Film franchises are the safest and most lucrative bet for studios worldwide. The recall value and brand name of these franchises ensures a huge opening and a dedicated fan following amongst audiences. While Hollywood has several successful franchises like the Fast and the Furious and Star Wars, Bollywood has only recently realised their importance, and they are quick to jump on the bandwagon. This edition, we list the highest grossing Bollywood film franchises of all time
Baahubali, with just two films, is the biggest film franchise in India. The first part, subtitled The Beginning was released on 10 July 2015. The second part, subtitled The Conclusion, released on 28 April 2017. The novel series, subtitled Before the Beginning, had its first novel The Rise of Sivagami releasing on 7 March 2017. The animated series Baahubali: The Lost Legends started on April 19, 2017 on Amazon Prime Video with episode “Legend Begins” and it will soon be shifted to Colors TV. The films in the franchise were jointly produced on a Rs. 430 crore budget, and have grossed Rs. 2555 crore worldwide, making it the only franchise to collect over Rs.2,000 crores at the box office and the only franchise where its films have grossed more than Rs. 500 crores worldwide.
Yash Raj Films’ action film series has belted out three movies so far, with Dhoom 3 being the biggest hit of the lot, making over 500 crores at the worldwide box office. Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra play central characters, while actors John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan appeared as antagonists in the three films, respectively. The total gross of the three films is Rs. 807 crore, making it the 2nd biggest franchise in Bollywood, with an average of Rs. 269 crore per film.
Krrish is a franchise of Indian science fiction films, superhero films, television series, comics and video games. All three films star Hrithik Roshan, and are produced and directed by his father Rakesh Roshan. The first two films were blockbusters in the Indian market, and hits in the overseas markets. The third film was released on 1 November 2013 and was declared a blockbuster shattering many box office records grossing over Rs. 300 crores at the box office. In 2013, an animated television series based on this Krrish film series, and named Kid Krrish, aired on Cartoon Network India. It also spawned a spin-off animation-cum-live-action series titled J Bole Toh Jadoo that aired on Nickelodeon. In total, the three films have grossed over Rs. 511 crores at the box office with an average of Rs. 170 crore per film, and a fourth sequel is already in the works.
Houseful is a comedy film franchise set in London, and has a repeating cast of Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani. It is the only comedy franchise in the list, and has grossed an average of Rs. 167 crore per film, for a total of Rs. 500 crore. A fourth instalment is being developed, and will most likely release in 2018.
By Neeraj Varty
