Epic Movie Franchises
The best film series to hit the box office.
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Bad Boys - The best way to strike movie gold is to create a franchise that can stand the test of time. This feat, while not easy to achieve, has been accomplished repeatedly over the years. From Bad Boys to SAW, here are our favorites.Lasting power in the film industry is hard to come by, and the Bad Boys franchise seemed to achieve this with ease. From 1995 to today — Martin Lawrence confirmed that a Bad Boys 3 is under way! — the momentum just seems to keep gaining with this one. By Moriba Cummings(Photo: Columbia Pictures)
Photo By Photo: Columbia Pictures
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Men In Black - It's no secret that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are a match made in sci-fi movie heaven, and their trilogy performance continues to prove that. The duo managed to return for 2012's Men In Black III an entire decade after the release of its previous installment! The blockbuster raked in almost $200 million at the box office.(Photo: Columbia Pictures)
Photo By Photo: Columbia Pictures
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Rush Hour - Who would've thought that Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker would make for such an iconic comedy duo? From 1998 to 2007, the pair continued to make viewers laugh with their back and forth humor — and, of course Tucker's voice. Proving just how much the world couldn't get enough of Rush Hour, the film garnered almost a billion dollars collectively since its debut in 1998.(Photo: New Line Cinema)
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Aliens - With the endless selection of science fiction horrors at our fingertips today, it’s easy to get lost in the rubble. However, the popular Alien franchise was the originator, scaring folks with those sharp-toothed creatures since 1979. Scoring more than $550 million at the box office, this collection of films is still a sic-fi/horror staple today.(Photo: Twentieth Century FOX)
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The Best Man - With part three on its way, the Best Man franchise is sure to be unstoppable. Collectively, The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday totaled more than $100 million at the box office, and 2016’s release of The Best Man Wedding will just be the icing on the cake. We smell a romantic comedy franchise beast brewing in the near future.(Photo: Universal Pictures)
Photo By Photo Credit: Universal Studios.
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The Godfather - Of course, it would take a film juggernaut like The Godfather to make movie history. It’s the only franchise to have two installments win the Oscar for Best Picture and, if that wasn’t enough, The Godfather: Part II is the first sequel to ever win the top feat from The Academy. How do you top that?(Photo: Paramount Pictures)
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The Matrix - Before we were wowed by the twisted plots of Inception and Looper, there was The Matrix. The series went on to become one of the most quotable and GIF-worthy sets in box office history — who could forget the infamous red/blue pill scene? Since its introduction in 1999, the franchise surpassed the $1 billion mark.(Photo: Warner Bros.)
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Star Wars - The iconic Star Wars franchise turned out to be more than just a movie collection; it became a brand that was larger than life. In addition to its massive box office performances — the series had the highest average gross of all film franchises with $4.05 billion — the movie branched out into the worlds of mechandise, endorsements, and video games, to name a few.(Photo: Twentieth Century FOX)
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Avatar - Okay, so only one Avatar film has been released, but that marks the first of many as three more are set to premiere over the next five years. Following the record-breaking release of the first installment — in a matter of months, it surpassed the $1 billion mark in sales and currently sits at $2.7 billion — planning for its follow-up was already in the works. Expect the next three installments in 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.(Photo: Twentieth Century FOX)
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A Nightmare on Elm Street - Comic books, novels, and a television show — these all stemmed from the seed that is Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, which eventually grew into an American horror powerhouse. The brand started off with the original film, then welcomed the sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, leading all the way up to 2003's Freddy vs. Jason, and 2010's remake of the original flick. The films collectively grossed more than $455 million at the box office.(Photo: New Line Cinema)
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SAW - No one does gory, face-covering, jaw-clenching horror like the SAW franchise. In the 10 years since its initial release in 2004, SAW managed to produce a total of seven movies, with rumors swirling around that an eighth is currently in the works. To this day, it stands as one of the highest grossing horror movie franchises in history, scoring a massive $873 million at the box office.(Photo: Lions Gate Films)