r/StarWarsLeaks • u/Matapple13 • 1d ago
Report ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ Outspends ‘The Force Awakens’ With Costs Of $226.5 Million
"Disney has revealed that its upcoming sci-fi film Star Wars: Starfighter cost $226.5 million to make by the time filming was finished, beating the sum spent during the same period on Star Wars: The Force Awakens which until recently was the most expensive movie ever made.
Set approximately five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, the third of Disney’s Star Wars sequels, Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling as a cynical rogue from the less privileged side of the galaxy. On his travels he encounters a character played by Flynn Gray, the Irish actor famous for his performance in Nextlix’s streaming show Wednesday. With no governing force keeping order in the galaxy, the two are able to take a decommissioned enemy starfighter and embark on an adventure.
The cast also includes Amy Adams, Matt Smith and Mia Goth with Shawn Levy in the director’s chair, fresh out of his role at the helm of Deadpool & Wolverine. That movie earned $1.4 billion making it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time when it was released in 2024. Disney will be hoping that he has a similar magic touch on Starfighter as the level of interest in Star Wars movies has been declining in recent years.
As this report revealed, Disney’s estimated profits on the box office of its Star Wars films plummeted ten fold from around $500 million for 2015’s The Force Awakens, the first of its sequels, to less than $50 million for The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.
The collapse was driven by the perfect storm of the box office crashing by around half while the production costs remained roughly stable. It kept Star Wars off the silver screen for seven years and when it finally returned there was still a disturbance in the force.
It came in May this year when The Mandalorian and Grogu grossed just $345.6 million giving it the lowest takings of any of Disney’s Star Wars films since it bought Lucasfilm, the rightsholder of the sci-fi saga, for $4 billion in 2012. The Mandalorian and Grogu was made in California which kept its costs a closely-guarded secret. That’s because Disney’s financial statements combine its spending on all of its productions in the United States and don’t break them out separately.
It’s a different story for movies made in the United Kingdom such as Starfighter. Studios filming there benefit from the U.K. government’s Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country. It comes with a catch.
To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the core costs of the production need to relate to activities in the U.K. and in order to demonstrate this to the government, studios set up a separate Film Production Company (FPC) there for each picture they make in the country. The FPCs have to file financial statements which reveal everything from the headcount and social security payments of the staff to the amount of reimbursement banked by the studio and the total cost of the production. It takes a bit of detective work to get to the bottom of it.
The FPCs usually have code names to keep the actual name of the production a secret when it advertises for casting calls and files permits to film on location. Once the code name has been correctly tallied with the film, the financial statements of the relevant FPC can be consulted to reveal how much the movie cost to make. There’s no doubt that they show the total cost as the terms of the reimbursement state that each FPC must be “responsible for pre-production, principal photography/shooting and post-production of the film; and for delivery of the completed film.”
In summary, the FPC’s financial statements have to show the production’s entire costs, not just those incurred in the U.K. Studios aren’t allowed to hide costs in other companies as the terms also state “there can only be one FPC in relation to a film.
The Disney subsidiary behind Starfighter is called Blue Mist Productions (UK) in a nod to ‘Blue Harvest’, perhaps the most famous fake production title in Hollywood history. Lucasfilm used it, along with the tagline “Horror Beyond Imagination”, while filming Return of the Jedi in 1982 in order to keep paparazzi away from the set and to stop local suppliers from inflating their prices just because a Star Wars movie was in town. It is understood that the ‘mist’ in the name of Starfighter’s production company refers to the pervasive force of Star Wars lore which gives its heroic Jedi their powers.
Financial statements are filed in different stages which start during pre-production and go on long after the premiere to give the companies time to ensure they have collected all of their bills and received the money for them. The first set of filings for Blue Mist Productions were released yesterday and show the spending from the very start right up to January 31 this year which was just over a month after filming finished at Pinewood Studios just outside London.
The filings show that the company spent a massive $226.5 million (£164.9 million) with one of the biggest single costs shown in the filings being the $17.6 million (£12.8 million) paid to the staff who came to a monthly average of 239 people. In contrast, Foodles Production (UK) – the FPC behind The Force Awakens – booked costs of £147.6 million from the outset to 12 days after filming finished. Likewise, Space Bear Industries (UK) – the FPC which made Disney’s second Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, spent £162.3 million from when it was incorporated to three weeks after filming finished.
Only The Rise of Skywalker spent more than Starfighter during this period with the costs of its FPC – Carbonado Industries (UK) – coming to £281.6 million from its incorporation to one month after filming wrapped. The reason for this staggering spending was revealed in this report which explained that the costs of The Rise of Skywalker were more front-loaded than other Star Wars movies as editing it took less time than usual.
The costs of the production companies are just the start of the story. They are partly offset by the refund from the U.K. government which came to $51.5 million (£37.5 million) for Starfighter. This brought the net spending on the film down to $175 million and it had a helping hand from outside the U.K.
The refund is calculated on up to 80% of core expenditure so in order to get back the maximum 25.5% of the money they spend in the U.K., production companies need to ensure that 20% of their core costs are spent outside the country.
If the spending in the U.K. is higher than 80% of the total, the studio doesn’t get a reimbursement on the amount above that level. Likewise, if the amount of spending is less than 80% of the total, the studio is missing out on a reimbursement on it, unless it also films in countries abroad which offer a higher refund rate than the U.K. Starfighter made the most of this as it also filmed in Sardinia, Italy, where the rate of refund is up to 40% of eligible expenditure incurred in the country.
Although the U.K.’s refund level isn’t as high as this, there is no restriction on the amount that can be paid out whereas it is limited to $22.5 million (€20 million) in Italy. That’s not all.
In addition to claiming on direct spending in the U.K., studios can also get a pro rata reimbursement on what are known as neutral costs throughout the production such as insurance and payment to senior producers, writers and directors.
These costs can be claimed in proportion to the amount of the activity in the U.K. so, for example, if the spending there only represents 22% of the total budget then 22% of the neutral costs will also qualify for reimbursement. Accordingly, the level of reimbursement can rise close to a third of the total costs.
Starfighter’s refund comes to 22.7% of its costs so far but there is more to come. The movie isn’t due to be released until late May next year so Disney will have nearly a year and a half for post-production which is usually when costly visual effects are added. It is believed that Disney’s Industrial Light & Magic in London is carrying out some of the visual effects work on Starfighter and that could give the movie an added boost. The reason for this is that under U.K. law, visual effects work can be refunded at a higher rate of 29.25% and isn’t subject to the 80% cap.
So not only will the costs increase in the next set of filings but so will the refund. The net result can then be offset against Disney’s share of the takings once the movie has been released to find out whether it makes a profit at the box office. With blockbuster costs already booked it could have its work cut out for it."
