Franchises

Franchises have become the buzz word in Hollywood over the last couple of decades. Almost no new big budget films are released as “stand alone” titles. And horror is no exception to this. Indeed, you could argue that horror films were ahead of the curve with franchises. Hammer had it’s Dracula & Frankenstein franchises back in the 50s, 60s & 70s. And then the slasher film boom created a whole load of new ones.

So, here is a list of the major Horrorwood, sorry, Hollywood horror franchises in terms of box office performance (based on available data, updated May 2025):

1. The Conjuring: $2.28bn

2. Alien: $1.68bn

3. Saw: $1.1bn

4. Scream: $912.32m

5. Paranormal Activity: $890.5m

6. Halloween: $885.97m

7. Jaws: $800.1m

8. The Exorcist: $797.8m

9. Final Destination: $787.95m

10. The Purge: $533.9m

11. A Nightmare On Elm Street: $490.45m
12. Friday The 13th: $468.24m
13. Predator: $443.16m
14. Blade: $418.2m
15. Blair Witch: $341.55m
16. Childs Play: $333.98m
17. The Grudge: $309.3m
18. Poltergeist: $306.4m
19. The Omen: $253.7m
20. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: $252.3m
21. Zombieland: $225.2m
22. I Know What You Did Last Summer: $209.5m
23. The Evil Dead: $154.2m
24. The Fly: $129m
25. Fright Night: $68.8m
26. The Return Of The Living Dead: $23.4m
27. Phantasm: $19.6m