Highest grossing drag-themed movie franchise

The highest-grossing drag-themed movie franchise at the worldwide box office is the Madea Cinematic Universe (USA, 2005–22), which had taken $291,262,495 (£225,664,355) from 11 films as of 24 March 2025, according to The Numbers.

The Madea Cinematic Universe comprises: Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), Madea's Family Reunion (2006), Meet the Browns (2008), Madea Goes To Jail (2009), I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009), Madea’s Big Happy Family (2011), Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (2012), Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (2013), Tyler Perry’s Madea's Tough Love (2015), Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016), Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017), Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral (2019) and Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming (2022).

The franchise was created by Tyler Perry who plays several of the characters, including the protagonist, Madea’s nephew Brian and her brother Joe (known as Uncle Joe).

Six of the films, including I Can Do Bad All By Myself and Madea’s Family Reunion, are based on stage plays written by Perry.

Although there are 13 movies in the franchise, only the 11 which were released in cinemas are included in this total. Tyler Perry’s Madea's Tough Love premiered on DVD and Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming debuted on Netflix.