JuicyTalk
Long-running movie franchises are bound to produce a bomb or two over the years, but these series have no box office flops. Studios walk a fine line with ongoing series, and it’s often difficult to know exactly when to throw in the towel. Some series begin to falter and fade over time, while others simply hit a wall and disappear forever. It all comes down to money, and one flop can kill a franchise.
Even the most popular movie series in history have dropped some bombs, and it’s practically a mathematical inevitability when franchises go past five or six installments. This is almost always the end of a movie series, but they do occasionally bounce back after a misstep. This is especially true when external factors impact box offices, or when a series goes away for a while and makes a triumphant return.
However, a select few have avoided the box office downturn altogether and remained profitable in every single entry. Even if some of the movies were not as successful as others, these franchises never had any noteworthy misses. A movie is considered a bomb when it loses a significant amount of money, and not just when it underperforms or breaks even.
For the purposes of this list, only franchises with at least five installments are considered. It’s also important to note that only franchises with theatrical releases are included, since streaming-exclusive films exist in their own sphere of success or failure. These series are pretty big hitters, and not only have they never produced a flop, but they are almost always smash-hits at the box office too.
5
John Wick (2014-2025)
Chad Stahelski’s visually-stunning revenge flick set a new standard for action movies in 2014, and it naturally spawned a franchise that’s going strong to this day. John Wick isn’t just popular because of its pulse-pounding action, but the franchise features rich lore and engrossing characters that make audiences want to know more. The five-movie series has also been box office gold.
Box offices grew with each installment, until John Wick: Chapter 4 topped out at $447 million. Though Ballerina was a major step back in terms of overall gross, the spinoff still performed well enough to avoid being called a flop. It’s unclear if the future spinoffs will keep the franchise’s perfect record going, but for now, John Wick is in rare company. If the title character ever returns, it’s bound to break box office records.
4
Toy Story (1995-2026)
Toy Story broke new ground by being the first fully CGI animated film in history, but it was the storytelling that made it a true classic. Pixar quickly produced a sequel, and it became the animation studio’s first franchise. To this day, Toy Story is one of the biggest children’s properties on the planet, and even after five movies, it has never once faltered at the box office.
Not only has there never been a bomb in the Toy Story franchise, but it’s one of the few long-running series with three billion-dollar movies. 2026’s Toy Story 5 has already crossed the billion-dollar mark, and there seems to be no fatigue with the 30-year-old franchise. If Pixar were to make a sixth movie, there’s no doubt that it would be just as successful as its predecessors.
3
Mission: Impossible (1996-2025)
With eight total movies, the Mission: Impossible franchise is one of the longest-running action series in history. The Tom Cruise vehicle started with a bang all the way back in 1996, and wrapped up with The Final Reckoning in 2025. If it is truly over, then Mission: Impossible pulled off one of the most impossible challenges at the box office over nearly 30 years. It never produced a single flop.
Interestingly, the Mission: Impossible franchise began to falter by its third installment. Mission: Impossible III made the least of any film in the entire series, but was still a massive box office success. Things picked back up with the fourth film, and the franchise never really looked back. Five more movies would come over the next two decades, and every one of them were hits. The franchise is especially unique because every movie is actually good.
2
Harry Potter (2001-2011)
Unlike so many other young adult book series adaptations, the producers of the Harry Potter movie series stuck with it until the very end. Naturally, that wasn’t a very difficult decision for them because all eight film in the franchise were massive box office hits. Beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and ending with The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the franchise grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
Nearly every movie in the series approached the billion-dollar mark, with the last installment surpassing it significantly. The Prisoner of Azkaban was the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, but it still made over $700 million in a competitive year for blockbusters. Even the most successful movie franchises have a low point, but Harry Potter spent a decade at the top with nobody even coming close.
1
Alien (1979-2024)
This may come as something of a surprise, but the Alien franchise has been going since 1979 without a single flop to tarnish its record. Combining classic horror chills with a brilliant science fiction premise, Ridley Scott’s vision has spawned a massive franchise that has touched nearly every corner of media. Amazingly, all nine movies in the franchise have surpassed the $100 million mark.
Including the two Alien vs. Predator films, the sci-fi horror franchise is spotless in terms of box office record. Though some films certainly did worse than others, none of them could be considered outright flops. The franchise hit its high point with 2012’s Prometheus, which scored more than $400 million and is one of the highest-grossing horror films ever made. However, adjusting for inflation, the original Alien made nearly $900 million.
1997’s Alien Resurrection got abysmal reviews and is generally reviled by fans of the franchise, but even the series’ most lackluster installment didn’t bomb. It cost $70 million to make and grossed about $160 million at the box office. This means the fourth film in the franchise likely broke even or even turned a small profit when all other costs are factored into the equation. It remains to be seen if the tenth Alien movie will keep the streak alive.
