Forbes (via SFFGazette.com) has managed to get its hands on financial data that confirms the movie cost an almost record-breaking figure to produce.
While it's previously been reported that the movie cost an already-massive $415 million, this report states that the budget ballooned to a whopping $593 million. That makes the Skywalker Saga finale the third most expensive movie ever made behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World Dominion.
These revised numbers include marketing costs, reshoots, and various other expenses, but helping matters was a $100 million reimbursement for filming The Rise of Skywalker in the UK.
As the site explains, "The filings for the production company behind The Rise of Skywalker state that by March 2019, one month after filming wrapped, the movie was 'in line with the budget.' However, post-production cost less than expected, and by the end of the year, less than two weeks after the movie debuted, it was 'below the production budget.'"
One possible explanation is The Rise of Skywalker's rushed post-production schedule, which we've previously heard was three months shorter than The Force Awakens. That created a multitude of issues for the team working on the movie, but Disney was determined to meet Episode IX's planned December 2019 release date.
Still, when all was said and done, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker did turn a $48.6 million profit at the box office after grossing $1.077 billion worldwide.
Something these figures don't take into account is the problems this movie faced behind the scenes. Before J.J. Abrams returned to direct the movie—which has a "Rotten" 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes—Colin Trevorrow spent a considerable amount of time developing Duel of the Fates. That would have served as a vastly different conclusion to the trilogy.
Creative differences led to his departure from Episode IX, with the result being a fast-paced adventure that played it far too safe. Lucasfilm now intends to make up for those missteps with at least a few movies set in the post-Rise of Skywalker era, including a Rey-led project featuring Daisy Ridley's Star Wars return.
"It’s still upsetting," Ridley previously said of the reaction to The Rise of Skywalker. "You don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of. But [The Last Jedi] was so divisive, it felt like the first one everyone was responsive in the same way. The second, super divisive. The last one, super divisive. It didn’t change how I felt about it."
However, she's since said that filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's "idea for [Rey's] story is cool as shit" and admitted, "If it weren’t amazing, I would have been like, 'OK, call me in five years.' But it’s worthwhile."
Next up for this Galaxy Far, Far Away is The Mandalorian and Grogu from filmmaker Jon Favreau. Then, we have Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter, which will be led by Ryan Gosling.