World's highest grossing film franchise earned Rs 250000 crore, 50 times more than Baahubali, YRF Spy Universe combined

Film franchises and series have become a norm in India very recently and gained popularity in the last decade or so. Before Dhoom, YRF Spy Universe, Baahubali, or Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe, Indian cinema hardly had film series. In the West though, film series have been a rage for over half a century. In the 21^st century, every major studio has had multiple franchises and cinematic universes. The biggest of them all is so huge in terms of scale and box office earnings that the richest people and companies in the world pale in comparison.

World’s highest grossing film franchise is...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, comprising of over 33 films and series, is the highest-grossing film franchise in the world. The MCU has been going since 2018 and comprises of five phases so far, with many individual series and trilogies that are interconnected. The franchise has over 30 box office hits and has amassed a worldwide gross of $29.82 billion (around Rs 25,000 crore), the lion’s share of which has come from the four Avengers films ($7.76 billion or Rs 6400 crore).

Just how big is the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Indian film franchises pale in comparison to the MCU. None of the Indian series come anywhere close to even the smaller sub series of the MCU (like Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, or Thor). In fact, the two highest-grossing film series of India – YRF Spy Universe and Baahubali series – have a combined worldwide gross of just Rs 5000 crore. The MCU has already grossed 50 times that amount.

MCU’s future

But while the Marvelverse went strong for the first decade of its existence, its returns post-pandemic have not exactly been encouraging. The franchise saw two box office bombs recently, of which The Marvels reportedly lost considerable amount of money. The legal troubles of Jonathan Majors – who was playing the overarching villain Kang – meant he was replaced and the future arcs are now being rewritten. This has meant that what was once a fledgling franchise now sees an uncertain future. Only time will tell if MCU will go beyond the already-announced slate of films expected to finish by 2027.