Whether you’re looking to visit a school for wizards, an island infested with surprisingly friendly dragons, or a plastic dreamhouse, there is no better genre to whisk you away to a new, magical world than fantasy. These days, we could all use a little escapism, so it’s no surprise that the franchises built on magical worlds have been able to sell movie tickets.
Once upon a time, dragons, wizards, and hobbits were a niche interest, but over the last fifteen years, many of the films in this genre have become box office juggernauts. While some franchises ballooned into sprawling epics with multiple installments, others made massive profits with just one or two movies.
Today, we’re looking at the highest-grossing fantasy film franchises of all time.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2; Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
| Rank | Series | Total worldwide gross revenue | No. of films | Average revenue of films | Highest-grossing film | Highest-grossing film (Inflation-adjusted*) |
| 1 | Wizarding World | $9,652,545,292 | 11 | $877,504,117 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($1,342,321,665) | $1,872,130,551 |
| 2 | Middle-earth | $5,978,900,075 | 8 | $747,362,509 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1,147,997,407) | $1,957,092,725 |
| 3 | Pirates of the Caribbean | $4,524,439,761 | 5 | $904,887,952 | Dead Man’s Chest ($1,066,179,725) | $1,659,010,069 |
| 4 | Shrek | $4,022,435,758 | 6 | $670,405,960 | Shrek 2 ($928,760,770) | $1,542,126,818 |
| 5 | The Twilight Saga | $3,346,157,056 | 5 | $669,231,411 | Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ($829,746,820) | $1,133,627,709 |
| 6 | Fengshen Cinematic Universe | $3,202,047,174 | 3 | $1,067,349,058 | Ne Zha 2 ($2,215,690,000) | $2,215,690,000 |
| 7 | Frozen | $2,740,026,933 | 2 | $1,370,013,467 | Frozen II ($1,450,026,933) | $1,778,908,552 |
| 8 | How to Train Your Dragon | $2,274,460,201 | 4 | $568,615,050 | How to Train Your Dragon (2025) ($636,244,418) | $636,244,418 |
| 9 | Jumanji | $2,090,503,696 | 4 | $522,625,924 | Welcome to the Jungle ($962,542,945) | $1,231,909,471 |
| 10 | Moana | $1,702,574,631 | 2 | $851,287,316 | Moana 2 ($1,059,242,164) | $1,059,205,011 |
| 11 | Beauty and the Beast | $1,688,488,746 | 2 | $844,244,373 | Beauty and the Beast ($1,263,521,126) | $1,617,117,144 |
| 12 | The Chronicles of Narnia | $1,580,364,900 | 3 | $526,788,300 | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ($745,013,115) | $1,196,626,505 |
| 13 | Aladdin | $1,554,744,172 | 2 | $777,372,086 | Aladdin (2019) ($1,050,693,953) | $1,289,013,109 |
| 14 | Barbie | $1,449,597,548 | 30+ | $289,919,510 | Barbie ($1,445,638,421) | $1,488,284,726 |
| 15 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba | $1,402,697,994 | 4 | $350,674,499 | Infinity Castle ($780,000,000) | $780,000,000 |
| 16 | Mario | $1,400,904,940 | 2 | $700,452,470 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1,361,992,475) | $1,402,175,640 |
| 17 | Night at the Museum | $1,350,791,646 | 3 | $450,263,882 | Night at the Museum ($574,480,841) | $893,812,187 |
| 18 | Alice in Wonderland | $1,328,787,908 | 3 | $442,929,303 | Alice in Wonderland (2010) ($1,025,467,110) | $1,474,930,064 |
| 19 | Sleeping Beauty | $1,301,741,868 | 3 | $433,913,956 | Maleficent ($758,411,779) | $1,005,091,894 |
| 20 | The Smurfs | $1,248,142,217 | 5 | $249,628,443 | The Smurfs ($563,749,323) | $786,312,965 |
*Earnings calculated using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released November 2025.
Franchises With the Most Movies
If you’re including all of the direct-to-video animated films in her repertoire, the Barbie franchise takes the cake without even a close runner-up at over 30 films. However, only one film, the 2023 live-action Greta Gerwig film, was a theatrical release, and it was by far the only one to turn a big profit.
Barbie (2023); Image credit: Mattel Films and Warner Bros. Pictures
Outside of the Barbie-verse, however, the winner would be the Wizarding World franchise, at 11 films. This includes the first eight Harry Potter films, and the later Fantastic Beast films that expanded the highly beloved world and lore from the books.
Coming in next with a respectable eight films is the Middle-earth saga. Peter Jackson took us there with The Lord of the Rings and back again with The Hobbit, bringing in a staggering $6 billion when all was said and done.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; Image credit: New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures
Other franchises with sizeable collections included Shrek (six films), Pirates of the Caribbean, The Twilight Saga, and How to Train Your Dragon (each with five films).
The Highest Averages per Film
Making a dozen movies is certainly one way to make money, but some of the films on our list made bank even with just two or three.
Take Frozen, for example, which tops the list for highest average gross earnings across all films in the series. With just two films released to date, it has an average of $1.37B.
Frozen 2; Image credit: The Walt Disney Company
The Chinese animated film saga Fengshen Cinematic Universe also stands out at $1.1B. Pirates of the Caribbean ranks among the leaders in this regard as well, thanks to its swashbuckling fun and blockbuster action that kept fans coming back for more.
Disney Takes the Top Spots
Without a doubt, Disney is the largest media company in the world. For that reason, combined with the fact that it built its empire on retellings of fairy tales, it’s no surprise that many of the series on the list came from Disney studios. Their original films Frozen, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Maleficent all earned high totals with their grand musical moments, fairy-tale magic, and imaginative storytelling.
Maleficent; Image credit: The Walt Disney Company
Unlike properties like Twilight or Middle-earth, these films have been able to attract audiences of all ages and demographics, helping many of them earn top dollar. However, it was the 2010s trend of live-action remakes that really made a difference for certain franchises, like Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty. Each of the live-action additions to these film sagas earned hundreds of millions (and sometimes even billions) of dollars worldwide.
The Highest-Grossing Fantasy Films
Even among these fantasy giants, some films soared above the rest, particularly when adjusted for inflation.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King made about $1.15 billion, but in today’s money, that’s about $1.95B. It stands tall as one of the most successful fantasy climaxes ever filmed and is nearly unmatched in its scale and financial success.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Image credit: New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures
The final showdown with Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 brought in a remarkable $1.34 billion in 2011. Adjusted for inflation, that is a whopping $1.87 billion.
However, neither of these films compare with Ne Zha 2, the second installment in the Fengshen Cinematic Universe. The Chinese film series follows the adventures of the titular Ne Zha, who is a reimagining of a character from classical Chinese mythology. Bringing in $2.21 billion just since its release in early 2025, it sits right at the top of the individual film chart. Not only does this film rank as the highest-grossing fantasy film across all franchises, but it also holds the title of the most successful film in the history of Chinese cinema and the most successful film of 2025 thus far!
Ne Zha 2; Image credit: Beijing Enlight Pictures
While not the absolute most popular genre of films, fantasy continues to succeed at the global box office. Whether a series spans many films or only a few, the right mix of story, characters, and world-building can launch a franchise into significant earnings.
From magical kingdoms and pirate adventures to vibrant animated dragons and life-size dolls, these fantasy franchises prove that we haven’t lost our love of high-concept storytelling just yet.
If you love comparing Hollywood’s biggest hits and keeping track of box office champions, PixlParade has plenty more in store. Follow along for more rankings, more movie trivia, and more pop culture breakdowns.
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