Star Wars Was The #1 Property In The Toy Industry Last Year

Star Wars: The Force Awakens wasn't just a huge box office hit - it helped the toy industry to more than $700 million in the US alone in 2015. That's good enough for the top brand in toys, beating out Jurassic World, Avengers, and Minions combined according to the NPD Group.

Toy sales in general in the US hit $19.4 billion, up 6.7% over 2014. Star Wars incredible success, it should be noted, was primarily only from September to December, when "Force Friday" released waves of toys, most of which were themed to The Force Awakens.

This is all in spite of a perceived lack of toys featuring Rey, the unquestioned star of the movie. Disney Consumer Products' Paul Southern said, "Rey came in with a huge amount of momentum and ultimately above what we were expecting. We really struggled to keep Rey on retail shelves." Her figures sold faster than any other Force Awakens characters by a factor of three times, DCP said. She's being featured heavily in the second wave of figures from the film.

Disney made and sold toys and other licensed products themselves, as well as distributing the license to partners like Hasbro and Mattel.