World's highest-grossing film series made $31 billion, more than Star Wars, Harry Potter, and James Bond combined
The most successful film franchise of all time has seen 35 films, almost averaging a billion dollars per film at the box office.
Film franchises may be all the rage right now in Hollywood, but they are time-tested tradition. Sequels and spinoffs to popular films have been made for over nine decades in cinema. Many of these have developed into franchises that have made billions, not just millions, at the box office. The highest-grossing of them all is so successful that it has made more money than all Star Wars, Harry Potter, and James Bond put together. (Also read: India's highest-grossing film franchise made ₹2900 crore at box office; it's not Baahubali, Pushpa, Cop Universe, KGF)
World's highest-grossing film series
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, comprising of several individual film series and spinoffs, is by far, the largest and highest-grossing film franchise in the history of cinema. The 35 films that MCU has released since 2008 have earned over $31 billion at the worldwide box office, way clear of the second place - Star Wars at just over $10 billion. The three different Spider-Man series - if taken together - just pip Star Wars with a total gross of $11 billion. Yet, MCU reigns supreme.
In fact, the MCU's box office domination can be gauged by the fact that it has earned four times as much as its chief rival - the DC Extended Universe ($7.7 billion). The $31 billion gross is even more than the combined earnings of the next three biggest franchises. Star Wars ($10.3 billion), Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts ($9.6 billion), and James Bond ($7.8 billion) together have earned under $28 billion.
How the MCU reigned supreme
To be fair to the other franchises, the MCU has the advantage of being a universe, which encompasses several films and even series. For instance, it has within itself a standalone Avengers series (4 films earning $7.7 billion), as well as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man series. All these - and other films - come together to give the Marvel Cinematic Universe the heft of 35 films. Apart from James Bond, no other franchise has over a dozen. And with Bond, a majority of the films released in the 60s and 70s, when box office revenue was much lower. And yet, MCU also has a high success rate. It has seen only two failures at the box office, both very recently. That gives the franchise an average of just under $900 million per film, behind only Avatar, Jurassic Park and Despicable Me, all of which have way fewer films.
The future of MCU
As things stand currently, the MCU is galloping towards the $40-billion mark. The next film - Captain America: Brave New World - is set to release this weekend, and there are over half a dozen others in the pipeline, including the two tentpole Avengers films in 2026-27.