The World's Top Media Franchises by All-Time Revenue

What We’re Showing

The all-time revenue and revenue sources of the highest-grossing media franchises in the world. 

Revenues figures are estimates by Fandom’s Ultimate Pop Culture Wiki which uses the latest publicly available data.

Japan’s Media Franchises Reign

With more than half of the media franchises in this graphic originating from Japan, the Asian country dominates when it comes to modern media franchises.

Even media franchises which have had less international exposure, like Anpanman and Jump Comics, have netted tens of billions in lifetime revenue mostly from their domestic popularity.

Disney’s Major Media Acquisitions

Over the past two decades, Disney has built up a significant catalog of major media franchises through two key multi-billion dollar acquisitions.

Disney's acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment for $4.4 billion in 2009 and Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 added massive media franchises to their portfolio like Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Spider-Man.

While Sony bought the movie rights to Spider-Man for just $7 million from Marvel in 1999, Disney owns the rights to Spider-Man in all other forms, including merchandising, television, and comics.