Star Wars money
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I asked Grok the following question:
Could John Williams have lived well on only the income generated by his Star Wars scores?
Here’s the “pre”-answer I got:
Interpreting the question
The query asks whether John Williams could have lived comfortably just from the royalties of his Star Wars film scores.
John Williams scored the main Star Wars saga from Episodes I-IX, along with spin-offs like Rogue One and Solo.
Planning research
Recalling that his fee for the original Star Wars in 1977 was around $250,000, though details need verification.
Reviewing search results
Search results indicate John Williams earned $25,000 to $50,000 for the original Star Wars film, plus shared profits.
Verifying earnings figures
One source estimates his total earnings from the Star Wars franchise at $100 to $200 million, including fees and royalties.
Confirming profit shares
The $100-200 million figure aligns with his overall net worth of $300 million, making it seem reasonable.
Browsed tuko.co.ke
Searched for “Did John Williams get profit points in Star Wars”
Examining soundtrack sales
The original Star Wars soundtrack sold 650,000 copies by mid-July 1977, grossing $9 million.
Estimating total sales
Multiple Star Wars soundtracks have sold millions of copies combined, boosting royalties significantly.
And here’s the answer:
Yes, John Williams could have lived very comfortably—likely in luxury—solely on the income from his Star Wars scores. Over the course of composing for all nine episodic films in the Skywalker saga (from 1977’s A New Hope through 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker), he reportedly earned between $100 million and $200 million in total from the franchise. This figure includes upfront composing fees (which started modestly at an estimated $25,000–$50,000 for the original film but rose to $1–$2 million per movie in later entries) as well as substantial ongoing royalties from soundtrack album sales, performances, licensing, and other revenue streams tied to the music’s enduring popularity.
To put this in perspective:The original 1977 Star Wars soundtrack alone became a massive commercial success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies within months of release and grossing millions in revenue, with Williams benefiting from royalties.
Subsequent soundtracks for the sequels, prequels, and later trilogy films added to this, as the franchise’s global box office (over $10 billion total) and merchandise empire amplified music-related earnings through perpetual licensing and streaming.
Even conservative estimates place his per-film earnings for major blockbusters like these in the multimillion-dollar range when factoring in all income sources.For context, Williams’ overall net worth is around $300 million, built across decades of work on other iconic scores (e.g., Jaws, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter), but the Star Wars portion alone would have been more than sufficient for a high-end lifestyle, including real estate, investments, and philanthropy, without relying on his other projects.
He deserves his fortune.
On the other hand that makes it even more unforgivable, that there are no proper expansions of the prequels and the sequels.
Of course never trust any AI you haven’t trained yourself 😉
On the other hand that makes it even more unforgivable, that there are no proper expansions of the prequels and the sequels.
Indeed, really surprising since Disney melks the franchise otherwise.
Yes, he deserves it. I wonder if this Star Wars income, together with the remainder of his composer related income, makes him the most financially successful composer ever.
One also has to wonder why he didn’t do more “serious” music, in light of his recent statements that he doesn’t think too highly of film music, if he had the financial security to do so.
Concerning the writing of “serious” music it seems like at least in the past 30 to 40 years he just wrote concert music when he was either commitioned to do so or he felt especially inspired to write something for a particular performer.
Yes, he deserves it. I wonder if this Star Wars income, together with the remainder of his composer related income, makes him the most financially successful composer ever.
I think I read a list somewhere recently (can’t remember where), where Andrew Lloyd Webber was listed the richest living composer in the world. And for film composers, Hans Zimmer was ahead of John Williams.
But by all means, it’s all well deserved. He made more money on the first STAR WARS alone than I would ever make in a lifetime (well, not really, if the above figure is correct, but obviously if you combine if with album sales and the like).
One also has to wonder why he didn’t do more “serious” music, in light of his recent statements that he doesn’t think too highly of film music, if he had the financial security to do so.
That statement does sound a bit shocking, at least the way it was originally reported in the media. But unfortunately, it seems the quote (which is from one of the many interviews Tim Greiving did with Williams while working on the biography) is often is taken out of context, and that Williams’ main point was the problems of making film music work properly in a concert setting, as Greving explains here:
And the fact that he’s been writing film music all his life must mean that he can’t dislike it that much. 🙂
That statement does sound a bit shocking, at least the way it was originally reported in the media.
Yes. Poor Tim was assuming he was dealing with a smart public and not with that ignorant indignation mob (including the provoking journalists as well) that it actually is. I lost a lot of illusion on what I would call swarm stupidity over the last ten years (especially during the pandemic). You always have to count that in.
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