10 Hugely Successful Movies You Didn't Realise LOST Money
3. Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
The Star Wars series is one of the most successful film franchises of all time, having produced multiple features that have grossed over $1 billion, and one that made over $2 billion. This isn't even including large amounts from both merchandising and home media sales.
Star Wars isn't just one of the highest grossing film franchises, its also one of the highest grossing media properties in history.
Despite the massive success of the franchise, Return of the Jedi, the concluding chapter of the original trilogy, never turned a profit.
This came to light in 2009 when Darth Vader actor David Prowse said that he had not been given any percentage of the profits.
The actor mentioned that he would receive letters from Lucasfilm outlining that Return of the Jedi never made a profit, despite grossing $475 million on a modest $32 million budget.
Many factors are, of course, at play here.
A Star Wars film requires a large marketing budget, along with actors and producers taking a cut of the profits. It seems that Prowse got a bad deal in that respect. Had he negotiated a better deal, he could have been given millions.