Launched in 1996, Pokémon began as a video game created by Satoshi Tajiri and developed by The Pokémon Company – a joint venture between Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and Game Freak. It's since grown into the most successful and profitable media franchise of all time.

To date, Pokémon has grossed an incredible $115 billion (£85.5bn). The vast majority comes from retail sales at $103.6 billion (£77bn), with upwards of 12 billion Pokémon cards sold each year. That's followed by $10.2 billion (£7.6bn) from mobile games, $1.2 billion (£892m) at the box office, $40 million (£29.7m) from home video, and even $3 million (£2.2m) from themed jet aircraft liveries used in promotional airline partnerships.

Now discover the highest-grossing film franchises of all time

The highest-grossing entertainment franchises ever, ranked