History Main / CashCowFranchise

* ''Film/{{Parasite|2019}}'' in South Korea is wildly popular especially for being the first ever South Korean film to win any UsefulNotes/AcademyAward, let alone Best Picture, that tourists flocked to the locations where the film took place, demand skyrocketed for the food products within the film (Sky Pizza, Chapaghetti and Neogurri), and Creator/AdamMcKay has an Americanized television spin-off in the works. Unfortunately, the tourism did not last long because of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to South Korea putting up stringent regulations to follow protocol after the 2015 MERS outbreak.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' provided [[FollowTheLeader inspiration]] for the majority of [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]] and a surprising amount of [[UsefulNotes/RolePlayingGameTerms other fantasy works]], and has several separate universes that continue to grow.

-->-- ''Webcomic/{{Fanboys}}'', [[http://www.fanboys-online.com/index.php?id=42 "It's a Metaphor"]]

A Cash Cow Franchise may enjoy great success and popularity, but it also draws detractors and [[ItsPopularNowItSucks complaints]] about everything from TheMerch to the [[MisaimedMarketing marketing]]. Massive profitability may also be a double-edged sword, as it gives the owner of the franchise more incentive to milk it dry, or the cost of producing so much new material may ''necessitate'' big sales just to break even. It's not uncommon for budgets to climb sky-high because if one product sells well, it will have an increased market value and succeeding products will be more costly (i.e. minimum pay for an actor can go up if said actor appeared in a successful movie).

Compare LongRunners (franchises that last a long time) and {{Franchise Zombie}}s (which continue well past what the creator intended), and see also MerchandiseDriven.

* Iconic superheroes such as ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and ComicBook/{{Batman}} enjoy insurmountable global commercial success spanning generations from various toys, video games, clothing, films, TV series... all this despite the fact that a vast majority of their consumers have never held a comic book.
* Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} and Creator/{{DC|Comics}} seem to have based their entire business models on this trope, especially in the case of Batman. Two separate movie franchises with a total of 7 movies in the span of 20 years, plus numerous animated series and animated movies, and all the corresponding merchandise and toys. Most of them were met with success. If you don't count the Justice League movies 18 out of 23 of the DC animated films have either Superman or Batman in the title. Not that that actually means the movies are about [[WolverinePublicity Superman or Batman]].

* And completing a holy trinity of FrancoBelgianComics (which Asterix co-creator Creator/ReneGoscinny even worked on), there's ''Franchise/LuckyLuke'', which laughs in the face of the general feeling that TheWestern can't enjoy success anymore. The [[ComicBook/LuckyLuke comic book series]] is still ongoing (over 120 albums as of 2023), [[WesternAnimation/LuckyLukeDaisyTown several]] [[WesternAnimation/LuckyLukeBalladOfTheDaltons successful]] [[WesternAnimation/GoWestALuckyLukeAdventure animated films]], two successful [[WesternAnimation/LuckyLuke1983 animated]] [[WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfLuckyLuke series]], a SpinoffBabies series, video games etc... you name it.

* UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows dwarfs all other desktop operating systems put together. It all comes back to 1981, when IBM got a non-exclusive license of MS-DOS for their own 5150 Personal Computer. So every company who wanted to create a clone of IBM's machine -- and that was [[FollowTheLeader basically everyone]] -- could easily get the same operating system.[[note]]That didn't make them fully compatible, as the 5150's firmware was proprietary. Some companies just copied it, and soon had to have a little talk with IBM's lawyers. Columbia Data Products was the first to produce a fully compatible and legal BIOS clone, and soon Compaq did the same, but both kept their work for themselves. Finally in 1984, Phoenix Technologies produced a BIOS clone that was widely licensed.[[/note]] Its ubiquity then helped MS-DOS' successor Windows get its foothold and made Bill Gates the world's richest man. That's not to say it has no competition, however: UsefulNotes/{{Linux}} rules supreme in "serious" fields like web servers and scientific supercomputers, and the UsefulNotes/{{Macintosh}} retains its own very profitable niche.

* The ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fate]]'' series has become this for Type-Moon and to an extent everything in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}. Originally a PC {{Eroge}}, it's been adapted into an anime and a manga, was ported to the UsefulNotes/{{PS2}} and then to the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]], received [[VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia a sequel VN]], [[Literature/FateZero a prequel light novel]], [[VideoGame/FateExtra an RPG spinoff]], [[VideoGame/FateExtellaTheUmbralStar a hack and slash sequel to said RPG spinoff]], [[Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya a magical girl manga/anime spinoff]], [[VideoGame/FateUnlimitedCodes a fighting game spinoff]], [[Literature/FateApocrypha a scrapped MMORPG spinoff that still survived as a light novel]], [[Literature/FateStrangeFake and an April Fool's Day gag that became a genuine light novel]], [[Anime/FatePrototype and even the rough drafts of the original]] have been released as an extra with the [=DVDs=] of Season 3 of Type-Moon's [[Anime/CarnivalPhantasm comedic crossover series]] featuring the characters of ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} both]]'' of their most successful franchises. With nearly half a dozen anime adaptations of it, and its sequels, prequels, and spin-offs all opening up to box office breaking numbers (or at least the video game version of the box office), combined with the fact that fans are continuing to scream for Creator/{{ufotable}} to readapt the [[FanPreferredCouple Fate]] [[CreatorsFavorite route]] after Creator/StudioDEEN's lackluster version, and the success enjoyed by ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' (which just so happens to be the previously-mentioned MMORPG spinoff reimagined as a mobile game), it's obvious that this a franchise that's not going anywhere anytime soon.

* ''Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious'' became the biggest and highest-grossing film franchise for Creator/{{Universal}} following the release of two blockbuster films grossing over $1 billion each (''Film/FuriousSeven'', ''Film/TheFateOfTheFurious''). The franchise has even earned a [[Ride/FastAndFuriousSupercharged ride]] at Universal Studios theme parks. Universal has since decided to release one ''Fast and Furious'' every year throughout the 2020s decade, seeing that $5 billion was made from only the first eight installments.

* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' still generates enough money to support the creator and his family despite rampant ScheduleSlip and a dramatic shrinking of its fanbase. One can only imagine how much cash it was printing at the height of its popularity.

** By far, ''Franchise/{{Trolls}}'' has been their most successful new franchise in the 2010s. Merchandise sales were so big in its' first eight months that it [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/licensed-merchandise-sales-hit-2629b-2016-boosted-by-star-wars-1005108 became 2016's second-biggest selling licensed property]] after ''Franchise/StarWars'' and outgrossed established cash cows like ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol''. By the time ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'' was released DirectToVideo, [[https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/ the franchise had made 750 million dollars off video and merchandise sales alone]]. The success of ''Trolls'' lead to spin-offs including [[WesternAnimation/TrollsHoliday a TV special]] that got nearly 7 million viewers in its first showing in the United States (and doomed any chance of ratings success for ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie''), [[WesternAnimation/TrollsTheBeatGoesOn an animated show on]] Creator/{{Netflix}} that ran for eight seasons, [[WesternAnimation/TrollsTrollsTopia another show]] that recently released on Creator/{{Hulu}} & Creator/{{Peacock}}, a museum experience in New York City and a theme park ride at Ride/UniversalStudios Singapore, which all happened in the span of a year and a half. In 2019, a live show based on the franchise was announced, further expanding upon its profitability.

* Iconic superheroes such as ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{IronMan}}, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and ComicBook/{{Batman}} enjoy insurmountable global commercial success spanning generations from various toys, video games, films, TV series... all this despite the fact that a vast majority of their consumers have never held a comic book.

* Ever since the 19th century, Coca-Cola has become easily the largest soft drink company on the planet. Finding a restaurant, convenience store, theme park or grocery store that doesn't serve Coca-Cola products will be harder than finding a [=UFO=] in the sky.

* Iconic superheroes such as Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/SpiderMan, Comicbook/{{IronMan}}, [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and Franchise/{{Batman}} enjoy insurmountable global commercial success spanning generations from various toys, video games, films, TV series... all this despite the fact that a vast majority of their consumers have never held a comic book.

* ''Comicbook/{{Asterix}}'': Also an internationally popular European comic, but mostly in Europe, Latin America and the francophone world. It has been adapted into numerous animated movies, live-action movies, and [[http://hardcoregaming101.net/asterix/asterix.htm video games]], and even has [[Ride/ParcAsterix its own theme park!]]

** ''Toys/{{Bratz}}'' enabled [=MGA=] to switch gears from making [=LCD=] games to becoming a powerhouse in the girls' toys market. At the height of its popularity, global sales of the entire franchise grossed $2 billion, and the brand had about 40 percent of the fashion doll market, and had an [[WesternAnimation/{{Bratz}} animated series]] and a [[Film/{{Bratz}} major motion picture adaptation]]. For a time, you could find Cloe, Sasha, Jade and Yasmin slapped onto everything a girl would want.

* Iconic superheroes such as Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/SpiderMan, [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and Franchise/{{Batman}} enjoy insurmountable global commercial success spanning generations from various toys, video games, films, TV series... all this despite the fact that a vast majority of their consumers have never held a comic book.