From Marvel to Harry Potter; 10 Movie Franchises That Built Empires on Merchandise Sales

Sep 10, 2023

By: Sunayna Kanjilal

Merchandising is the gamechanger!

Popular movie franchises are known to maintain relevance and generate revenues beyond the box office from merchandise sales and partnerships. But you will be surprised to know how high the numbers can reach, and for this list, we are looking into movie franchi...

1. Star Wars

Star Wars, holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful film franchise in terms of merchandising. In a typical year, the franchise rakes in close to $5 to $7 billion from merchandise sales alone. They are still selling tons of lightsabers and action...

2. Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel has evolved as a pop culture phenomenon in the past couple of decades, with numerous characters and plotlines for people to stay invested in. It comes as no surprise that the franchise rakes in billions of dollars from merchandising alone. Their merch i...

3. Frozen

Despite claims about the popularity of the franchise decreasing over time, it seems like Disney's Frozen is still making a lot of money from merchandising even today. The franchise that became the highest-grossing animated film of all time still earns rev...

4. Jurassic Park

There was a time when no kid's toy chest was complete without at least one dinosaur in it, and these prehistoric reptiles were propelled to popularity by the Jurassic Park franchise. While the overall box office earnings kept dropping with every installme...

5. Batman

There is hardly anything surprising in this list, and the rise of the dark knight in merchandising is the least surprising of them all. Although the dark world of Batman isn't particularly marketable for kids, there are certain installments like "Bat...

6. Harry Potter

The literary magical world created by J.K Rowling, which had 11-year-olds waiting for a letter from Hogwarts is undoubtedly on this list today. Every Harry Potter fan has invested in a wand or cloak, at least once in their lifetime. According to Forbes, the Ha...

7. Toy Story

Toy Story may be the easiest to market in this list as the characters are practically toys and attract kids like nothing else. The formula to take objects and turn them into sentient beings works magically here as well. The characters are the reason why people...

8. Transformers

Transformers have been a huge part of life for most 90s kids, and The franchise that started as a Hasbro toy line in the 80s has become one of the most celebrated movie franchises of all time. Its live-action films hit the scene in the early 2000s and effectiv...

9. Cars

Many people's favorite Pixar movie, "Cars" is still one of the most marketable franchises. The kids are still crazy about Lightning McQueen, with cars becoming the newest attraction for kids who were already captivated by miniature automobiles. ...

10. Despicable Me

Gru himself is a pretty marketable character, but his little yellow minions are what made this franchise the smashing hit that it is today. It makes total sense why these little plush dolls became a breakout success. As per, Statista, the franchise earned clos...