This Indian film series has earned nearly Rs 3000 crore at the box office and has four more films in the pipeline.
Film franchises and series are relatively newer to India as compared to Hollywood. Internationally, films have had sequels and franchises for decades. And while Indian cinema started the concept of sequels as early as the 1940s, it never quite caught on until the 21st century with franchises like Dhoom and Krrish, and eventually Housefull and Golmaal. In the 2020s, it has spread even further to cinematic universes along the lines of Marvel and DC. Now finally, Indian film franchises are catching up to the West in terms of scale and size with the biggest Indian franchise already dwarfing several blockbusters.
The highest grossing Indian film franchise is...
The YRF Spy Universe is the biggest and most successful Indian film franchise when it comes to box office earnings. The series – which so far has five films – has a 100% success rate at the box office and earned Rs 2900 crore cumulatively. This is far beyond what any other film franchise in the country has achieved. While the universe was actually conceptualised by Yash Raj Films’ Aditya Chopra only in 2019, it retroactively began with Ek The Tiger in 2012 and continued with its sequel Tiger Zinda Hai (2017). War (2019) expanded it but it was Pathaan (2023) that truly brought the universe together. All these four films were blockbusters. The fifth film – Tiger 3 – was a hit but not quite at the same level as the previous releases. The universe will now continue with War 2, Tiger vs Pathaan, and a slew of untitled spin-offs.
How YRF Spy Universe beat Baahubali, Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe
After the YRF Spy Universe, the next highest-grossing Indian film franchise is the Baahubali series, which has earned Rs 2420 crore from just two films. It is followed by the Kannada behemoth KGF series (Rs 1450 crore) and filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Lokesh Cinematic Universe (Rs 1160 crore from three films). Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe is the next from Bollywood with total earnings of Rs 1070 crore from four films. No other Indian film franchise has earned over Rs 1000 crore so far.
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 "A still from Pathaan, part of YRF Spy Universe")
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