The Marvel Cinematic Universe Is the Most Successful Franchise in US History

[Mr. Dent]

http://www.slashfilm.com/marvel-cinematic-universe-box-office/

And it's well on its way to being the most successful franchise in history period. It will overtake Harry Potter as the number 1 highest grossing franchise in history next year after AOU is released. What's most impressive is that they've only scratched the tip of the iceberg with this franchise. It's only been 6 years since it first started.

I honestly think if Marvel Studios had Spider-Man and X-Men both those franchises would be billion dollar pushers.

 

[Levsky]

And yet MCU needed nine movies to achieve this score. 'Harry Potter' saga earned so much money with only eight films. Anyhow, Marvel has nothing to be ashamed of (especially when it comes to their financial results).

 

[Harry Dresden]

I wish U was Kevin Feige.

Dude is probably taking baths in money.

 

[SuperT]

Doesn't seem like this is a fair comparison..? Marvel has made it a strategy to release two films a year, most of those other franchises took their time and went years without releasing movies or sequels.

If the Harry Potter, James Bond or Star Wars franchises made it a habit of releasing two movies a year, I'd bet all three would dwarf the MCU.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Doesn't seem like this is a fair comparison..? Marvel has made it a strategy to release two films a year, most of those other franchises took their time and went years without releasing movies or sequels.

If the Harry Potter, James Bond or Star Wars franchises made it a habit of releasing two movies a year, I'd bet all three would dwarf the MCU.

If Harry Potter, James Bond, or Star Wars released two movies every year the franchises would burn out in a few years.

Marvel Universe offers alot more variety which allows the franchise to release far more movies without being redundant.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

And yet MCU needed nine movies to achieve this score. 'Harry Potter' saga earned so much money with only eight films. Anyhow, Marvel has nothing to be ashamed of (especially when it comes to their financial results).

Lets see Harry Potter come close to Marvel with one main movies and 8 spin offs.

 

[SuperT]

I'm just pointing out that it's an odd comparison all around since those movie series are all wildly different and execute completely different strategies and goals. The comparison would be more inline if ALL of those series were setting out to create one big movie universe with lots of smaller movies around it.

I have no doubt that the Harry Potter movie universe/franchise could certainly be as large, if not larger, than the MCU if they really wanted to, but that's not their strategy.

 

[kguillou]

Marvel has absolutely earned this. I can't believe how far they've come. They've managed to usurp Spider-Man and the X-Men as the most popular Marvel franchises which is an amazing feat. Let's hope they can keep their franchises varied enough so that people don't get burnt out by them. Who knows, maybe one day Marvel Studios will be bold enough to create a film about an original character and make it a success.

 

[T"Challa]

When you look at where they came from in 2008 to where they are now, you can't do anything but tip your cap.

 

[Drizzle]

Nothing surprising here. Guardians of the Galaxy will only add more to the pile (even though it won't be a juggernaut like Iron Man), and once Age of Ultron comes out, it's a wrap.

 

[metaphysician]

I have no doubt that the Harry Potter movie universe/franchise could certainly be as large, if not larger, than the MCU if they really wanted to, but that's not their strategy.

Not really. The only way they could have made more money would be releasing more movies. Given they were working from a finite set of books, this would mean copious filler, which wouldn't do the franchise anything good in reputation. It also would probably, ahem, fatigue the audience, seeing as they wouldn't be able to have the style and theme jumps that the MCU does.

 

[Levsky]

Well, we will see after WB releases this new spin-off trilogy about Newt Scamander.

 

[Destructus86]

Marvel has absolutely earned this. I can't believe how far they've come. They've managed to usurp Spider-Man and the X-Men as the most popular Marvel franchises which is an amazing feat. Let's hope they can keep their franchises varied enough so that people don't get burnt out by them. Who knows, maybe one day Marvel Studios will be bold enough to create a film about an original character and make it a success.

I agree. They've earned it. This is the first time in history (as far as I know) where a connected film universe spanning multiple movies has ever been done using multiple characters and sequels.

 

[Lord]

Didn't Godzilla and his Kaiju friends do that before too?

 

[Destructus86]

Didn't Godzilla and his Kaiju friends do that before too?

Wasn't it always Gozilla vs something though? Or were there offshoot films that were strongly connected to the other Godzilla films?

 

[spideymouse]

Well, we will see after WB releases this new spin-off trilogy about Newt Scamander.

If there's a movie franchise that can eventually compete with the MCU, to me it would be Star Wars. Now, forget the prequels. If Abrams & Co. can kick off an ongoing universe with spin-off solo franchises alongside an epic main Saga at a one-movie-per-year rate, there's a chance they could catch up. Let's not forget the incredible cultural impact this IP has had on generations of movie fans. It will at least take 2nd place and stay there.

All that said, as long as Kevin Feige's around, MCU probably has too big of a lead along with their two-movies-per-year release rate.

 

[Lord]

If there's a movie franchise that can eventually compete with the MCU, to me it would be Star Wars. Now, forget the prequels. If Abrams & Co. can kick off an ongoing universe with spin-off solo franchises alongside an epic main Saga at a one-movie-per-year rate, there's a chance they could catch up. Let's not forget the incredible cultural impact this IP has had on generations of movie fans. It will at least take 2nd place and stay there.

All that said, as long as Kevin Feige's around, MCU probably has too big of a lead along with their two-movies-per-year release rate.

I really dislike the idea of turning SW into the MCU, it should be like James Bond and Harry Potter when it was coming out, each new film is an event, plain and simple. Though i don't mind spin-offs being released between trilogies, like in the gap between Episode IX and X, but i think that turning it into an yearly thing is a mistake.

Wasn't it always Gozilla vs something though? Or were there offshoot films that were strongly connected to the other Godzilla films?

There were some crossovers with monsters and characters that had gotten their oun films before appearing in the Godzilla ones. Mothra is one of them, if i'm not mistaken.

I actually hope we don't get too many studios trying to make crossover universes full of spin-offs like it seems to be happening with Spider-Man and X-Men, this is just flooding the market, and may end up getting the audience to lose interest. Hell, it will definitelly cause a lot of confusion.

 

[spideymouse]

I really dislike the idea of turning SW into the MCU, it should be like James Bond and Harry Potter when it was coming out, each new film is an event, plain and simple. Though i don't mind spin-offs being released between trilogies, like in the gap between Episode IX and X, but i think that turning it into an yearly thing is a mistake.

Oh, no, misunderstood me. They are already doing it the way you're saying. Every other year will be the Saga movies (Episodes VII, VIII, IX, etc.), and each year between those will be spin-off movies. The plan is for one Star Wars-related movie per year. That's their goal anyway. Of course, that's easier said than done.

Again, one Star Wars-related movie would have to do better than both MCU movies each year in order to catch up. That's possible if the SW movies are amazing and the MCU movies get worse and worse. In other words, it's unlikely.

 

[spideymouse]

I actually hope we don't get too many studios trying to make crossover universes full of spin-offs like it seems to be happening with Spider-Man and X-Men, this is just flooding the market, and may end up getting the audience to lose interest. Hell, it will definitelly cause a lot of confusion.

The biggest perpetrator of this will probably be Fox. The X-Men and FF universes are huge and full of potential, and they're already churning them out at a one-movie-per-year rate, which I think is manageable and not too confusing. However, if DOFP and the FF reboot are high quality smash-hits, it's possible that they could increase this rate, at which point it could feel like market flooding.

As for Sony, their current rate at one Spidey movie every other year is actually pretty nice and exciting. They might sprinkle the Sinister Six or Venom movies in between, but I really don't know if I see those properties spawning legit franchises of their own at this point. Between Fox and Sony, I do think Sony is going about things the right way when it comes to universe-building, and Spider-Man has a higher box office potential than X-Men or FF.

All this said, the MCU is still too far ahead at this point for either franchise to catch up.

 

[Lord]

Yeah, they're plan is quite ambitious, but i still am not a big fan of a Star Wars film per year, i think some franchise seem more valuable when they are limited to a few years. A spin-off between the main Episodes seems like a bit overkill for me, and i really don't like that idea they mentioned a long time ago about having all the spin-offs connected with the event being the "Episode" like The Avengers did. With Star Wars i just hope to get a full experience, even if each film is part of a bigger story.

Though Disney could take use of their Lucasfilm properties, as well as actually do something with the ones they have right now, would love to see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron and The Rocketeer moving in full swing together. Would be great ways to complement their Marvel Universe when it comes to ruling the box office.

Look at Paramount too, with how much money Transformers does they could do the same and branch out, yet the result would probably be a disaster because the event film would stop feeling like an event.

Another thing is that while Star Wars has many interesting characters, they usually work better when you don't know too much about their past, i'm sincerelly not interested in Yoda or Obi-Wan Year One, i can see other characters like Boba Fett holding their oun because you can make a completelly different kind of movie and he's very secondary, but with Han Solo i don't feel like it's a wise move, he worked best when we were seeing progress in the main trilogy.

I don't mind some spin-off, but i really hope they don't oversaturate market with those things.

 

[Lord]

The biggest perpetrator of this will probably be Fox. The X-Men and FF universes are huge and full of potential, and they're already churning them out at a one-movie-per-year rate, which I think is manageable and not too confusing. However, if DOFP and the FF reboot are high quality smash-hits, it's possible that they could increase this rate, at which point it could feel like market flooding.

As for Sony, their current rate at one Spidey movie every other year is actually pretty nice and exciting. They might sprinkle the Sinister Six or Venom movies in between, but I really don't know if I see those properties spawning legit franchises of their own at this point. Between Fox and Sony, I do think Sony is going about things the right way when it comes to universe-building, and Spider-Man has a higher box office potential than X-Men or FF.

All this said, the MCU is still too far ahead at this point for either franchise to catch up.

I kinda wish SONY had Daredevil, he would be at home in the same universe as Spider-Man in my opinion. X-Men is kinda perfect for what they want to do, but FF doesn't fit that universe at all, if the next X-Films are as good as their past 2 and Bryan Singers's X-Films, then i have hopes for that universe, though i think that X-Men film should at most be an annual thing.

 

[spideymouse]

Yeah, they're plan is quite ambitious, but i still am not a big fan of a Star Wars film per year, i think some franchise seem more valuable when they are limited to a few years. A spin-off between the main Episodes seems like a bit overkill for me, and i really don't like that idea they mentioned a long time ago about having all the spin-offs connected with the event being the "Episode" like The Avengers did. With Star Wars i just hope to get a full experience, even if each film is part of a bigger story.

Though Disney could take use of their Lucasfilm properties, as well as actually do something with the ones they have right now, would love to see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron and The Rocketeer moving in full swing together. Would be great ways to complement their Marvel Universe when it comes to ruling the box office.

Look at Paramount too, with how much money Transformers does they could do the same and branch out, yet the result would probably be a disaster because the event film would stop feeling like an event.

Another thing is that while Star Wars has many interesting characters, they usually work better when you don't know too much about their past, i'm sincerelly not interested in Yoda or Obi-Wan Year One, i can see other characters like Boba Fett holding their oun because you can make a completelly different kind of movie and he's very secondary, but with Han Solo i don't feel like it's a wise move, he worked best when we were seeing progress in the main trilogy.

I don't mind some spin-off, but i really hope they don't oversaturate market with those things.

What's truly unique about the MCU (until WB/DC gets their act together, if ever) is how diverse their properties are and yet they share the same universe and can truly cross over. That's why even their solo films can stand alone, because even though they may not be "event films," they can give you something completely different each time. That's why the MCU still feels fresh to me, and why it doesn't feel like oversaturation yet.

Transformers and most of those other Disney-owned franchises you mentioned will always be one genre. Spider-Man movies are centered around one hero's journey.

The X-Men/FF universe has a chance at branching out with offshoots like X-Force, cosmic stories from FF, and potential solo franchises, but even they will be limited in comparison to the sheer diversity that the MCU has.

So I guess that really is the challenge with Star Wars--whether their spin-off movies can offer something different enough to audiences to legitimize their own existence. It's a vast universe with lots of potential, but unless you can diversify the genre/stories, it very well could feel like oversaturation as you said. I still think it has huge box office potential because of their legendary cache with movie audiences, prequels notwithstanding.

 

[spideymouse]

I kinda wish SONY had Daredevil, he would be at home in the same universe as Spider-Man in my opinion. X-Men is kinda perfect for what they want to do, but FF doesn't fit that universe at all, if the next X-Films are as good as their past 2 and Bryan Singers's X-Films, then i have hopes for that universe, though i think that X-Men film should at most be an annual thing.

Agreed re: Daredevil, although I'm really excited about the Netflix series.

X-men has so much potential. So many classic stories from Byrne/Claremont. So many different teams and characters. So many subgenres. I just, still can't trust Fox yet. You're right about FF though. They fit so much better in the MCU than the X-Men universe, despite possibilities with Franklin Richards.

 

[Endeavor]

despite possibilities with Franklin Richards.

They made a mockery of Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, why would Frankling fare any better?
Nothing is safe at FOX. All they see is Wolverine Wolverine Wolverine.

 

[spideymouse]

They made a mockery of Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, why would Frankling fare any better?
Nothing is safe at FOX. All they see is Wolverine Wolverine Wolverine.

Yeah... that's why I said I still can't trust them. Been hurt too many times.