In no particular order, here are the seven best movie franchises, measured by both monetary gains and longevity. The days of fresh IPs, new ideas, and risk-taking cinema in the world of Hollywood and beyond are long gone. These days it’s all about releasing franchise-related movies, knowing that the weight of previous entries is free marketing, and fans will always want to check out the latest entry to see where their favorite characters are going.
Impossible mission
Based on the 1966 Impossible Missions Force television series, the Mission Impossible franchise semi-reinvented itself for the big screen with the initial entry in the 1996 Tom Cruise movie. Impossible mission. Spawning multiple sequels, with an ever-expanding main cast, the franchise shows no signs of slowing down, arguably each entry being bigger and better than the last; hence the gross amount of over $4 billion so far.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The most obvious entry in the list of the seven best movie franchises, the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2008 with Iron Man and some fourteen years later has been publicly planned to 2025 Avengers: Secret Wars. By increasing production on a large scale, there are several movie and TV entries per year, and it is now a global phenomenon, even the most anti-comic viewer has seen at least one entry.
Harry Potter
The book series of the same name took the 90s by storm, giving many children a completely new, fleshed out, and interesting world to get lost in. It was even more prevalent when in 2001 the first of eight films released as Harry Marque Potier. Now we’ve moved on from Harry Potter, and we’re on a spin-off but related franchise from fantastic beasts, which itself is three movies deep, with at least two more to come.
james bond
Another franchise starting with a series of books, this time by Ian Fleming in the 50s, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who hadn’t seen a single movie centered around the titular spy. Several actors over the years have played the role, the last being Daniel Craig, and after his fifth and final film no time to diewe now await news of who will be the next James Bond.
Related: ‘There’s No Need For It’: Ana de Armas Doesn’t Want James Bond to Be Female, Thinks Bond Girls Deserve More Recognition
star wars
Another obvious entry in the list of the seven best movie franchises, and the first to be primarily based on an original idea. Conceived in the mind of George Lucas in the 70s, we are now nine films, several TV shows and dozens of books related to the phenomenon of science fiction.
Batman
Where to start with the most bankable DC superhero? Multiple actors in the cowl, countless villains over the years, and billions of dollars later, we’re all still waiting for the opening night of the next Batman movie. Oh, and we can’t forget the fact that we actually have a Batsuit with nipples.
The Lord of the Rings
The latest entry in the top seven movie franchises, and another obvious one. Based on JRR Tolkien’s books from decades ago, we got the amazing trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, which broke records at the time for Oscars and box office numbers, and the Hobbit series, which was less critically successful. Next up is Amazon’s premium show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Related: ‘They Never Sent The Scripts’: Peter Jackson Reveals Amazon Studios Didn’t Want Him For Upcoming Lord Of The Rings Series
Which franchise would you add to the top seven movie franchises?
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