The Walking Dead: AMC Reportedly Wants The Walking Dead to be Bigger than the Star Wars Franchise
The Walking Dead has been a cable ratings juggernaut. However, even as recently as this past weekend, the show has seen its ratings seriously decline. This past weekend’s episode brought in only 2.2 million viewers. This is a far fall from its peak of over 17 million viewers in 2014. However, AMC has milked the franchise for everything it could, creating spinoffs and countless types of merchandise from bobble heads to blankets to stuffed animals. At one point, given the show’s success, it appeared as it could be one of the biggest properties ever in the history of television and film. Given AMC’s position to release more shows and films, it’s obvious that AMC still views the property in the same light.
Now, according to insider Daniel Richtman is reporting, AMC wants The Walking Dead to be bigger than the Star Wars franchise.
Wikipedia’s list of the highest-grossing media franchises in history reveals that Pokémon is the number one property with nearly $100 billion in revenue. The remaining top 5 are Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse & Friends and, at number five, with an estimated $68.7 billion, Star Wars. So, where is The Walking Dead on the list?
It’s not.
According to one projection, The Walking Dead would need to generate 35x as much money as it does now in order to overtake the Star Wars franchise. That seems unlikely, given how long Star Wars has been around plus how popular its newest entries are with The Mandalorian and the countless upcoming projects. Shoot, there’s an entire part of Disney’s theme park dedicated to Star Wars. The Walking Dead only had a ride at Universal and it’s now come and gone.
AMC is growing the franchise, expanding with shows Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond. AMC has also announced the new anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, a rumored comedy outing, a cartoon, a show with an LGBTQ focus and a Daryl and Carol spinoff show. Even bigger, but still not in production, AMC announced a Rick Grimes movie trilogy starring Andrew Lincoln, which is scheduled to start production this spring.
A successful movie would definitely put The Walking Dead on the list of highest-grossing media franchises, but with ratings continuing to plummet, is that even a reality anymore?
The Walking Dead still can be rescued with the return of its hero, Rick Grimes. But will the world still need Rick Grimes? We are sure to find out!
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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Just bring Rick back. It will all be good. Stay more on the story line. Then they will all come back.
We need Rick back. He should have never left. He’s an amazing character along with Daryl and Carol and Maggie. It’s just not the same without him. They are a team and family together.
The show still is entertaining but not nearly as exciting without Rick Grimes. The show recently saw the return of Maggie. Think how huge the ratings would be with the return of Rick Grimes. Just as they are showing us where Maggie has been, it would be more interesting to find out where Rick has been. The show should definitely have him return before it all concludes.
I would like to see his return to the show being one of the original characters but not in the total leadership role. I would like to see his relationship with Judith explored and maybe a love interest that won’t end in disaster.
Walking dead is a amazing program and should diffentley be brought back it has a great story line awesome actors and actresses but not only that this programs teaches everyone alot about survival. Walking dead will always be part of of our household lol