If there’s anything that almost everybody has seen on earth, it is movies. Movies keep everybody on their screens and social media, discussing their favorite characters and storylines.
In this article, though, we list the highest grossing movie franchises of all time. Did you notice we said franchises and not just one movie? Yes, this will not be your cliche Avatar and End-game list. By franchises, we mean a film series or a collection of films.
Movie franchises represent not just a single movie but the total money a group of films or a film series earns.
We can figure out the highest grossing movie franchises by looking at ticket sales of all the series and how they stack up against the rest, forming a list.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 took a massive hit on theaters during 2020 and 2021, but as the tension dies down and many theaters open again, we might see massive hits roll out soon.
But until then, here are what we have;
10. Transformers
Transformers was produced by Hasbro and Takara Tomy, two Japanese Toy companies, starting in 1984.
It began as toys back then, and the two companies began to see real prospects in this franchise.
The movie follows a bunch of living robots called the Autobots and Decepticons, who can transform into other forms, like vehicles.
However, the franchise encompasses games, comic books, and even toys. In this article, we are talking about movie franchises, so we only look at movie ticket sales.
This franchise became Paramount’s biggest hit to date. The six released movies generated $4.86 billion in ticket sales, earning it the number 10 spot on our list.
9. Batman
Okay, who doesn’t know Batman? No one. This massively successful franchise is currently owned by DC and has made a groundbreaking $5 billion in ticket sales through ten live-action movies and an animated Lego movie.
Throughout the Batman franchise, six actors have played the role: Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, the iconic Ben Affleck, and the all-new Robert Pattinson.
Although these Batman movies are not interconnected, they all make up the Batman franchise, which has been extremely profitable for DC Comics.
8. DC Extended Universe (DCEU)
You should know that DC Comics and DCEU are two different things. DC currently owns the DC Extended Universe, and the DCEU, on the other hand, is a movie franchise centered on superhero characters sharing a single universe.
The hit movie Man of Steel launched the DCEU into existence in 2013. That was when DC moved the franchise into full action.
Over the last six years, nine huge films have been produced since then, gathering a staggering $5.6 billion in ticket sales. Jaw-dropping right? And it’s only the beginning.
More movies are expected to join the lineup in the coming years since audiences frequently return to the theaters.
Some include Suicide Squad, Black Adam, and a follow-up Shazam movie. So, fingers crossed, I guess.
7. Middle Earth
Have you ever heard of Lord of the Rings? Of course, you have. Six huge films comprise the Middle Earth Franchise: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, as well as three other Hobbit series.
These six films generated $5.8 billion in ticket sales and were a sensation for decades. Although, sadly, no other films seem to be in the works, we’ll be on the lookout.
6. The Fast and Furious
You already know that The Fast and Furious Franchise would be one of the highest-grossing movie franchises even before you started reading.
There have been ten fast-and-furious movies out there since 2001, and they have made a watering $5.9 billion at the global box office.
All of the movies in this franchise received mixed reviews. Some thought the casting was good but didn’t like the story, while others thought the overall quality was excellent.
Over the length of all these movies, it has been a massive roller coaster of events, and a lot has happened, one of the major ones being Paul Walker’s death.
He was a significant part of the franchise’s cast. But above all, the movie itself still pulled through, and I guess when you have family, anything is possible.
5. X-Men
The original film was released in 2000 by 20th Century Fox, with 13 more movies to follow, making the franchise earn more than $6 billion in ticket sales.
Despite coming from the same comic book company, there’s no interconnection between it and the Big Daddy MCU.
Because they were made by two different movie studios, they didn’t think to make them part of the MCU.
However, that might be changing with the new teases we’ve been getting from Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailers. We’ll see.
Also, in 2019, Disney bought all of Fox’s entertainment assets and now has the rights to Fantastic Four and X-Men since they also own Marvel. We’ll see what they do with this.
4. Spider-Man
The first movie in the Spider-Man franchise was released in 2002 and became iconic enough to earn its franchise, like the Batman series.
There are eight live-action movies and two animated, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Together, these movies have earned $6.35 billion in global box office sales.
Unlike Batman, which needed six actors, the Spider-Man series was portrayed by just three: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland.
Sony produced the first five movies, so there were no plans for anything MCU. Tom Holland, on the other hand, changed that.
His character was integrated into the MCU with the Avengers lineup and accompanied his elder brothers in his latest Spider-Man movie, No Way Home.
Note that only the Spider-Man solo movies made $6.35 billion, not all the Spider-Man appearances, like the Avengers movies.
3. The Wizarding World
Since the first movie was released in 2001, The Wizarding World has become one of the highest-grossing movie franchises.
Ten films make up the Wizarding World movie franchise, which has since made a jaw-dropping $9.18B at the box office. These movies are based on the iconic J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novel.
Warner Bros. has since explored this Wizarding World universe by making more series like Fantastic Beasts, which helped reach larger audiences around the world and earned it a spot on this list.
2. Star Wars
Of course, Star Wars will be a part of this list. People first heard of Star Wars as far back as 1977! And has since then never gone away from the mouth of the people.
Nine movies were released as part of the Skywalker saga; two were standalone spin-off movies, and one was animated. And in total, earned a total of $10.2 billion, yes, that’s right—$10.2 billion in global ticket sales.
Disney acquired Star Wars in 2012 when it bought LucasFilms from George Lucas and restored It to its current glory.
1. Marvel Cinematic Universe
Big Daddy Marvel has the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time. With 23 movies released in less than 12 years, the MCU is one of the franchises with the most movies in history.
The MCU began making history in 2008 and has been rising since then. It has earned $22 billion in global ticket sales, with Avengers: End Game becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time.
The MCU is only getting started, though, as this isn’t even close to the end of the MCU movies. We still have three more for this year and so much more.
