Pokemon and Shonen Jump Dominate the MCU on Highest-Grossing Franchises List

When it comes to money, franchises are in it to win it. Thousands of stories have knocked at the door of pop culture hoping for a payday, but few manage to become as affluent as they dreamed. However, some have become insanely profitable, and the results have surprised Marvel’s biggest fans.

Despite its massive box office pulls, the MCU does not even rank in the top ten franchises, but a good few anime titles do.

Recently, a chart surfaced online breaking down a in-depth report of the world’s highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The list, which can be found here, combines everything from video games to films and merchandise in order to find a franchise’s total gross. And as it turns out, Pokemon is still leading the top franchises in a big way.

Founding in 1996, Pokemon has grossed a whopping $92.121 billion since it began. More than $60 billion of its total gross is thanks to merchandise with video games coming in as a far second. The Pokemon Trading Card game and manga further bolster the list as well as the franchise’s anime.

As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, well – it has not hit that point. Having started with Iron Man, the film franchise has grossed more than $29.12 billion with the box office bolstering much of that money. Merchandise has also added to the franchise’s gross, and the MCU still has plenty more territory to explore. The franchise is also the newest one to rank in the top 25 with its 2008 inception with only the Disney Princess brand coming near it with 2000.

Still, fans are surprised to see how little the MCU has grossed in terms of its predecessors. Hello Kitty has grossed just over $80 billion while Shonen Jump has made over $34 billion on basically manga alone. Now, it is up to the MCU to usurp these franchises in the future, but it must first beat Harry Potter and its almost $31 billion gross.

So, are you surprised by this list’s breakdown of highest-grossing franchises? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!