Sharknado, the once-joke of a film, has officially become the most successful movie franchise of all-time. The 4-year old franchise on July 11, made $4.503 billion in “Total Franchise Gross” beating Disney-Pixar’s $4.502 billion, according to filmsite.org.

On filmsite, the definition of a franchise is, “a multi-picture story, often including some of the same characters from film to film.” This makes Sharknado a franchise, and puts it firmly in the lead ahead of “Disney-Pixar,” “The Marvel Cinematic Universe” and the “Star Wars” franchise. In the case of Disney-Pixar, where films have different characters and storylines like Finding Dory and Monsters Inc., the team at filmsite grouped them together because they’re from the same brand.

The Sharknado films have featured a multitude of famous Hollywood stars, such as Tara Reid and David Hasselhoff. More stars everyday dream to have a cameo or a recurring role in this whirlwind of a franchise. The stars understand they can be swallowed by a flying great white shark within seconds, the recognition is worth it.

Following the awe-inspiring first Sharknado are three sequels: “Sharknado 2: The Second One,” “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!,” and “Sharknado: The 4th Awakens.” The fourth installment has an eerily similar poster to that of “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.” It’s been suggested that the design team for the Star Wars poster stole an early concept from Sharknado’s team, according to anonymous reports.

The Sharknado franchise can only increase if it can manage to re-create its earlier magic through it’s fantastic scenes. The shark-infested twisters that pop up at random in California, New York and Washington D.C. devastate the surrounding populations. Their random showings is the reason why there is nothing to combat these twisters. The course of action people take in the movie is to simply take cover and pray that they’re not a meal that day.

In “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!,” an astronaut fights sharks in space with a glowing weapon similar to that of a lightsaber. He then chases a shark into space, gets swallowed whole on purpose and pushes the shark towards the Earth to start re-entry into the atmosphere. The shark burns up while the astronaut survives and parachutes out of his stomach.

The scene is nothing short of magnificent. The special effects are out of this world with the way the sharks fly around their screaming victims. A shark coming down from the atmosphere with an astronaut safely inside is simply genius from director, Anthony C. Ferrante. Ferrante has worked his magic before in the previous installments. In “Sharknado 2:  The Second One,” Ferrante leaves his audience captivated as he puts his own shark-filled twist on the famous movie, Snakes on a Plane. Flyers are left screaming as the pilots fly right into a sharknado where ultimately, the plane has to take on an emergency landing.

The main aspect that might make Sharknado franchise ahead of it’s time might just be the lighting. The lighting in each and every scene makes the adventure that is this franchise believable. The lighting makes you feel like you’re in all of the scenes and actually running from the flying sharks as well.

Trusted sources claim that Mark Hamill, the longtime actor who plays the whiny but famous, Luke Skywalker, in the “Star Wars” franchise, admits that Sharknado is one of his favorite films. Reports have Hamill saying that he would, “like to turn to the dark side and be in the next Sharknado installment.”