Strange Money
Unexpected ways familiar franchises have made or spent money, from branded jets to Broadway shows. Every story links to a source, and its number will not change.
Story 01
$14.5M
The Yokohama Anpanman Children's Museum brings in about ¥1.5B (~$14.5M) a year for Nippon TV's group.
Story 02
$1.45B
Barbie's first live-action film grossed $1.446B in 2023. That was more than any Batman, Spider-Man or Star Wars film released that decade.
Story 03
$1.4B
Disney's first Broadway musical grossed over $1.4B worldwide by 2005.
Story 04
$1B
Modern Warfare 3 reached $1B in 16 days in 2011, beating Avatar's record by a day.
Story 05
$2B
Care Bears merchandise made $2B in the 1980s. The characters were created by a greeting-card company committee, not a studio.
Story 06
$10B
Cars passed $10B in global merchandise sales within five years of the 2006 film. Most of it came from die-cast toy cars.
Story 07
$155M
Frozen grossed about $155M on Broadway before the pandemic brought the show to an early close.
Story 08
$8B
Hello Kitty merchandise made roughly $8B in retail sales in 2013 alone. Sanrio says the character is a little girl, not a cat.
Story 09
$45M
Heineken reportedly paid about $45M for James Bond to drink its lager in Skyfall instead of his usual martini.
Story 10
$8.1B
The stage musical has grossed over $8.1B. Forbes estimated that it made Disney more money than the Star Wars film series.
Story 11
$20.9M
Hollywood's first Mario film grossed $20.9M on a $48M budget in 1993. Nintendo waited 26 years before trying again.
Story 12
$253K
A $1 Mickey Mouse handcar helped Lionel recover from a financial crisis in 1934. About 253,000 were sold.
Story 13
$2.5B
By the 1990s, Pac-Man machines had taken an estimated $2.5B in quarters.
Story 14
$345M
In 2017, DHX Media paid $345M for 80% of the Peanuts comic-strip business, which includes Snoopy.
Story 15
$6B
By 2017, The Phantom of the Opera had grossed $6B as a stage show, more than most Hollywood film franchises.
Story 16
$3M
ANA has flown jets painted with Pokémon characters since 1998. The licensing was worth about $3M.
Story 17
$100M
Sesame Workshop received the MacArthur Foundation's $100M 100&Change grant in 2017 to teach displaced children. It was the largest prize in philanthropy at the time.
Story 18
$46.4M
Shrek The Musical grossed $46.4M on Broadway. It is DreamWorks' only Broadway production to date.
Story 19
$212M
The Broadway musical Turn Off the Dark grossed $212M, but still closed at a loss after a record $75M was invested in it.
Story 20
$37M
The SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway musical took in about $37M. Its music included work by David Bowie, John Legend and Aerosmith.
Story 21
$500K
George Lucas gave up about $500k of his directing fee for merchandising and sequel rights in 1977. Fox later regretted the deal.
Story 22
$5.2M
The 1926 book entered the public domain in 2022. A horror film followed, made for under $100k and grossing about $5.2M.
The amounts are estimated revenue. Larger amounts get larger cards, so the layout is uneven on purpose. See how we check sources on Receipts.