The premiere of the latest film in Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise, “The Rise of Skywalker”, brings an end to the main sequence of films from a series stretching back to 1977 and following the launch of “The Force Awakens” in 2015. Spin-offs from the franchise will likely continue on the recently launched Disney+ channel, sustaining the potential for merchandise sales for years to come.

Panjiva’s data shows that U.S. seaborne imports of Star Wars merchandise surged 52.6% higher year over year in the peak shipping season of Jul. 1 to Nov. 30. Yet, the gain is down to comparing to an off-year for new films – “Solo” was released in May 2018. Imports in 2019 were still 16.2% below the release of the previous main sequence film “The Last Jedi” in 2017 and 66.2% below “The Force Awakens” in 2015. 

There was an increase in shipments in Nov. 2018 versus Nov. 2017 which may have been tied to concerns about the imposition of U.S. tariffs on imports from China. Exports from China represented 77.3% of total shipments to the U.S. The phase 1 trade deal between the U.S. and China, discussed in Panjiva’s research of Dec. 15 has delayed tariffs on toys indefinitely.

Chart segments U.S. seaborne imports linked to “Star Wars” by year, key shows films released each year.  Source: Panjiva 

Imports of toys specifically climbed by 46.1% in the five months to Nov. 30 versus a year earlier, while imports of games jumped 65.5%. The latter has also 49.5% better than 2017, potentially reflecting extra shipments led by Hasbro of games such as a Chewbacca themed Bop-It. Sadly, in terms of the spin-off TV series on Disney+ such as “The Mandalorian”, there are no signs of shipments of Baby Yoda products so far.

Chart segments U.S. seaborne imports linked to “Star Wars” by product (HS-4) in the period from Jul. 1 to Nov. 30 each year.  Source: Panjiva