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BUSINESS
Sinking of the Titanic

Most valuable comic book movie franchises

Paul Ausick
24/7 Wall St.

Comic books have been popular since the 1930s, but it is probably safe to say that the various superheroes who have populated the pages of those books have never been more popular than they are now. And one measure of that popularity is both the number of movies that are made starring comic book characters and the amount of money moviegoers worldwide have spent on tickets to see these films.

The all-time highest grossing film worldwide was 2009's Avatar, which generated ticket sales of nearly $2.8 billion for Twenty First Century Fox (FOXA). The second highest grossing movie of all time was Titanic from Paramount Studios and Viacom (VIAB), which took in $2.2 billion. While neither of the top two was based on comic book characters, number three on the all-time worldwide list of top-grossing films is Marvel's The Avengers, which raked in $1.5 billion in 2012 for Buena Vista Studios and Walt Disney (DIS).

Christian Bale is shown as Batman in a scene from Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight" from 2008.

Speaking of Disney, the Mouse House paid $4 billion in 2009 to acquire Marvel Entertainment, the owner of Marvel Studios. Disney now owns the rights to substantially all the superheroes created at Marvel since the late 1930s, with one very significant exception: Spider-Man. Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony (SNE) paid a reported $7 million to Marvel in 1999 after Cannon Films, which had purchased the rights to Spider-Man in the mid-1980s, went bankrupt and the rights reverted to Marvel.

Marvel Studios released its first title, "Iron Man," in 2008, the year before Disney bought Marvel. That was also the first film in a grouping that the studio now calls the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Ten films have been released so far in the series, and domestic ticket sales on those 10 movies total $2.96 billion.

Worldwide, the 10 films have grossed $7.36 billion, and that total is expected to get significantly bigger with the domestic release this week of the 11th film in the series, "Avengers: Age of Ultron." The 12th film in the MCU is "Ant-Man," which is scheduled for release on July 15. In addition to these 12 films, another 10 are either in pre-production or development to carry the MCU out to the summer of 2019.

One other studio has had blockbuster results from comic book superheroes as well: Warner Bros. and parent Time Warner Inc. (TWX) have rights to both Batman and Superman, and with the two characters are slated to appear together on the big screen in March 2016 in "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," the studio looks to be set for another big payday.

Movie data in the following list come from Box Office Mojo.

1. Spider-Man

> Franchise rank by worldwide gross receipts: 1 ($3.96 billion)
> Franchise rank by U.S. gross receipts: 2 ($1.58 billion)
> Number of movies in franchise: five
> Studio: Columbia
> Top grossing movie in franchise: "Spider-Man" (2002) ($403.7 million)
> Production budget: $139 million
> All-time domestic U.S. sales rank: 16
> All-time worldwide sales rank: 44

When the initial "Spider-Man" movie was released in 2002, the movie was the top grossing film in any genre that year, it boasted the top opening weekend gross receipts of any movie that year, and it sold more tickets than any other PG-13-rated movie. Spider-Man first appeared in a Marvel comic book in 1962 and his creation is credited to writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. Spider-Man was also among the first (or perhaps even the first) teenage superheroes who was not the sidekick of some older superhero. Four of the five franchise movies are among the top 12 of all time in gross ticket sales. The next live-action film in the franchise is on the schedule for summer of 2017 and the first animated Spider-Man film is due in 2018, both from Sony.

2. Batman

> Franchise rank by worldwide gross receipts: 2 ($3.8 billion)
> Franchise rank by U.S. gross receipts: 1 ($1.9 billion)
> Number of movies in franchise: eight
> Studio: Warner Bros./Time Warner
> Top grossing movie in franchise: "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) ($1.08 billion worldwide)
> Production budget: $250 million
> All-time domestic U.S. sales rank: 7
> All-time worldwide sales rank: 12

Batman first appeared in a comic book published by DC Comics in 1939. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger and was originally called "the Bat-Man." The character got his own self-titled comic book in 1940. "The Dark Knight" (2008) was released just a few months after actor Heath Ledger, who played Batman's nemesis, the Joker, died. The next film, "The Dark Knight Rises," posted the third-best opening day gross of the year in 2012 and the third-best single day gross that year. Only six of the seven "Batman" movies have been released internationally: 1993's animated "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" sold just $5.6 million in U.S. tickets and was not released in foreign markets.

3. X-Men

> Franchise rank by worldwide gross receipts: 3 ($3.05 billion)
> Franchise rank by U.S. gross receipts: 3 ($1.3 billion)
> Number of movies in franchise: seven
> Studio: Fox
> Top grossing movie in franchise: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014) ($748 million worldwide)
> Production budget: $200 million
> All-time domestic U.S. sales rank: 107

>All-time worldwide sales rank: 60

The X-Men first appeared in a Marvel comic book in September of 1963, the creation of the writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The first movie in the franchise, "X-Men," was released in July 2000 and has grossed $157.3 million in the United States and $296.3 million worldwide. Of the seven films in the franchise, three place in the top 20 based on gross U.S. receipts for comic book adaptations, with "X-Men: The Last Stand" from 2006 at number 16, edging out "X-Men: Days of Future Past" at number 17 by less than $1 million. The next installment of the series, "X-Men: Apocalypse" is due in late May of 2016.

4. Iron Man

> Franchise rank by worldwide gross receipts: 4 ($2.42 billion)
> Franchise rank by U.S. gross receipts: 4 ($1.04 billion)
> Number of movies in franchise: three
> Studio: Paramount for the first film, then Buena Vista
> Top grossing movie in franchise: "Iron Man 3" (2013) ($1.22 billion worldwide)
> Production budget: $200 million
> All-time domestic U.S. sales rank: 14
> All-time worldwide sales rank: 7

The Iron Man first appeared in the Marvel comic book series "Tales of Suspense" in March 1963, and Iron Man was also an original (September 1963) member of the superhero team, The Avengers. The character has become more popular overseas, with ticket sales rising from 45.6% foreign for the first movie to nearly 67% for the third. All three movies are included in the list of top 10 grossing movies of all time based on comic book characters. There are currently no future releases planned in the series, but Iron Man is included in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" which opens this Friday, and is also expected to appear in "Avengers: Infinity War Part 1," which is currently scheduled for release in May 2018.

5. Marvel Avengers

> Franchise rank by worldwide gross receipts: 5 ($1.53 billion)
> Franchise rank by U.S. gross receipts: 6 ($623.36 million)
> Number of movies in franchise: one
> Studio: Buena Vista/Disney
> Top grossing movie in franchise: "Marvel's The Avengers" (2012) ($1.52 billion worldwide)
> Production budget: $220 million
> All-time domestic U.S. sales rank: 3
> All-time worldwide sales rank: 3

In their comic book introduction in 1963, the Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Thor and the Hulk. Captain America joined up a few issues later. The Marvel comics team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby get the credit for this creation. Only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" has had a bigger opening day in the United States than the first movie. This week's opening of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is expected to open on about 4,200 screens in the United States, and opening weekend domestic sales could equal the $201 million the movie has earned since its release last Wednesday in several foreign markets.

24/7 Wall St. is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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