A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same
fictional universe
A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes ma ...
, or are marketed as a series.
This article explains what film series are and gives brief examples of movie series. The body shows a list of the most popular film series and franchises in the United States and Canada.
Description
Sometimes the work is conceived from the beginning as a multiple-film work—for example, the ''
Three Colours
The ''Three Colours'' trilogy (french: Trois couleurs, pl, Trzy kolory) is the collective title of three Psychological drama (subgenre), psychological drama films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski: ''Three Colours: Blue'' (1993), ''Three Colour ...
'' series—but in most cases the success of the original film (or an original series in the case of the ''
Skywalker Saga
The '' Star Wars'' franchise involves multiple live-action and animated films. The film series started with a trilogy set ''in medias res'' which was later expanded to a trilogy of trilogies, known as the " Skywalker Saga".
The 1977 self-ti ...
'') inspires further films to be made. Individual
sequels are relatively common but are not always successful enough to spawn further installments.
As of 2022, the 30 films of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...
form the
highest-grossing film series even when adjusted for inflation, surpassing
J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World (11 films), ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
'' (12 films),
Ian Fleming's James Bond (27 films), and
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth (6 films) series.
Box office
Longest-running film series and franchises
See also
*
Lists of feature film series
*
Highest-grossing franchises and film series
*
Media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...
*
List of highest-grossing media franchises
*
List of longest-running video game franchises
References
{{Media series
Filmmaking