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October 13

Most Successful Franchise of all Time

I can't seem to find this seemingly simply question online: Out of every franchise in the world of any medium (Broadway plays, video games, movies), which franchise has made the most money in history? Franchises that span multiple mediums (Pokemon has games, movies, television, manga, and trading cards for example). The only things I can find online only deal with one medium ("Most successful movie series of all time", for example) --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 07:17, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you mean to measure success by money earned. More recent productions will earn more money, typically, due to increases in population, and especially if you don't adjust for inflation. So, with that in mind, perhaps something like Harry Potter ? StuRat (talk) 07:58, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

BTW, the Entertainment Desk would be a good place for this Q. StuRat (talk) 08:00, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Shakespeare would be my guess. --TrogWoolley (talk) 18:55, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Don't forget Washington Irving, with his stories being recast and remade every generation . . . and with the current political climate would PBS/NPR (Bigbird) be considered their own franchise (merch, multiple PBS mediums etc?). Oh that's right they are non-profit. Marketdiamond (talk) 20:28, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing that PBS and Washington Irving combined have not earned in their existence one-thousandth of what an actually popular franchise has. Especially not the extremely obscure Irving!! --NellieBlyMobile (talk) 21:24, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For your PBS reaction see arguably longest running single host show, the original 25 seasons of National Geographic specials andWhere in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and thats only the "small market"Pittsburgh station, expand from there.

I may be inclined to see how Irving isn't #1 or some factual reason he may not be top 5 but "extremely obscure"? Then why do Hollywood studios keep remaking Legend of Sleepy Hollow over and over, they want to lose money and audience? Not to mention all the derivations and adaptations that on first sight don't seem connected. LoSH was just one of Irving's works, for nearly half a century he was the "rockstar" of American Literature, I've heard some scholars state that he is the father of American or even New World literature (so then every screenplay and sitcom treatment can be traced back to him? Not suggesting that but the question has been raised before). Most importantly Irving was the very first new world author to actually be read (and sought after) by Europeans. I really don't see any media "franchise" even coming close to Irving until decades later with Mark Twain and Stephen Foster (another 2 that would have to be considered when accounting for all the subsequent "borrowing" of their works under different projects). Imagine having only one "artist/entertainer/media personality" dominant decades almost a half century and not only the U.S. but be taken seriously throughout the world, closest I can compare is Stephen King or Oprah but even with their staying power decade after decade they are not the dominant overarching monopoly Irving was in so many ways. Marketdiamond (talk) 22:31, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Franchise" is not defined here, but I don't think all the works of a single author such as Shakespeare or Irving would qualify, although Hamlet (which predates Shakespeare) or Rip Van Winkle presumably would. And is Looney Tunes one franchise, with mutually interactive characters, or several (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, etc.)?

A truly successful franchise would have to be something that has continued to be successful until more or less the present day. So Robinson Crusoe probably isn't going to be a winner, even though there were a great many adaptations of it in the past. Among the contenders that come to mind, besides Looney Tunes, are Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, classic Disney (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck - maybe separate franchises), Tarzan, James Bond, and Star Wars. John M Baker (talk) 22:52, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I'm having real trouble understanding the meaning of franchise here. The only meanings I'm familiar with are the right to vote, and a commercial right to run a business on the same model as another, such as KFC or McDonalds. I'm not American. Are we discussing something from that culture? How can Hamlet be a franchise? HiLo48 (talk) 23:09, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The OP is welcomed to correct me but I think John M Baker has a point, "franchise" in the entertainment sphere usually refers to some genius concept such as the "Indiana Jones franchise" or the "Oprah franchise" including all merchandise, theme park attractions, cross promotion (like product placement, promotional partnerships, soundtrack and MTV videos, cartoon or sitcom spinoffs, McDonalds happy meal toys, etc.) or their comparables in past decades or centuries. When answering and to level the field I consider people like Twain, Foster and Irving their own "franchises" since in those days you pretty much had to be. Marketdiamond (talk) 23:17, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I interpret the question to be about a media franchise with licensing rights. The rights to Shakespeare's works expired long before they made significant money so they don't qualify. List of highest-grossing films#Highest-grossing franchises and film series and List of best-selling video game franchises may be good places to find candidates but they don't give total numbers for the media franchise.PrimeHunter (talk) 23:25, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Although I can see where your coming from PrimeHunter I disagree, in your example of Shakespeare the "franchise" is still making money just for others. By your method the Beatles may disqualify since it is the deceased Michael Jackson's estate making $ on the still alive Paul McCartney/Ringo Starr's works (at least last I checked MJ's estate was). Technically they are still in copyright but that shouldn't be a hard standard since Disney corporation successfully extended 75 year old works[1], Shakespeare (and Irving, Twain etc.) just didn't have a perpetual global army of top lawyers on retainer lol. Why should the lack of that diminish the $ those works continue to produce today by being repackaged and reworked? Marketdiamond (talk) 00:12, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I tried to guess the intention of the poster who said franchise four times and medium three times. We haven't heard back from him but see for example media franchise and wiktionary:franchise. I'm not discussing "fairness". PrimeHunter (talk) 01:31, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

People are still making money out of Shakespeare, but no-one is making money out of the franchise, since there is no intellectual property to license (which is how you make money out of a media franchise). It isn't really a franchise any more, it's just lots of completely independent businesses and individuals. --Tango (talk) 19:56, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was going to comment last night, right after the "Shakespeare" answer, that that was an oeuvre, not a franchise, but figured it would be nitpicking. μηδείς (talk) 03:22, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So, is the answer Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter? μηδείς (talk) 22:14, 20 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Jet2 Flight arriving at Edinburgh Scotland on Monday 15th October

Please can someone help. I know this is a ridiculous question to ask here, but I am picking someone up and don't know their flight number or arrival time. I have tried every other site I can think of but neither the online or telephone or airport systems can help me. All I get told is "This Flight has sold out" without giving any other information. If you can't help, thanks for reading this anyway? And we are supposed to live in the technologically advance information age? 80.192.67.152 (talk) 11:16, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Jet2's Flight Status page has a list - this is for Edinburgh in the next 12 hours. You'll have to check again on Monday though. If you know where they are coming from it will narrow it down even further. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:50, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Adam. That's very helpful. Much appreciated. 80.192.67.152 (talk) 12:05, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Finding all the Jet2 destinations from Edinburgh (and therefore presumably the points from which you can fly to Edinburgh), and then playing around with Edinburgh Airport's flight timetables page I can find out there will be four Jet2 arrivals tomorrow:

14:10 LS854 Venice
15:45 LS776 Alicante
16:15 LS858 Malaga
20:35 LS826 Prague

Of course, I we knew where they were coming from, it would have made the search much easier on my part. Astronaut (talk) 15:20, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Astronaut (and Adam), I really cannot sufficiently apologise for not including "from Venice" in my OP. I now know the arrival time as gleaned from your responses and cannot thank each of you enough. If it were at all possible, I would willingly buy you each a pint of good Scottish Beer (or a couple of large Drams of Glenkinchie) at the Airport, but failing that, may I invite each of you to partake of one (or several), and charge it to my "Wikipedia in good faith" account? Cheers - and thanks again. 80.192.67.152 (talk) 23:33, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done and it was nice :-) Astronaut (talk) 11:11, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent. And yes, I did pick them up at Edinburgh Airport from Venice, where their flight was delayed for 2 hours. Seemingly, their flight number originates in Edinburgh and flies 2 sectors loaded with sufficient fuel for the return journey. But on this occasion, Edinburgh had insufficient supplies due to a technical problem at the nearby Grangemouth Refinery, and was able to offer only enough for the outward sector; the plane thus having to re-fuel at Venice. So I can now see why Airlines limit their online search times to 12 hours. Anyway, I joined you in several large drams (of Gordons Gin) which unfortunately could not be charged to my Wikipedia Goodwill Account.

All my best wishes for your kindness - and thanks again. 80.192.67.152 (talk) 16:32, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]