The nine movies in the Star Wars franchise, including 2008's animated Clone Wars, have surpassed the Harry Potter franchise at the global box office, putting it in second place for the highest grossing franchise in box office history. The Last Jedi's box office success was able to push the franchise into second place while becoming the highest grossing movie of 2017, beating out Disney's Beauty and the Beast. However, the competition is still far from over. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald is set to be released in November of 2018 and Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out in May, so this tight race will get more interesting in the new year.

The Harry Potter franchise currently has eight of the original movies, plus the spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, making it nine until the sequel hits theaters in November. J.K Rowling's sprawling wizarding cinematic franchise has earned $8.53 billion worldwide and now the Star Wars franchise has narrowly passed it with $8.55 billion worldwide. There are some interesting factors to take into account for both franchises and their new releases that are set to come out this year.

The Crimes of Grindlewald has come under fire recently for the decision to invite Johnny Depp back into the fold after accusations of domestic abuse. Fans of J.K. Rowling have called her out as a hypocrite and several have said that they will boycott the next installment. On the other side of the fence, the Han Solo spin-off movie has had a rocky production and there have been multiple (unconfirmed) reports that Disney and Lucasfilm are prepared for the movie to come out and tank at the box office. But, Star Wars 9 and Fantastic Beasts 3 are also on the horizon, so there is still quite a bit of money to be made for both franchises.

While the Harry Potter franchise and the Star Wars franchise are battling out for second place, they both pale in comparison to the number one spot. Marvel's cinematic universe towers over both franchises with combined earnings of $13.5 billion globally through the release of seventeen movies to date. In addition, the MCU will release Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Avengers: Infinity War, which will see those numbers raise up significantly. Both Infinity War and Black Panther are two of the most anticipated movies of 2018 and are expected to earn some serious money globally.

The true winner in worldwide box office domination is Disney since they own the MCU and Lucasfilm. Now with the recent acquisition of some of Fox's biggest properties, Disney is an unstoppable juggernaut and will dominate the box office for years to come. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald hits theaters later this year on November 16th, 2018 while Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out on May 25th, 2018. Both movies have some controversy surrounding them, so it will be interesting to see how they both fare at the box office. In the meantime, you can read more about the numbers of the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises via StarWarsNewsNet.