Franchise films have ruled Hollywood for the last two decades. The domestic and global success of projects like the Marvel Cinematic Universe cemented the role that franchises play in Hollywood, and in shaping the future of the theatrical medium. While this trend has found traction in India over the last few years, in the post pandemic era, franchise films have emerged as a dominant force in Hindi cinema over the last few years, contributing a significant portion of box office collections. 

The chart above indicates that, as on Dec 3, 2023, 45% of Hindi theatrical domestic box office of the year has come from franchise films, or those belonging to a franchise universe, at the time of their release. This percentage was only 17% in 2019, and 31% in 2022, showing their growing significance.

Therefore, to help studios, producers, and content creators make more informed and audience-centric decisions regarding franchises, we conducted an audience research to identify top 100 films in Bollywood, among films released between 1990 and Sep 2023, to ascertain the audience appeal and potential of these current or future franchises. The findings are captured in the report titled The Bollywood Franchise Report: 2023.

To conduct this exercise, 274 potential franchises were identified, based on box office collections and thematic relevance in today’s times. These include both existing franchises, and standalone films with franchise potential. Franchise Equity was then measured for these 274 films among regular Hindi filmgoers, in Oct-Nov 2023, based on their intention to watch the next part of these films, in the theatre. The total sample size covered in the study is 3,000 audiences.

The chart below captures the top 10 films (current or potential franchise) based on audience equity. Since the data for this study was collected till November 2023, it doesn’t include films that released post that period, e.g., Animal.

The list of the top 10 franchises has a compelling genre mix, indicating that genre itself is not a primary factor in a franchise’s popularity. Shah Rukh Khan, the most popular Hindi film star in India today, has four franchises in the top 10.

The detailed report, available upon subscription, has the list of top 100 franchises, and insights related to how franchise equity varies across various demographics, such as age, gender, markets, etc.

To subscribe to The Bollywood Franchise Report: 2023, please drop in an email to [email protected], and we will connect with you soon.