Leveraging mature subject matter to the maximum dramatic extent possible, many R-rated films account for some of cinema’s best movies. It’s a fact that is often reflected by superb box office numbers, perfectly complementing a laundry list of glowing reviews. Taking their reduced cinematic audience into account, excellent financial performances consтιтute an impressive state of affairs in the context of just one R-rated movie, but they take on an even more remarkable aura when they extend to entire franchises.

It’s worth noting, that in today’s day and age, the likelihood of at least one non-R-rated movie slipping its way into the franchise is considerably higher, meaning that the selection criteria in this case have been expanded to include cinema’s more storied NSFW series possessing a solitary PG-13 entry. However, make no mistake, these names still represent the crème de la crème of cinema’s R-rated crop, underlining their lasting impact on wider popular culture with some of the most impressive box office results in history, to land as the highest-grossing R-rated movie franchises of all time.

10

Bad Boys

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.23 Billion

While the jury remains out on whether Bad Boys 5 will ever be made, the long-running action comedy franchise is still hanging on to its place in cinema’s top 10 highest-grossing R-rated movie franchises. Spearheaded by the fan-favorite duo of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys has never received the best critical response across a four-movie run stretching between 1995 and 2024, but the crowd-pleasing buddy-cop series has always been a smash hit at the box office.

Grossing approximately $1.23 billion worldwide over a span stretching almost three decades, Bad Boys has proved to be one of cinema’s most consistent financial performers. Aging like a fine wine from a financial perspective in spite of mixed-to-negative reviews, the series’ financial results have actually improved as it has progressed, with its two most recent entries in 2020 and 2024 landing as the two-highest-grossing films in the entire franchise.

9

Joker

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.27 Billion

Playing host to the second-highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, the stunning financial success of the Joker franchise is all the more astounding in light of the fact that the second entry bombed in spectacular fashion at the box office. Devolving into a musical mess, 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux barely failed to break even against a budget of around $200 million, earning dismal reviews from fans and critics to likely sound the death knell for Todd Phillips’ brainchild.

If anything, the catastrophic sequel underlined the success of 2019’s original installment in even greater relief. Carried by Joaquin Phoenix’s iconic origin story performance as the Clown Prince of Crime, Joker’s eye-watering worldwide box-office gross of just over $1 billion is still enough for Phillips’ duo of films to still land as the ninth-highest-grossing R-rated movie franchise of all time with a total of $1.27 billion, underlining the wasted potential ᴀssociated with 2024’s follow up in sharp relief.

8

Resident Evil

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.27 Billion

Based on Capcom’s wildly successful survival horror video-game series of the same name, the Resident Evil movies have never matched up to the games’ acclaim from a critical perspective. For context, entries from the long-running franchise have never clocked in with a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Score higher than 37% across seven attempts, despite a considerably more favorable reaction from audiences.

Fortunately, the series’ fan-favorite reputation has been reflected by its long-running status as an R-rated box office juggernaut. Once the highest-grossing film series based on a video game, Resident Evil’s total worldwide gross stands at around $1.27 billion as of 2025. With a currently unтιтled eighth entry loosely scheduled for release in 2026, the eighth-highest-grossing R-rated franchise in cinematic history is set to undergo another reboot, indicating that a few more zeroes could yet be tacked onto Resident Evil’s already impressive tally.

7

50 Shades

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.32 Billion

Based on E.L. James’ best-selling erotic novel trilogy of the same name, reviews have been less than kind to the 50 Shades of Grey film series. Much like James’ panned books, a trio of film adaptations released between 2015 and 2018 earned near unanimously dismal reviews from critics, despite the unquestionable star power of Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson. All three films failed to earn a Rotten Tomato Tomatometer Score higher than 25%, with the derided second and third entries both clocking in with a rating of just 11%.

However, this is Hollywood we’re talking about, meaning that numbers tend to speak louder than reviews, or even quality, at the end of the day. The seventh highest-grossing R-rated movie franchise in the history of cinema, the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy has earned around $1.32 billion worldwide, underlining the status of James’ brainchild as an undisputed money magnet in sharp relief.

6

The Hangover

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.4 Billion

Chronicling the depraved misadventures of a quartet of unlikely friends known as the Wolf Pack, The Hangover is the quintessential example of a trilogy that peaked with its first movie. 2009’s outrageous original eponymous installment has consistently been lauded as one of the 21st century’s most iconic comedies, only for two increasingly ridiculous subsequent entries to completely run into a brick wall in terms of quality.

However, the franchise’s rapidly declining quality had little bearing on what was a consistently stellar run of box office form. The sixth best financially performing R-rated franchise of all time, The Hangover movies have grossed over $1.41 billion, with their impressive standing being underlined by the fact that the trilogy’s sophomore entry, 2011’s The Hangover Part II, is still the tenth-highest-grossing R-rated movie in cinematic history, despite being released more than a decade ago.

5

Die Hard

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.4 Billion

Die Hard represents an outlier among its peers in the sense that while the long-running action franchise is virtually synonymous with generally NSFW content, it’s actually the only R-rated franchise in wider cinema’s top ten with a single PG-13-rated entry: 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard. While this was a derided choice among many fans, considering you can’t even hear John McClane say his signature catchphrase in the cinematic version, it’s ironic in this context, as the series’ fourth entry proved to be its best box-office performer.

While the franchise’s quality fell off a cliff in irredeemable fashion following the catastrophe that was 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, even the maligned final entry followed the franchise’s usual exemplary trend at the box office. Taking home around $1.44 billion across five Die Hard movies, the Bruce Willis-led action vehicle still retains its spot as the fifth-highest-grossing R-rated film franchise of all time, despite its last entry arriving more than a decade ago.

4

The Matrix

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.79 Billion

With rumblings surrounding The Matrix 5 continuing to persist, there’s still a chance that the fourth-highest-grossing R-rated franchise in cinematic history could yet climb the ladder. Boasting a worldwide box-office return of approximately $1.79 billion from four movies of wildly varying quality, The Matrix doesn’t necessarily feature the same degree of mature subject matter as some of its peers, but still retained an R-rating throughout the series nonetheless.

With a first-rate gross of more than $738 million worldwide, 2003’s sophomore effort, The Matrix Reloaded, still stands as the sixth highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made, more than two decades after the sequel debuted, underlining the franchise’s status as R-rated cinematic royalty. It’s jarring to think that the sci-fi action standout’s prestigious financial standing could be even higher, were it not for the series’ most recent installment, 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, bombing at the box office.

3

Alien

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $1.98 Billion

Playing host to some of the greatest sci-fi horror movies in the history of popular culture, the long-running Alien franchise is invariably regarded as gold-standard cinema, whether you’re looking at the storied series through a critical or commercial lens. Chronicling the terrifying antics of the eponymous predatory extraterrestrials, Alien has produced seven feature-length movies and two spin-off crossovers with fellow sci-fi тιтan, Predator, highlighting its longevity and financial viability in sharp relief.

However, even if one is to discount the Predator crossovers from the franchise’s total tally, Alien would still only drop a single place in current cinema’s R-rated Top 10 rankings. As such, it’s hardly surprising that a total worldwide box-office gross of just under $2 billion renders Alien the third-highest-grossing R-rated franchise of all time, with 2012’s prequel entry, Prometheus, clocking in as its single best performer to date.

2

The Conjuring

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $2.38 Billion

Popular culture’s highest-grossing horror movie franchise, The Conjuring universe only just misses out on top spot when it comes to cinema’s best R-rated financial performers. Beginning with 2013’s eponymous supernatural horror outing chronicling the adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren, seven subsequent highly profitable entries in The Conjuring, Annabelle, and The Nun series, respectively, have seen James Wan’s brainchild beat out genre тιтans in the vein of Alien and Resident Evil at the box office.

While it’s worth noting that The Conjuring’s high placement on the list is due to its strength of schedule rather than any single spectacular box-office performer, that doesn’t take away from its standing as the second-highest-grossing R-rated franchise ever made. Raking in $2.38 billion worldwide to date, 2025’s upcoming release and purported conclusive chapter, The Conjuring: Final Rites, could yet see the horror juggernaut earn cinema’s NSFW box-office crown.

1

ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $2.9 Billion

Playing host to three out of the five highest-grossing R-rated films in the history of cinema, it should come as little surprise that ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool reigns supreme atop the NSFW franchise movie tree. An offshoot of the X-Men franchise spearheaded by Ryan Reynold’s iconic take on the Merc with a Mouth, the superhero spin-off series’ blend of wicked satirical humor, spectacularly graphic violence, and unashamed fourth-wall breaking has resulted in the most lucrative R-rated trilogy of all time.

The ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool movies have taken home just over $2.9 billion across three films since the first installment debuted in 2016, with each subsequent entry becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie in cinematic history at the time of its initial release. Unsurprisingly, given its relatively recent release, 2024’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine still retains the top spot to this day; the movie’s eye-watering total worldwide gross of over $1.3 billion wasn’t that far off both of the series’ previous entries’ returns combined.

Source: The Numbers