What Your Favorite Movie Franchise Says About You and Your Money

A glance over the highest-grossing films page on Wikipedia presents some interesting trivia. Only two of the top 20 movies were made before 2010. A single movie — Titanic — pre-dates the year 2000. And there are overwhelmingly more franchise movies than solo movies. In fact, solo movies only make up 5% of the list.

For those of you doing the maths in your head, yes, 5% of 20 movies is one.

It’s Titanic. Again.

With movies, as with money, the compound effect is in full force. By the time you’ve seen four movies in a franchise, there’s compounding interest (pun fully intended). You’ve built momentum, you’ve sunk costs into cinemas and popcorn, and you’re emotionally invested in the characters. Of course you have to see the next movie!

Let’s take a look at those top franchises, and what your favorite might say about you…

Star Wars

Movies in the franchise: 9 core + 3 standalone

Movies in the Top 20: 2

PocketSmith type: Digital Nomad

Maybe you were a small-town kid dreaming of a big adventure in the wide, wide world. You might be a passionate advocate for your favored global-scale cause. Whichever it is, you’re happy to spend money where it matters. You love travel, exploring new places, and making new friends; you love it even more when these serve a bigger picture.

Peace Corps, Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, WEC International… if there’s a way to balance work, travel, and fighting for the underdog, you’ve found it. If you can’t travel, you’ll be checking your “Charities” budget to donate to your local homeless shelter or pet refuge.

You also like new tech. Let’s face it, when you’re working from anywhere, a twelve-hour laptop battery is sheer necessity.

Avengers/Marvel Cinematic Universe

Movies in the franchise: 34

Movies in the Top 20: 5

PocketSmith type: Net Worth Nurturer

Ah, the natural multitasker. How else can you juggle family, friends, life admin, multiple streams of income, and have time left over to just enjoy life? Chances are you’re not too fussed with the micro-details, preferring instead to track a few key numbers, such as your overall Net Worth. Like any good superhero team, you know your finances are more than just the sum of their parts. You’ve got them working together seamlessly.

You’re not ruffled when your investment portfolio shows a drop in returns, any more than you’re ruffled when a workmate turns out to be married with three kids and a secret farmhouse. Why would you be? It’s only a temporary disruption. As for you? You’re looking to the future and playing the long game.

Jurassic Park

Movies in the franchise: 6

Movies in the Top 20: 1

PocketSmith type: Budget Organiser

You were the kid who spent hours (or days) playing Rollercoaster Tycoon on your Windows 98 with dial-up internet. You like problem-solving. You love the details, whether it’s remembering that T-Rexes have bad eyesight or diverting that leftover $1.73 from your utilities budget into savings. Your money journey is one big game of Survival Tetris, and you’re on a mission to fit the pieces together.

Of course, you couldn’t do it alone. You want to bring your household on this journey with you. Daily budgets, color-coded nested categories, custom dashboards for each member of the family… you use all the features to keep your finances on track and on target toward your goals.

Avatar

Movies in the franchise: 2

Movies in the Top 20: 2

PocketSmith type: Digital Nomad

Another nomadii digitalis, you’ve worked your way into (or created for yourself) a job where you can work from anywhere — even Pandora. There are a few cons, irregular income being one of them, but for you, the trade-offs feel worth it.

You get to explore new cultures on the regular. You probably have bank accounts and assets in more than one country, and use PocketSmith’s multi-currency features to track these effortlessly in one place. Maybe you’re there for love, maybe for the thrill, but one thing’s for sure: You’re not backing down from the opportunity to actively curate your own life journey.

Disney Animation Studios

Movies in the franchise: 63

Movies in the Top 20: 1

PocketSmith type: Net Worth Nurturer

A natural wealth creator, you’re not too worried about tracking every tiny detail of your finances. With so many movies in the franchise, it’s only natural that one or two would slip your mind! Whether your life motto is “Hakuna Matata” or “Change starts with you,” you lean into it and let the growth curve do its thing.

You’ve found your tried-and-true formula, but that’s not to say you never try new things or add another income stream. Sure, you’ll have a dud now and then, but mistakes are part of life. As long as that golden nest egg keeps growing, it’s all groovy. Just keep swimming on towards your goals.

Rachel E. Wilson is an author and freelance writer based in New Zealand. She has been, variously, administrator at an ESOL non-profit, transcriber for a historian, and technical document controller at a french fry factory. She has a keen interest in financial literacy and design, and a growing collection of houseplants (pun intended).