Original proposal

edit

Single-property franchises

edit

Criteria: Top twenty-five franchises licensed from a single IP. In the case of spin-offs such as Minions and the Fantastic Beasts series they still count as one franchise because they are derived from the original IP.

  † Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 29 November 2024 in theaters around the world.
Highest-grossing single-property franchises[§] (The films in each franchise can be viewed by selecting "show".)
Rank Series Total worldwide box office No. of films Average of films Highest-grossing film

Cross-franchise properties

edit

Criteria: All theatrically released media that has utilised the property across more than one franchise. The chart is limited to properties that have been licensed from pre-existing franchises and have grossed over $1 billion (up to a top 25). Therefore Catwoman is included as a property here by virtue of the 2004 film, but Black Widow is not by virtue of never being licensed to create a Black Widow franchise. Once the Wonder-Woman film is released, the property will be added to the chart and will include the new film along with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Highest-grossing cross-franchise properties[§] (The films in each franchise can be viewed by selecting "show".)
Rank Series Total worldwide box office No. of films Average of films Highest-grossing film

Continuities

edit

Criteria: This is defined as a sequence of films that exists within a continuity. For this purpose the continuity is taken at the highest level i.e. the Iron Man, Avengers, Captain America films and so forth exist within the MCU, so separate entries are not included for them in this table. In the case of James Bond the series was rebooted in 2006, and both the original and reooted continuity qualify for two separate entries here. On the other hand Star Trek had a soft reboot in 2009, facilitated by Spock travelling to a parallel universe, but since the new films are still part of the same continuity they are retained as a single entry.

  † Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 29 November 2024 in theaters around the world.
Highest-grossing continuities[§] (The films in each franchise can be viewed by selecting "show".)
Rank Series Total worldwide box office No. of films Average of films Highest-grossing film

Ruffice proposal

edit

Properties

edit

Criteria: All films featuring a particular property. This combines the two top tables form the first proposal and includes crossovers as well as franchises licensed from a single property. While the Avengers films are assigned to multiple properties (by virtue of being crossovers), in the case of spin-offs such as Minions and the Fantastic Beasts series they still count as one franchise because they are derived from the original IP. The chart is limited to properties that have had at least one solo outing to prevent the proliferation of minor characters being treated as "properties". Unde rthis criteria Catwoman is included as a property here by virtue of the 2004 film, but Black Widow is not. Once the Wonder-Woman film is released, the property will be added to the chart and will include the new film along with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

For convenient comparison the list currently includes all 25 single-franchise properties from the first proposal and the ten multi-franchise properties that place among them. If this proposal is adopted then a more stringent inclusion criteria will need to be set.

  † Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 29 November 2024 in theaters around the world.
Highest-grossing properties[§] (The films in each franchise can be viewed by selecting "show".)
Rank Series Total worldwide box office No. of films Average of films Highest-grossing film

Continuities

edit

Criteria: This is defined as a sequence of films that exists within a continuity. For this purpose the continuity is taken at the highest level i.e. the Iron Man, Avengers, Captain America films and so forth exist within the MCU, so separate entries are not included for them in this table. In the case of James Bond the series was rebooted in 2006, and both the original and reooted continuity qualify for two separate entries here. On the other hand Star Trek had a soft reboot in 2009, facilitated by Spock travelling to a parallel universe, but since the new films are still part of the same continuity they are retained as a single entry.

  † Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 29 November 2024 in theaters around the world.
Highest-grossing continuities[§] (The films in each franchise can be viewed by selecting "show".)
Rank Series Total worldwide box office No. of films Average of films Highest-grossing film