A new study reveals Star Wars isn’t really a movie franchise anymore, showing just how much George Lucas’ galaxy has evolved. There’s always been so much more to Star Wars than just movies; the novelization (ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster) was published a year before the first movie released. Still, when most people talk about Star Wars, they only really think of movies. And it turns out that’s a big mistake.

Finance Buzz has run the numbers ahead of this year’s Star Wars Day, focusing only on movies and TV shows. They discovered there are more than 15,000 minutes, or 254 hours, of Star Wars content on Disney+ – and, staggeringly, that for every minute of Star Wars film content, there are nearly seven minutes of TV content. Even more incredibly, Finance Buzz‘s analysis notes that “while the franchise’s headliners are the live-action movies, nearly 70% of all Star Wars content is animated.“

Star Wars Began As A Movie Franchise… But It’s So Much More

We’re so used to the idea Star Wars is a movie franchise. Finance Buzz‘s analysis reveals the extent to which it has changed shape – and, of course, the bulk of that happened from 2008 onwards. That was when Lucas launched Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and there has been a steady stream of new releases since then – both animated and live-action. Finance Buzz note the significance of this forerunner:

“The Clone Wars show shows a few different trends in the expansion of the Star Wars franchise. The show was first released in 2008 but the majority of its episodes were released in the 2010s before the show was revived in the 2020s… The Clone Wars series, which ran for seven seasons and 133 episodes, accounts for 3,000 minutes of content by itself. That’s more than twice as much as the 1,493 minutes that comprise the 11 theatrically released Star Wars movies.”

Yes, that’s right; we spend more time in the Clone Wars than we do in the Skywalker saga itself.

How Will Star Wars Evolve In Future?

It’s fascinating to extrapolate from this, predicting the way the franchise is about to change. It’s been six years since the last Star Wars theatrical release, but two new movies are in the works – The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter. Meanwhile, the rate of new Star Wars TV shows appears to be slowing – but there will still be one new animated and live-action show next year alone. That means the ratio will continue to grow.

As exciting as this may be, though, there’s a serious point underneath it; at what point do new releases simply become “content,” rather than something fresh and original? Some parts of the fanbase have been expressing just that frustration with Disney+ releases, which means it’s clearly time for the franchise to head back to the big screen. For now, though, one thing is clear; George Lucas’ Star Wars galaxy has definitely grown.

Star Wars

Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just тιтled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.