Pokémon became the highest-grossing media franchise of all time with $95 billion, beating out other franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel and Mickey Mouse.

The 3 media franchises from the top 5 are owned by the Walt Disney Company and the total revenue of that 3 franchises is $210 Billion.

Atul Talaviya
Nov 5 · 3 min read

This includes media franchises that started as a book, film, video game, comic book, animated film or television series and has expanded to other forms of media. This list covers every aspect of a particular franchise, such as box office, sales from merchandise, home entertainment, and revenue from video games, among other things, if such information is available.

The 3 media franchises from the top 5 are owned by the Walt Disney Company and the total revenue of that 3 franchises is $210 Billion. here I am writing the Top 5 Media Franchise’s Year of inception, Total Revenue, Revenue Breakdown, Origin of Media Type, Creators, and owner.

5. Star Wars

Year of inception: 1977

Total Revenue: est. $65 billion

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Merchandise sales — $40.294 billion
  • Box office — $9.491 billion
  • Home video — $9.057 billion
  • Video games — $4.964 billion
  • Book sales — $1.82 billion
  • TV revenue — $280 million

Origin Media Type: Film

Creators: George Lucas

Owner: Lucasfilm (The Walt Disney Company)

4. Mickey Mouse & Friends

Year of inception: 1928

Total Revenue: est. $70 billion

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Retail sales — $69.85 billion
  • VHS & DVD — $280 million
  • Box office — $457.4 million

Origin Media Type: Animated Cartoon

Creators: Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks

Owner: The Walt Disney Company

3. Winnie the Pooh

Year of inception: 1924

Total Revenue: est. $75 billion

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Retail sales — $74.515 billion
  • DVD & Blu-ray — $59 million
  • Box office — $460 million

Origin Media Type: Book

Creators: A. A. Milne, E. H. Shepard

Owner: The Walt Disney Company

2. Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty Poster
Hello Kitty Poster

Year of inception: 1974

Total Revenue: est. $80 billion

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Merchandise sales — $80 billion
  • Manga magazine — $23 million
  • Music CD sales — $3 million

Origin Media Type: Cartoon Character

Creators: Yuko Shimizu, Shintaro Tsuji

Owner: Sanrio

1. Pokémon

Year of inception: 1996

Total Revenue: est. $95 billion

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Licensed merchandise — $64.1 billion
  • Video games — $17.138 billion
  • Card game — $10.853 billion
  • Box office — $1.756 billion
  • Manga sales — $1.46 billion
  • Home entertainment — $863 million

Origin Media Type: Video Game

Creators: Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori

Owner: Nintendo (trademark), The Pokémon Company (Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures) (copyright)

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