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1Sometimes a creator or company will strike gold. A work (film, novel, etc) may spawn sequels, adaptations to other media, and a bonanza of merchandise. Usually, it'll take place in its own distinct universe, the author having significant autonomy, or the time and place keeping it off limit for crossovers, like ''Franchise/StarWars,'' ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' or ''Franchise/HarryPotter.''
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3However, sometimes the creator or company will try to replicate its own success, and come up with creations in similar genres. The similarities are noted and sooner or later the separate creations wind up crossing over with each other--either to pool resources that are individually flagging in interest, or just to enjoy the benefits of a {{crossover}}. This new SharedUniverse is a pretty perfect fit, and eventually it's seen as one giant franchise. However, at some point they may want to reboot only one piece of their mega-franchise, or [[UltimateUniverse adapt the simplest, most distilled aspect]] as it was originally envisioned. Luckily, these properties started out as their own franchise, so they can certainly stand on their own. But what you have is a modular franchise--full of properties that can be self-sustaining on their own, but also easily and even organically marketed as a unit.
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5Similar to CanonWelding, except usually done at a corporate level, and TheMerch plays a much bigger role, if not the entire incentive.
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7See also MassiveMultiplayerCrossover.
8----
9!!Examples:
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13[[folder:Multiple Mediums]]
14* Creator/{{Disney}}'s works as a whole can kind of be considered one giant uber franchise, with sizable subfranchises for the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and Creator/{{Pixar}}'s films, plus whatever else they own (like [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures live-action films]] or the Ride/DisneyThemeParks) that they feel like throwing in. Disney now also owns ''Franchise/TheMuppets'', Creator/MarvelComics, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', making them sub-franchises to the Disney brand. Most of the former Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox properties that Disney acquired have stayed separate, but ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has been folded into the larger Disney franchise as well.
15* And speaking of Marvel, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse brings the ''Avengers'' corner of the Marvel U to movies and TV shows, having sub-franchises for ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/TheMightyThor, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, the Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy, ComicBook/AntMan and the Wasp, ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/DoctorStrange, ComicBook/BlackPanther, and ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}; and various one-off films or series for other heroes.
16* The ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' franchise is made up of (so far) three films and a tie-in manga, ''Cloverfield[=/=]Kishin'', that are connected by an intricate AlternateRealityGame that serves as both the ViralMarketing for the series and most of the WorldBuilding. While the films are otherwise standalone (beyond all of them having the word "Cloverfield" in the title), most of the connections between them are revealed in various websites detailing the activities of corporations and institutions within their SharedUniverse. Furthermore, while it's unconfirmed, various fan theories have attempted to [[CanonWelding canon-weld]] the series with other works produced by Creator/JJAbrams, particularly the TV shows ''Series/{{Alias}}'' and ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and the film ''Film/{{Super 8}}''.
17* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' series has become a popular franchise that includes not only two animated series, but also several comics and even [[Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi a novel and its sequel.]]
18* The ''Franchise/DotHack'' franchise started with a series of four games, and it's prequel anime. Then came the novels, and the manga, and the next couple anime, then the second trilogy (now tetralogy) of games, and so on, and so forth.
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21[[folder:Comic Books]]
22* ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like ComicBook/WonderWoman, ComicBook/GreenLantern, ComicBook/TheFlash, and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line]]. While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing in the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters|DCComics}}'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.
23* Creator/MarvelComics is a little more complex. They will often place things under the [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse "Marvel Super-Heroes"]] banner. But unlike DC's stable, they don't always play well together, and many of their most popular characters aren't even major players in the company's Justice League analogue, ComicBook/TheAvengers. Thus, for the purposes of editors, movie franchises, or toys, they may divide the Marvel Universe into different "corners", with Spider-Man and the X-Men most often being their own distinct franchises. However, this may be changing, with both Spidey and Wolverine now included as Avenger members.
24* The ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics follow the same basic rule as the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon (see below), with all the characters inhabiting the same universe -- but WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and his family primarily stay in the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse, while WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and his friends have the ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse, with the occasional crossover. There are also comic stories that are clearly part of the same universe but don't clearly take place with either Mice or Ducks -- such as WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale's solo comics.
25* Creator/BrianMichaelBendis' ''Jinx'' and ''Goldfish'' don't appear to be part of a superhero universe, but since the stories were published by Creator/ImageComics, and Jinx crosses over with the ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' spin-off ''Sam and Twitch'', the stories could take place in the Image universe.
26* Creator/AntarcticPress' ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' and ''ComicBook/NinjaHighSchool'' shared a universe for years, but since one and then the other each did [[TimeSkip Time Skips,]] they presumably fell out of sync with each other, and the crossovers effectively stopped.
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29[[folder:Film]]
30* Beginning with ''Film/FrankensteinMeetsTheWolfMan'', [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Pictures]] started pitting many of [[Franchise/UniversalHorror their monsters]] against each other, to the point that they formed, for the most part, one cohesive universe with most of the action taking place in an Eastern German-ish {{Uberwald}} setting. For years after, things like video collections, cartoons, and even postage stamps would sport a ''Universal Monsters'' logo featuring Film/{{Dracula|1931}}, [[Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}} Frankenstein's Monster]], the Film/BrideOfFrankenstein, Film/{{the Mummy|1932}}, Film/{{the Wolf Man|1941}}, and the Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon. In 1999, Creator/StephenSommers remade ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', and upon its success combined most of the gothic monsters for 2004's ''Film/VanHelsing'', in the hopes of going through Universal's entire stable of beasties. It didn't work out, and neither did Universal's attempt to give another shot to ''Film/{{The Wolf Man|2010}}''. Another relaunch was attempted with ''Film/DraculaUntold'' and ''Film/TheMummy2017'', with the latter explicitly intended to kickstart a full Universal cinematic universe, the Film/DarkUniverse. Unfortunately for Universal, though, ''The Mummy'' appears to have put the kibosh on that plan. ''The Mummy'' was released to poor reviews and didn't do too well at the box office, with the use of the "Dark Universe" logo before anyone cared about the Dark Universe being met with particular derision, and with the departure of producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, plus the plug being pulled on ''Bride of Frankenstein'' preproduction, that appears to be more or less that for the Dark Universe for the time being.
31* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}.'' Obviously, the Big G is the star of the line, but Mothra is important enough for her own subseries, and pretty much anything by Creator/{{Toho}} can be worked into a ''Godzilla'' film. And, of course, the big lizard himself can be crossed over with just about anything.
32** It even inspired an American version, the Film/{{MonsterVerse}}, which featured [[Film/KongSkullIsland a whole new]] Franchise/KingKong for Godzilla to battle.
33* One of the more interesting examples at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks is the Ride/JourneyIntoImagination pavilion at Epcot (Florida). After the 3-D movie ''Honey, I Shrunk the Audience'', a follow-up to ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', proved a hit there in 1994, the pavilion was completely rethemed to its "Imagination Institute" setting at decade's end. In the process, it became a hub for live-action Disney science-related characters via [[EasterEgg Easter eggs]] or more obvious references. The works thus welded are the ''Honey'' films, ''Film/{{Flubber}}'', the Merlin Jones films from TheSixties, and the Dexter Riley films from TheSeventies... plus the ''original'' incarnation of the pavilion via the animated/Audio-Animatronic dragon Figment (a friendly [[TheTrickster trickster figure]] in this incarnation, rather than a {{Sidekick}}).
34* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse is Creator/DCComics and Creator/WarnerBros' response to Marvel and Creator/{{Disney}}'s success with their film universe (see "Multiple Media" above). While the initial effort tied things closely together -- with many arguing ''too'' closely too quickly -- after ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' [[SoftReboot it shifted]] to making the various entries self-contained. So ''Film/Aquaman2018'' alludes to events from that film, and ''Film/Shazam2019'' acknowledges Superman and Batman's existence, but you can understand each sub-franchise without seeing the others.
35** In a similar move, DC differs from Marvel by making movies that aren't part of their main film franchise at all, with ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'' and ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' set in their own separate universes.
36* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' was an UnbuiltTrope [[DeconstructiveParody parody]] of this concept, all the way back in TheEighties when, while it was seen quite regularly in genre literature and comic books, it was practically unheard of in Hollywood filmmaking. The central gag of the film is that the viewer is watching an installment in a long-running series of pulp sci-fi movies with a backstory that is frequently referenced throughout via {{Continuity Nod}}s and {{Mythology Gag}}s... except that mythology doesn't exist, since this is the only work that this franchise ever produced. It effectively replicates [[ContinuityLockout how bizarre]] an individual installment in a Modular Franchise can look when viewed by somebody who isn't intimately familiar with the rest of the franchise.
37* Film/TheViewAskewniverse, a series of [[StonerFlick stoner comedies]] written and directed by Creator/KevinSmith. In light of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they can be thought of as another UnbuiltTrope example, especially given the large number of comic book and science fiction references that Smith, a [[ProudToBeAGeek big-time fan of such]], put into them. Unlike many of the examples on this list, these films take place in the real world amidst ordinary people without any overt sci-fi or supernatural elements (save for the religious comedy ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', which featured angels and demons as both protagonists and villains), the recurring plot threads, {{Continuity Nod}}s, and WorldBuilding between films mostly concerning the day-to-day lives, interactions, and relationships of the characters.
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40[[folder:Sports]]
41* Professional teams are considered franchises in their own right, but the entire league its a brand name it will try to exploit--using the imagery of its various teams.
42** [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball Football]] goes one step further, since there's both a national league ''and'' continental confederation for any given team. So, for example, Real Madrid is part of the branding of both Spain's La Liga and UEFA's Champions League.
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45[[folder:Video Games]]
46* Creator/{{Nintendo}} has the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series first and foremost, but other pan-Nintendo games include ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'' and ''VideoGame/NESRemix''.
47* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has become modular after having so many successful spinoffs; besides all the games featuring Mario himself, there's the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' series he originated from, the ''VideoGame/{{Wario}}'' series, the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' series, the ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' series, one-off games starring Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, etc. And all these characters join back together for various multiplayer tiles like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'', etc. When Rare was working with Nintendo, the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series and the ''VideoGame/{{Conker|sBadFurDay}}'' games were originally meant to take place in the Mario Universe, but when the company was sold to Microsoft, that became no longer true.
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50[[folder:Western Animation]]
51* Most animation companies will eventually have all the characters from their properties shown to exist in one large community, if only for the purposes of marketing and branding.
52** Creator/WarnerBros places the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes characters in the same universe along with the characters from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}''.
53** Creator/HannaBarbera once pooled their most popular creations for ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics''.
54** Creator/CartoonNetwork did this often in-series with their early Creator/CartoonCartoons, which also played with the Hanna-Barbera universe: WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder appeared in ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', several ''Dexters''[='=]s characters often appeared in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', and WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo met (among others) Franchise/ScoobyDoo. Later, the network would have the "CN City" on-air branding, in which characters from all the shows airing on the channel co-existed in the same city, with the settings for said shows revealed as being neighbourhoods within CN City or as part of the suburbs.
55* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess brand, which is primarily focused on the royal heroines of fairy/folktale-derived films from the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. Various direct-to-video productions, theme park shows, [=CD=]s, the live-action series ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the video game series ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', and so forth have presented the heroines together, and it finally occurred in canon during ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (a rejected concept for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment in ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' would have done so earlier) .
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