Disney controls 80% of entertainment category earning $39.4 billion last year; Warner Bros. follows with $6 billionThrough its purchases of Marvel and Lucasfilm, Disney now has six of the top 10 franchises in the world: Disney Princess (No. 1), “Star Wars” (No. 2), Winnie the Pooh (No. 3), “Cars” (No. 4), Mickey & Friends (No. 6) and “Toy Story” (No. 8), with Disney Fairies (No. 11), and Spider-Man (No. 16) in the top 20.

The next studio, according to LIMA, was Warner Bros., which came in at No. 7 with a $6 billion haul, consistent with previous years. It’s doing well this summer with merchandise tied to “Man of Steel.”

Nickelodeon ranked No. 8 with a $5.5 billion haul, based on merchandise for its kids properties. DreamWorks Animation came in at No. 18 with $3 billion; Cartoon Network is No. 22 with $2.8 billion; 20th Century Fox ranks No. 26 with $2.35 billion; and Sony is No. 47 with $1.2 billion, largely due from Spider-Man merchandise.

Overall, character-related merchandise (encompassing celebrities, TV, movie and videogames) grew 2.8% to nearly $2.55 billion in royalty revenue from $49.3 billion in retail sales.

See also the highest grossing movie franchises:

http://pandawhale.com/post/22703/highest-grossing-movie-franchises-infographic