Move over, Legos — the Force is definitely with Disney in 2016.
Powered by the mega-success of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Disney’s brand surged to become the most powerful in the world, a study out Monday found.
The Mouse House finished No. 12 last year, according to the study from London-based Brand Finance.
On the strength of “The Force Awakens” — the fastest film to sell $1 billion worth of tickets around the world — Disney’s brand now has a Strength Index rating of 91.8 percent, edging out the Lego brand rating of 91.6, according to the study.
Last year, Lego held the No. 1 spot with a 93.4 rating.
“The Force Awakens” took in $19.6 million last week to extend its record US box office take to $895.4 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
The value of the “Star Wars” brand alone grew to roughly $10 billion, according to Brand Finance. Disney bought Lucasfilm, which created the popular movies and brand, for $4 billion in 2012 — making it one of the greatest deals in US corporate history.
Star Wars toys have so far generated more than $700 million, Brand Finance said Monday.
Toymaker Lego slipped to the No. 2 spot. German regulators fined the company for trying to prevent retailers from discounting Lego products, as well as Lego’s refusal to sell Ai Weiwei the bricks in bulk, which the Chinese artist called an act of censorship, Brand Finance said.
The Top 10 powerful brands continued with L’Oreal (up from No. 8 last year), PwC (down from No. 2), McKinsey (which was No. 5 last year, too), Nike (up from No. 10), Johnson & Johnson (not ranked in the top 10 last year), Coca-Cola (up from No. 11), NBC and Google (neither of which was in the Top 10 in 2015).
A brand’s power does not necessarily reflect its value. Apple is the world’s most valuable brand, according to Brand Finance, which said it was worth $145.9 billion — 55 percent more than the No. 2 brand, Google.
Meanwhile, Google on Monday morning closed to within $19 billion of Apple’s market capitalization — the closest it’s ever been to the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Google shares have risen 39 percent over the past year while Apple, the most valuable company in the world, worth $532.4 billion, has seen its shares fall 18 percent over the same period.
Apple first gained the top spot in 2011 when it first passed ExxonMobil. The two companies leapfrogged each other many times over the next two years until Apple took the top spot for good in 2013.
Google passed ExxonMobil to become the No. 2 most valuable company in February 2014.