famous film franchises

Movies help form public opinion, so let’s see which films have so resonated with the public mentality that they’ve spawned innumerable sequels, prequels and remakes, thus morphing into Famous Film Franchises.

It’s somewhat scary that there have been 6 Rockys and 4 Rambos, but at least some serious quality triumphs with the five Attacks of the Killer Tomatoes.

(This list is an amalgamation of several online lists and may contain serious errors – after all we all know the internet lies. I did spot checks and frequently got dissimilar answers from different sites.)

Sherlock Holmes – 98 different films
Tarzan – 89
Hopalong Cassidy – 66
The Three Mequiteers – 51
The Bowery Boys – 48
Charlie Chan – 47
Godzilla – 34
Carry On – 31
Blondie – 28
Range Busters – 25
The Lone Wolf – 24
James Bond – 23
Scoobie Doo – 22
Taboo – 22
East Side Kids – 21
Barbie – 20
Debbie Does Dallas – 20

National Lampoon – 18

Andy Hardy – 17

The Falcon – 16
Jungle Jim – 16

Dragonball Z – 15
Little Tough Guys (Dead End Kids) – 15
Mickey Mouse – 15

Keystone Kops – 13
Land Before Time – 13
Mothra – 13
The Muppets – 13

Friday the 13th – 12
Gamera -12
Pokemon – 12
Winnie the Pooh – 12

Asterix – 11
Dr Slump – 11
Henry Aldrich – 11
Pink Panther – 11
Star Trek – 11
The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley – 11
Young and Dangerous – 11

Halloween – 10
Ma and Pa Kettle – 10

Nightmare on Elm Street – 8

Batman – 7
Police Academy – 7
Star Wars – 7
The Howling – 7

Alien – 6
Harry Potter – 6
Hellraiser – 6
Planet of the Apes – 6
Rocky – 6
Saw – 6
Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 6
The Thin Man – 6

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes – 5
Benji – 5
Child’s Play – 5
Death Wish – 5
Dirty Harry – 5
Ernest – 5
Hannibal Lecter – 5
Herbie the Love Bug – 5
Night of the Living Dead – 5
Superman – 5
The Exorcist – 5

American Ninja – 4
Amityville – 4
Die Hard – 4
Final Destination – 4
Highlander – 4
Indiana Jones – 4
Jack Ryan – 4
Jaws – 4
Lethal Weapon – 4
Predator – 4
Psycho – 4
Rambo – 4
Scary Movie – 4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 4
Terminator – 4
The Bad News Bears – 4
The Fast and the Furious – 4
Flash Gordon – 4 <<< The Karate Kid - 4 The Lord of the Rings - 4 The Mummy - 4 The Omen - 4 Vacation - 4 X-Men - 4 3 Ninjas - 3 American Pie - 3 Austin Powers - 3 Back to the Future - 3 Barbershop - 3 Beverly Hills Cop - 3 Blade - 3 Bourne - 3 Care Bears - 3 Crocodile Dundee - 3 El Mariachi - 3 Evil Dead - 3 Free Willy - 3 Friday - 3 Home Alone - 3 House Party - 3 Ice Age - 3 Iron Eagle - 3 Jurassic Park - 3 Look Who's Talking - 3 Mad Max - 3 Major League - 3 Meatballs - 3 Missing in Action - 3 Mission: Impossible - 3 Ocean's 11 - 3 Oh, God! - 3 Pirates of the Caribbean - 3 Poltergeist - 3 Porky's - 3 Resident Evil - 3 Return of the Living Dead - 3 Robocop - 3 Rugrats - 3 Rush Hour - 3 Scream - 3 Shrek - 3 Smokey and the Bandit - 3 Spider-Man - 3 Spy Kids - 3 The Godfather - 3 The Matrix - 3 The Mighty Ducks - 3 The Naked Gun - 3 The Santa Clause - 3 The Work and the Glory - 3 Transformers - 3 Transporter - 3 Underworld - 3 Witch Mountain - 3