(The list includes everything!)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
The first MCU film was Iron Man (2008), which began the first phase of films culminating in the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015). Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". Phase Four will begin with Black Widow (2020) and is set to conclude with Thor: Love and Thunder (2021).
Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC in the 2013–14 television season, followed by online streaming with Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix in 2015 and Marvel's Runaways on Hulu in 2017, and then to cable television with Marvel's Cloak & Dagger on Freeform in 2018. Marvel Television also produced the digital series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot. Marvel Studios also expanded to online streaming with Disney+ for tie-in shows, starting with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2020, along with Helstrom on Hulu, which was inherited from Marvel Television following its closure and folding into Marvel Studios. Soundtrack albums have been released for all the films and many of the television series, as well compilation albums containing existing music heard in the films. The MCU also includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics, while Marvel Studios has also produced a series of direct-to-video short films and a viral marketing campaign for its films and the universe with the faux news program WHIH Newsfront.
(only the movies in this list)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
The first MCU film was Iron Man (2008), which began the first phase of films culminating in the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015). Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". Phase Four will begin with Black Widow (2020) and is set to conclude with Thor: Love and Thunder (2021).
The fictional character Spider-Man, a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared in eleven live-action films since his inception, not including fan made shorts and guest appearances in other Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Spider-Man is the alter-ego of Peter Parker, a talented young freelance photographer and aspiring scientist imbued with superhuman abilities after being bitten by a radioactive/genetically-altered spider.
The first live-action film based on Spider-Man was the unauthorized short Spider-Man by Donald F. Glut in 1969. This was followed by Spider-Man, an American made-for-television film that premiered on the CBS network in 1977. It starred Nicholas Hammond and was intended as a backdoor pilot for what became a weekly episodic TV series.
The rights to further films featuring the character were purchased in 1985, and moved through various production companies and studios before being secured by Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures) for $10 million (plus 5% of any movies' gross revenue and half the revenue from consumer products),[1] who hired Sam Raimi to direct Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) starring Tobey Maguire. The first two films were met with positive reviews from critics, while the third film received mixed reviews.
In 2010, Sony announced that the franchise would be rebooted. Marc Webb was hired to direct, with Andrew Garfield starring, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was released to positive reviews. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) saw mixed reviews.
In February 2015, Disney, Marvel Studios and Sony announced a deal to share the Spider-Man film rights, leading to a new iteration of Spider-Man being introduced and integrated into the MCU. The deal allowed Sony to distribute and have final creative control over MCU films where Spider-Man is the main character, while Disney distributed the ones where he is not. Tom Holland portrays this younger version of Spider-Man, appearing in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). All of Spider-Man's MCU appearances received positive reviews. In August 2019, Disney and Sony could not reach a new agreement regarding Spider-Man films, with Marvel Studios and Feige said to no longer have any involvement in future films. The following month, a new agreement was reached, with a third MCU Spider-Man film set for release in July 2021.
X-Men (or The X-Men Saga) is an American superhero film series based on the fictional superhero team of the same name, who originally appeared in a series of comic books created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and published by Marvel Comics. 20th Century Fox obtained the film rights to the characters in 1994, and after numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct the first film, released in 2000, and its sequel, X2 (2003), while Brett Ratner directed X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
After each film outgrossed its predecessor, several spin-off films were released, including three Wolverine films (2009–2017), four X-Men prequels (2011–2019) and two Deadpool films (2016–2018), with a film based on The New Mutants comics set to conclude the series in 2020.
(MCU + other TV Series in this list)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series are American superhero television shows based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. They are set in, or inspired by, the shared universe of the MCU film franchise.
The MCU first expanded to television after the creation of Marvel Television in 2010, with that studio producing 12 series alongside ABC Studios and its production division ABC Signature Studios. These premiered across broadcast, streaming, and cable television on ABC, Netflix and Hulu, and Freeform, respectively. The main ABC series were inspired by the films and featured film characters, and were referred to as the "Marvel Heroes" series. A connected group of series for Netflix were called the "Marvel Knights" series, and crossed over with each other. Young adult-focused series were produced for Freeform and Hulu, while the latter also had a group of series called "Adventure into Fear" planned before Marvel Television was shut down in December 2019.
Marvel Studios—the production studio behind the films—began producing their own series for the streaming service Disney+ in 2018, with at least eight series in development. These are focused on supporting characters from the films, have much larger budgets than Marvel Television series, and interconnect with the films in a way that the Marvel Television series did not. Following the end of Marvel Television's series on ABC, that network expressed interest in working with Marvel Studios to produce future broadcast Marvel series.
Marvel's Netflix television series are a set of interconnected American web television series created for the streaming service Netflix, based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. Produced by Marvel Television and ABC Studios, they are set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledge the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series. Marvel collectively refers to the group of shows as the "Marvel Street-Level Heroes" or "Marvel Knights" series.
No Spiderman, X-Men & MCU Movies. All the rest.
All the animation movies and TV Series from Marvel.
The Star Wars films and TV productions.
Including:
- Skywalker saga (Episodes I-IX)
- Standalone films
- Television productions
- Television Series
Star Wars is an American epic space-opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. The franchise holds a Guinness World Records title for the "Most successful film merchandising franchise". In 2020, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at US$70 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time.
Star Wars is an American epic space-opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. The franchise holds a Guinness World Records title for the "Most successful film merchandising franchise". In 2020, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at US$70 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time.
The Star Wars franchise has spawned multiple films and television series. Two animated series were released in the mid-1980s. Further animated series began to be released in the 2000s, the first two of which focused on the Clone Wars. After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, only the latter was kept in the canon of continuity of the episodic Star Wars films. Two additional half-hour animated series were ordered, one of which ties into the original trilogy, the other the sequel trilogy. Three live-action Star Wars series will be released on Disney+, with the first, The Mandalorian, premiering on November 12.
DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an unofficial term used to refer to an American media franchise and shared universe that is centered on a series of superhero films, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and based on characters that appear in American comic books by DC Comics. The shared universe, much like the original DC Universe in comic books and the television programs, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters. The films have been in production since 2011 and in that time Warner Bros. has distributed eight films, with a multitude of other planned films in various stages of development. It is the eleventh highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $5.42 billion at the global box office. Its highest-grossing film is Aquaman, which earned over $1.15 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing DC film to date.
The films are written and directed by a variety of individuals and feature large, often ensemble casts. Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher, among others, star in several films. However, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise has non-linear, loosely connected storylines, with greater autonomy for the filmmakers who create each individual film. The first film in the DCEU was Man of Steel (2013), followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019), and Birds of Prey (2020). The franchise will continue with Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020, The Batman, The Suicide Squad, and Black Adam in 2021; and Shazam! 2, The Flash and Aquaman 2 in 2022.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book publishers. It produces material featuring numerous well-known superhero characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and Green Arrow. Most of this material takes place in a shared fictional universe, which also features teams such as the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Teen Titans. The company has also published non-DC Universe-related material, including V for Vendetta, and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo Comics.
A list of television series based on properties of DC Comics.
The Arrowverse is an American media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series primarily airing on The CW and web series airing on CW Seed. The series were developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer, Salim Akil and Caroline Dries, and based on characters appearing in publications by DC Comics. Set in a shared fictional multiverse much like the DC Universe and DC Multiverse in comic books, it was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters that span six live-action television series and two animated series.
The franchise began with Arrow, based on the character Green Arrow, which debuted in October 2012. It was followed by The Flash in 2014, and the animated web-series Vixen in 2015. The franchise was further expanded in 2016, when in January of that year a new series titled Legends of Tomorrow debuted, starring characters that originally appeared on both Arrow and The Flash. Later that year, the CBS series Supergirl, having already crossed-over with The Flash, was moved to The CW for its second season, where it has remained since. A second animated web-series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, was released in 2017, which followed Ray Terrill / The Ray, who would make a live-action appearance during that year's crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X". In addition to the live-action and web-based series, the franchise has spawned three promotional tie-in live-action web series, Blood Rush, Chronicles of Cisco, and The Flash: Stretched Scenes; released in 2013, 2016, and 2017 respectively. A fifth series, Batwoman, premiered in 2019. Since 2014, there has been a yearly crossover event involving many of the live-action series of the Arrowverse. Additionally, Matt Ryan has reprised his role as John Constantine from the NBC series Constantine, initially in guest appearances in episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, before becoming a series regular for the latter, in addition to continuing storylines from the former series.
The 2018 and 2019 crossovers, "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths", respectively, saw multiple DC television series and films be retroactively added to the franchise's multiverse. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" also rebooted the universe, which saw Supergirl join the other live-action series on a new fictional earth along with the series Black Lightning, which had previously been separate up to this point. The franchise has been successful, creating a large fandom around the world and has received positive reviews, where critics praised the themes, performances, action sequences, direction and character development.
The animation movies and TV series from the DC multiverse.
Star Trek is an American media franchise based on the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. The first television series, called Star Trek and now known as "The Original Series", debuted on September 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It followed the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise on its five-year mission, the purpose of which was "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!". The USS Enterprise was a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century. The Star Trek canon includes the Original Series, an animated series, six spin-off television series, the film franchise, and further adaptations in several media.
In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and television westerns such as the Wagon Train. These adventures continued in the 22-episode Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. six other television series were eventually produced: Star Trek: The Next Generation follows the crew of a new starship Enterprise, set a century after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are set contemporaneously with the Next Generation, and Enterprise is set before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The most recent Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, air exclusively on the digital platform CBS All Access in the US. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009, the film franchise underwent a reboot with the creation in an alternate timeline, or the Kelvin Timeline, named after a starship featured in the film Star Trek. This film featured a new cast portraying younger versions of the crew from the original show; their adventures were continued in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Its sequel, Star Trek Beyond (2016), was released to coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary. An additional television series is in development, Star Trek: Lower Decks. Appearing on CBS All Access, it is scheduled to debut in 2020.
Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans of the franchise are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games, figurines, novels, toys, and comics. Star Trek had a themed attraction in Las Vegas that opened in 1998 and closed in September 2008. At least two museum exhibits of props travel the world. The series has its own full-fledged constructed language, Klingon. Several parodies have been made of Star Trek. In addition, viewers have produced several fan productions. As of July 2016, the franchise had generated $10 billion in revenue, making Star Trek one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Star Trek is noted for its cultural influence beyond works of science fiction. The franchise is also noted for its progressive civil rights stances. The Original Series included one of television's first multiracial casts.
Star Trek is an American media franchise based on the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. The first television series, called Star Trek and now known as "The Original Series", debuted on September 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It followed the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise on its five-year mission, the purpose of which was "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!". The USS Enterprise was a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century. The Star Trek canon includes the Original Series, an animated series, six spin-off television series, the film franchise, and further adaptations in several media.
In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and television westerns such as the Wagon Train. These adventures continued in the 22-episode Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. six other television series were eventually produced: Star Trek: The Next Generation follows the crew of a new starship Enterprise, set a century after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are set contemporaneously with the Next Generation, and Enterprise is set before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The most recent Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, air exclusively on the digital platform CBS All Access in the US. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009, the film franchise underwent a reboot with the creation in an alternate timeline, or the Kelvin Timeline, named after a starship featured in the film Star Trek. This film featured a new cast portraying younger versions of the crew from the original show; their adventures were continued in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Its sequel, Star Trek Beyond (2016), was released to coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary. An additional television series is in development, Star Trek: Lower Decks. Appearing on CBS All Access, it is scheduled to debut in 2020.
Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans of the franchise are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games, figurines, novels, toys, and comics. Star Trek had a themed attraction in Las Vegas that opened in 1998 and closed in September 2008. At least two museum exhibits of props travel the world. The series has its own full-fledged constructed language, Klingon. Several parodies have been made of Star Trek. In addition, viewers have produced several fan productions. As of July 2016, the franchise had generated $10 billion in revenue, making Star Trek one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Star Trek is noted for its cultural influence beyond works of science fiction. The franchise is also noted for its progressive civil rights stances. The Original Series included one of television's first multiracial casts.
Brickfilms, videos using Lego, have existed since the 1970s. Starting in 2003, Lego officially made their first film partnership to make films based on their toy property. They chose Bionicle as the property and they made a deal with Miramax to make a trilogy of Bionicle films. Over the years, after the trilogy ended, a new trilogy based on Bionicle was planned with Universal (disambiguation) after the Miramax film contract ended and the first film in the new trilogy would be titled Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. But plans broke between Lego and Universal so they cancelled the fifth film in the series. But they continued on with a film titled Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers. The film received positive reviews from fans and critics and after the DVD release, a sequel was set to star Clutch as the hero again. A mini-sequel and a short film based on Clutch Powers were released and plans for a sequel are unknown.
In the summer of 2009, Lego made a deal with Warner Bros. to make a film based on their property. It would feature many themes and characters and it would be released as the first Lego film in the theaters. In 2011, Lego released a TV series titled Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. Later, in 2012, the untitled Lego film was titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance. Meanwhile, the Ninjago series received worldwide fame and was praised by many fans and critics for its storytelling and plot. The characters on the show had finally developed after the first season and a video game based on the show was released. The show would then be confirmed to exist in the same universe as Lego Clutch Powers as in one episode, Clutch Powers would be mentioned by Cole as one of the adventurers who discovered a mystical Snake tooth. He would then turn it into a trophy. This small easter egg would later be used by fans to speculate that the show and the movie take place in the same world.
Later in the year, Ninjago ended its second season still having positive feedback. A new show titled Legends of Chima would air in January 2013. The show was faster and more productive than Ninjago and it received mixed reviews. In the same year, the "Piece of Resistance" film would be renamed "The Lego Movie" by Warner Bros. and it was released in February 2014. The Lego Movie received wide acclaim from Lego fans and critics for its characters, plot, special effects and humor. Many actors from the Lego universe came to reprise their roles in the film. Due to the success of the film, a Ninjago film was announced to be released in 2017, and a "Lego Movie" sequel was announced to be released in 2018. In 2014, Mixels also debuted. In late 2015, Nexo Knights was introduced, replacing Legends of Chima. On February 10, 2017, a spin-off film of The Lego Movie known as The Lego Batman Movie was released in theaters, only this time, the film's story centers around The Lego Movie character and DC Comics superhero, Batman, and his "adopted orphan son" and apprentice sidekick, Robin.
J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, set in Middle-earth, have been the subject of various film adaptations. There were many early failed attempts to bring the fictional universe to life in screen, some even rejected by the author himself, who was skeptical of the prospects of an adaptation. While animated and live-action shorts were made off of Tolkien in 1967 and 1971, the first commercial depiction of the book onscreen was in an animated TV special in 1977. In 1978 the first big screen adaptation of the fictional setting was introduced in the animated The Lord of the Rings.
The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt films before being sold perpetually to United Artists, who then partially passed them to Fantasy films. During this time, filmmakers who attempted to adapt Tolkien's works include William Snyder, Peter Shaffer, John Boorman, Ralph Bakshi, Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro. Other filmmakers and producers who were interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney, Forrest Ackerman, Denis O'Dell (who contacted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michaelangelo Antonioni to direct) and Heinz Edelmann.
New Line Cinema released the first part of director Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film series in 2001 as part of a trilogy and several actors and roles were introduced once again in a trilogy in The Hobbit film series. In 2017, Amazon co-operated with New Line to acquire the TV rights to adapt a new prequel show set in a period glimpsed during a flashback in The Lord of the Rings films.
There have also been a biopic of Tolkien's, as well as fan films of Middle-earth such as The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope, which were uploaded to YouTube on May 8, 2009 and December 11, 2009 respectively.
Harry Potter is a British-American film series based on the eponymous novels by author J. K. Rowling. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. and consists of eight fantasy films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). A spin-off prequel series will consist of five films started with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), marking the beginning of the Wizarding World shared media franchise.
The series was mainly produced by David Heyman, and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson as the three leading characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Four directors worked on the series: Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates. Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), while the remaining films' screenplays were written by Steve Kloves. Production took place over ten years, with the main story arc following Harry Potter's quest to overcome his arch-enemy Lord Voldemort.
The Wizarding World (previously known as J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World) is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on a series of films, based on the Harry Potter novel series by J. K. Rowling. The films have been in production since 2000, and in that time ten films have been produced—eight are adaptations of the Harry Potter novels and two are part of the Fantastic Beasts series, with more films already slated to come out in the coming years. The films are owned and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and three more are in various stages of production. The series has collectively grossed over $9.2 billion at the global box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time (behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars).
The stories follow the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). Characters such as Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) follow Jack, Will and Elizabeth in the course of the films. The fourth film features Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and Angelica (Penélope Cruz), while the fifth film features Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario). The films take place in a fictionalized historical setting; a world ruled by the British Empire, the East India Trading Company (based on the real East India Trading Company) and the Spanish Empire, with pirates representing freedom from the ruling powers.
The film series started in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which received positive reviews from critics and grossed US$654 million worldwide. After the first film's success, Walt Disney Pictures revealed that a film series was in the works. The franchise's second film, subtitled Dead Man's Chest, was released three years later in 2006; the sequel proved successful, breaking financial records worldwide the day of its premiere. Dead Man's Chest ended up being the number one film of the year upon earning almost $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The third film in the series, subtitled At World's End, followed in 2007 earning $960 million, and Disney released a fourth film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, in 2011 in conventional 2D, Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D. On Stranger Tides succeeded in also grossing more than $1 billion, becoming the second film in the franchise and only the eighth film in history to achieve this.
The franchise has grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide; it is the 14th-highest-grossing film series of all time, and it was the first franchise where more than one film grossed $1 billion worldwide.
Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology that began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1984, a prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, was released, and in 1989, a sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A fourth film followed in 2008, titled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A fifth film is in development and is provisionally scheduled to be released in 2022. The series was created by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. The first four films were directed by Steven Spielberg.
In 1992, the franchise expanded to a television series with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, portraying the character as a child and his adventures with his father. Marvel Comics began publishing The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones in 1983, and Dark Horse Comics gained the comic book rights to the character in 1991. Novelizations of the films have been published, as well as many novels with original adventures, including a series of German novels by Wolfgang Hohlbein, twelve novels set before the films published by Bantam Books, and a series set during the character's childhood inspired by the television show. Numerous Indiana Jones video games have been released since 1982.
All the movies from the "Terminator" universe.
Terminator is an American media franchise created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. The franchise encompasses a series of science fiction action films, comics, novels, and additional media, concerning battles between Skynet's synthetic intelligent machine network and John Connor's Resistance forces with the rest of the human race. Skynet's most well-known products in its genocidal goals are the various terminator models, such as the T-800, who is portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger starting with the original Terminator film in 1984. By 2010, the franchise had generated $3 billion in revenue.
The "Planet of Apes" movies ranked by release date.
Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des singes, translated into English as Planet of the Apes or Monkey Planet. Its 1968 film adaptation, Planet of the Apes, was a critical and commercial hit, initiating a series of sequels, tie-ins, and derivative works. Arthur P. Jacobs produced the first five Apes films through APJAC Productions for distributor 20th Century Fox.
The Conjuring Universe is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of supernatural horror films, produced by New Line Cinema, The Safran Company and Atomic Monster Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The films present a dramatization of the supposed real-life cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent yet controversial cases of haunting. The main series follows their attempts to assist people who find themselves possessed by demonic spirits, while the spin-off films focus on the origins of some of the entities the Warrens have encountered.
Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction media franchise centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment bought the rights to the novel by Michael Crichton before it was even published. The book was successful, as was Steven Spielberg's 1993 film adaptation. The film received a theatrical 3D re-release in 2013, and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
A sequel novel, The Lost World, was published in 1995, followed by a film adaptation in 1997. Subsequent films in the series, including Jurassic Park III (2001), are not based on the novels. Numerous video games and comic books based on the franchise have been created since the release of the 1993 film, and several water rides have been opened at various Universal theme parks. As of 2000, the franchise had generated $5 billion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The fourth film, Jurassic World, was initially scheduled to be released in 2005, but was delayed numerous times and was ultimately released in June 2015. It became the first film to gross over $500 million worldwide in its opening weekend, and grossed over $1.6 billion through the course of its theatrical run, making it the third highest-grossing film at the time. It was also the second highest-grossing film of 2015. When adjusted for monetary inflation, Jurassic World is the second highest-grossing film in the franchise after Jurassic Park. Since the film's release, the franchise has continued to use the Jurassic World name.
A fifth film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, was released in June 2018. The film grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the third Jurassic film to pass the billion dollar mark. It is the third highest-grossing film of 2018 and the 13th highest-grossing film of all time. A sixth film, titled Jurassic World: Dominion, is scheduled to be released on June 11, 2021. Lego has produced several animated projects based on the Jurassic World films, including a miniseries released in 2019. Netflix and DreamWorks Animation also plan to release an animated series, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, in 2020.
Underworld is a series of action horror films created by Len Wiseman, Kevin Grevioux, and Danny McBride. The first film, Underworld, was released in 2003. It tells the story of Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire who works as a Death Dealer, killing the lycans who allegedly slaughtered her family. The second film, Underworld: Evolution, was released in 2006. In this film, Selene takes Michael Corvin, a Lycan/vampire hybrid, to a vampire safehouse and plans to return to Viktor's estate to awaken another elder Markus, whom they discover is the first Vampire and a powerful enemy. The third film, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, is the prequel to the series, chronicling the origins of the vampire-Lycan war (it was released on January 23, 2009). The fourth film, Underworld: Awakening, is the sequel to Underworld: Evolution and was released on January 20, 2012. In this film, humans have discovered the existence of the vampire and Lycan clans, and are trying to eradicate both species. A fifth film titled Underworld: Blood Wars was released internationally on November 24, 2016, and in the United States on January 6, 2017.
Die Hard is an American action film series that originated with Roderick Thorp's novel Nothing Lasts Forever. All five films revolve around the character of John McClane (portrayed by Bruce Willis), a New York City/Los Angeles police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of violent crises and intrigues where he is the only hope against disaster. The films have grossed a combined $1.4 billion worldwide. Die Hard, Die Hard 2, and Live Free or Die Hard received positive reviews from critics, while Die Hard with a Vengeance received mixed reviews, and A Good Day to Die Hard was negatively received.
Ip Man is a series of Hong Kong biographical martial arts films based on the life events of the Wing Chun master of the same name. The progenitor of the series was Ip Man (2008), which followed by two sequels – Ip Man 2 (2010), Ip Man 3 (2015), the spin-off Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018) and another sequel Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019). All four main films are directed by Wilson Yip, written by Edmond Wong, produced by Raymond Wong and star Donnie Yen. Mandarin Films released the first two films in Hong Kong, which earned more than $37 million with a budget of around $24.6 million. Donnie Yen has mentioned each film has a unique theme, that the first Ip Man film was about "Survival", Ip Man 2 focuses on "Making a Living and Adaptation", Ip Man 3 focuses on "Life" itself, while Ip Man 4 focuses on "Racist discrimination".
The Unbreakable trilogy, officially known as the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, is an American superhero thriller and psychological horror film series. The films were written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The trilogy consists of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016), and Glass (2019).
All of the films feature the character David Dunn. The series has been noted for its differences from more traditional superhero movies, with Shyamalan's work referred to as "the first auteur shared superhero universe". It is the first superhero franchise that is written and directed by one person, in comparison to other popular films in the genre. Shyamalan has noted that while it is based on comic book superheroes, and refers to comic books, it is not actually derived from comic book material itself. In contrast to most superhero films, the series is also generally grounded in reality, and is seen as a deconstruction of the superhero genre. The series is thus considered to be a unique take on the superhero genre.
The filmmaker has stated that the films are origin stories of people with unique gifts, with the intent being to acknowledge that every person has something special about them. Unbreakable has been labeled the first grounded superhero film, while Split has been called the first solo supervillain origin story, and Hollywood's first stealth sequel.
Fast & Furious (originally The Fast and the Furious) is an American media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with illegal street racing, heists and spies. The franchise also includes short films, a television series, live shows, video games and theme park attractions. It is distributed by Universal Pictures.
The first film was released in 2001, which began the original trilogy of films focused on racing, and culminated in the standalone film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). The series then went under a soft reboot with Fast & Furious (2009), which transitioned the series toward heists and spying, and was followed by four sequels. Another sequel is set to be released in 2021, with a tenth and final film also planned. The main films are collectively known as The Fast Saga.
Universal expanded the series to include the spin-off film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), while its subsidiary DreamWorks Animation followed this with the animated web television series Fast & Furious Spy Racers. Soundtrack albums have been released for all the films, as well as compilation albums containing existing music heard in the films. Two short films that tie into the series have also been released.
The series has been commercially successful and is Universal's biggest franchise, as of 2015 ranking as the ninth-highest-grossing film series of all time with a combined gross of over $5 billion. Critical reception was mostly mixed to negative for the first four films, while later films in the series were more positively received. Outside of the films, The Fast Saga has been the focus of other media, including attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood, live shows, commercials, many video games and toys. It is also considered the vehicle that propelled lead actors Vin Diesel and Paul Walker to stardom.
The Expendables is an American ensemble action thriller franchise spanning a film series, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and originally created by David Callaham, and additional media. The film series itself was created to pay homage to the blockbuster action films of the 1980s and '90s and also pays tribute to the action stars of those decades, as well as more recent stars in action. The series consists of three films: The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012) and The Expendables 3 (2014), with a fourth film scheduled to be released in the future. The series has received mixed critical reception, in regard to its plots and dialogue between the characters; however, many critics praised the use of humor and action scenes. The films have been box office successes.
Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films based on the Transformers franchise which began in the 1980s. Michael Bay has directed the first five films: Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014) and The Last Knight (2017). A spin-off film, Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight and produced by Bay, was released on December 21, 2018. The series has been distributed by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. The Transformers series has received negative to mixed reception, except for Bumblebee which received positive reviews. It is the 13th-highest-grossing film series, with a total of $4.3 billion; two films in the series have grossed over $1 billion each.
Rocky is a series of American boxing drama films. The first film, Rocky (1976), and its five sequels centered on the boxing career of the eponymous fictional character, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). For the seventh and eighth, spin-off-sequels Creed (2015), and Creed II (2018), the series shifted towards Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), the son of Rocky's deceased rival and friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), as the titular boxer with the now-retired Rocky appearing as his trainer. All films in the series were written or co-written by Stallone except for Creed, which was written by Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington. The original film and the fifth installment were directed by John G. Avildsen, Creed was directed by Coogler, Creed II was directed by Steven Caple Jr., and the rest were directed by Stallone. In July 2019, Stallone said that another sequel to the Rocky franchise is in development and there have been ongoing discussions about a prequel television series based on the early years of Rocky Balboa.
The film series has grossed more than $1.7 billion at the worldwide box office. The original film, the third and the seventh have received Academy Award nominations. The first film won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Stallone has received Academy Award nominations for his portrayal of Rocky, in the first and seventh film. The soundtrack of the series has also received nominations for the first and third films.
Rambo is an American media franchise centered on a series of action films. There have been five films released so far in the series: First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (2019). The films follow John Rambo, a US Army veteran played by Sylvester Stallone, who is traumatized by his experience in the Vietnam War, and uses the skills he gained there to fight corrupt police officers, enemy troops and drug cartels.
The franchise has its roots in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell. Stallone co-wrote the screenplays of all five films, and directed Rambo.
The Chronicles of Narnia series of films is based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels by C. S. Lewis. From the seven books, three were adapted —The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)—which grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, but suffered a gradually declining critical and commercial reception with each film.
The series revolves around the adventures of children in the world of Narnia, guided by Aslan, a wise and powerful lion that can speak and is the true king of Narnia. The children heavily featured in the films are the Pevensie siblings, and a prominent antagonist is the White Witch (also known as Jadis).
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. It also stars Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis, and features Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson in supporting roles.
Based on his own fascination with spirituality, Aykroyd conceived Ghostbusters as a project starring himself and John Belushi, in which they would venture through time and space battling supernatural threats. Following Belushi's death in 1982, and with Aykroyd's concept deemed financially impractical, Ramis was hired to help rewrite the script to set it in New York City and make it more realistic. It was the first comedy film to employ expensive special effects, and Columbia Pictures, concerned about its relatively high $25–30 million budget, had little faith in its box office potential. Filming took place from October 1983 to January 1984, in New York City and Los Angeles. Due to competition for special effects studios among various films in development at the time, Richard Edlund used part of the budget to found Boss Film Studios, which employed a combination of practical effects, miniatures, and puppets to deliver the ghoulish visuals.
Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984, to critical acclaim and became a cultural phenomenon. It was well received for its blend of comedy, action, and horror, and Murray's performance was often singled out for praise. It earned $282.2 million during its initial theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1984 in the United States and Canada, and the then-highest-grossing comedy ever. It was the number-one film in theaters for seven consecutive weeks and one of only four films to gross more than $100 million that year. Further theatrical releases have increased the total gross to around $295.2 million, making it one of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Its theme song, "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr., was also a number-one hit.
With its effect on popular culture, and a dedicated fan following, the success of Ghostbusters launched a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise. This included the popular animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (1986), its sequel Extreme Ghostbusters (1997), video games, board games, comic books, clothing, music, and haunted attractions. Ghostbusters was followed in 1989 by Ghostbusters II, which fared less well financially and critically, and attempts to develop a second sequel paused in 2014 following Ramis's death. After a 2016 reboot received mixed reviews and underperformed financially, a second sequel to the 1984 film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was released on November 19, 2021.
Police Academy is a series of American comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. The series opened with Police Academy (1984) which started with the premise that a new mayor had announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The film followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers, and succeeding both in spite of and because of their eccentricities. The main character in the first four films, Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), was a repeat offender who was forced to join the police academy as punishment. The seventh and to date last installment, Mission to Moscow, was released in 1994. Guttenberg in September 2018 announced that a new Police Academy film was in the works.
In general, all of the films and television shows depended on low-brow humor, usually based on simple characterizations and physical comedy. As with many similar films, the theme was a group of underdogs struggling to prove themselves while various stereotyped authority figures tried to suppress them. The sequels have not been well received by critics, although they were generally commercially successful. The first film grossed $149.8 million worldwide and made a profit of $35 million. The sequels earned $387 million in total. Parallels are often drawn between Police Academy and the British Carry On series, for their common reliance on a largely constant ensemble cast throughout the various films, the two series' frequent use of low-brow humor, sexual innuendo and physical comedy. George Gaynes, Michael Winslow, and David Graf were the only actors appearing in all seven films of the series.
The Karate Kid is an American martial arts drama multi-media franchise, created by screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen. The franchise began in 1984 with The Karate Kid, and was followed by three film sequels: The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and The Next Karate Kid (1994). Cobra Kai, a television series that serves as a sequel to the films, premiered in 2018.
The success of the first two films spawned an animated television series that aired in 1989, while a remake film centered on kung fu was released in 2010, set outside of the main story and featuring a similar plot to the original film.
James Cameron's Avatar franchise is a planned series of science fiction films produced by Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios, as well as associated computer games and theme park rides.
The first installment, Avatar, was released on December 18, 2009 and was the highest grossing film of all-time for almost ten years after its release. The planned series was announced by 20th Century Fox on December 11, 2009, one week before Avatar was released to theaters. 20th Century Fox has confirmed the series on January 15, 2010. Note that the sequels only have working titles as of yet and they will most likely be given different names closer to the release.
Like the original film, the four planned sequels have "fully encapsulated" standalone plots that "come to their own conclusions". All four films have an overarching meta-narrative that connects them and have the Sully family at the center. James Cameron described the sequels as "a natural extension of all the themes, and the characters, and the spiritual undercurrents" of the first film.
The franchise underwent extended development. After the development and production of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth films, the combined budget for the first installment and the next four installments is between $1 billion - $2 billion, making the Avatar franchise one of the most expensive franchises and one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, as well as the first film receiving critical acclaim.
Resident Evil is an action horror science fiction film series loosely based on the Capcom survival horror video game series of the same name. German studio Constantin Film bought the rights to adapt the series to film in January 1997. In 2001, Screen Gems acquired distribution rights and hired Paul W. S. Anderson as writer and director for Resident Evil (2002). Anderson continued as writer and producer for Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), and returned as the director for Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016).
The films follow Alice (Milla Jovovich), a character created for the films, who is a former security specialist and covert operative who battles the Umbrella Corporation, whose bioweapons have triggered a zombie apocalypse. Characters from the games also appear, including Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong and primary antagonists Albert Wesker, the head of Umbrella Corporation, and James Marcus, the company's top virologist.
The Exorcist is an American horror film series consisting of five films based on the 1971 novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. The films have been distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and 20th Century Fox.
The films have grossed over $661 million at the worldwide box office. Critics have given the films mixed reviews. In 2004, a prequel (Exorcist: The Beginning) was released. This was the second version of the prequel film made at that time as the first version (directed by Paul Schrader) was deemed unsatisfactory by the studio upon completion, and the entire project was refilmed by director Renny Harlin. However, Schrader's version received a limited release in 2005, after Harlin's, and was titled Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. On January 22, 2016, 20th Century Fox Television announced they were developing a television series continuation of The Exorcist. It premiered on September 23, 2016.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an American horror franchise consisting of eight slasher films, comics, and a video game adaptation of the original film. The franchise focuses on serial killer Leatherface and his psychotic family, who terrorize unsuspecting visitors to their territories in the desolate Texas countryside, typically killing and cannibalizing them. The original film was released in 1974, directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Hooper and Kim Henkel. Hooper and Henkel were involved in only three of the later films.
Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films, a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and tie‑in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings. The original film, created to cash in on the success of Halloween (1978), was written by Victor Miller and was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The films have grossed over $529 million at the box-office worldwide. It was the highest-grossing horror franchise in the world until the release of Halloween (2018), putting that franchise in the top spot.
Frank Mancuso, Jr., a producer of the films, also developed the television show Friday the 13th: The Series after Paramount released Jason Lives. The television series was not connected to the franchise by any character or setting, but was created based on the idea of "bad luck and curses", which the film series symbolized. While the franchise was owned by Paramount, four films were adapted into novels, with Friday the 13th Part III adapted by two separate authors. When the franchise was sold to New Line Cinema, Cunningham returned as a producer to oversee two additional films, in addition to a crossover film with character Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. Under New Line Cinema, thirteen novellas and various comic book series featuring Jason were published.
Although the films were not popular with critics, Friday the 13th is considered one of the most successful media franchises in America—not only for the success of the films, but also because of the extensive merchandising and repeated references to the series in popular culture. The franchise's popularity has generated a fanbase who have created their own Friday the 13th films, fashioned replica Jason Voorhees costumes, and tattooed their bodies with Friday the 13th artwork. Jason's hockey mask has become one of the most recognizable images in horror and popular culture.
Halloween is an American horror franchise that consists of eleven films, as well as novels, comic books, merchandise, and a video game. The films primarily focuses on serial killer Michael Myers who was committed to a sanitarium as a child for the murder of his sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he escapes to stalk and kill the people of the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Michael's killings occur on the holiday of Halloween, on which all of the films primarily take place. The original Halloween, released in 1978, was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, and directed by Carpenter. The film is known to have inspired a long line of slasher films.
Eight sequels have since followed. Michael Myers is the antagonist in all of the films except Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the story of which has no direct connection to any other film in the series. In 2007, writer-director Rob Zombie made a remake of the 1978 film. A sequel to the 2007 remake was released two years later. A direct sequel to the original film that ignores all sequels was released in 2018.
The films collectively grossed over $620 million at the box office worldwide. The film series is ranked first at the United States box office—in adjusted 2018 dollars—when compared to other American horror series. Both the original film and the 2018 sequel have received critical acclaim, while the other films have received mixed or negative reviews from both fans and critics.
Alien is a science-fiction horror/action media franchise centered on the film series depicting warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien" or Xenomorph. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and was followed by three sequels, Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, respectively.
Scott also directed a prequel series, composed of Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), which follows the exploits of the David 8 android and the creators of the eponymous creatures referred to as the "Engineers". The series has led to numerous novels, comics, and video game spin-offs. The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise and consists of two films as well as varying series of comics, books, and video games.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television series, novels, and comic books. The films began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) created by Wes Craven. The series revolves around the fictional character Freddy Krueger, a former child killer who after being burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. The original film was written and directed by Craven, who returned to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write and direct New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed $750 million at the box office worldwide.
The original film was released in 1984. A series of sequels produced by the independent film company New Line Cinema followed. New Line often attributes the growth of their company to the success of the Nightmare series. The film series as a whole has received mixed reviews by critics, but has been a financial success at the box office. When comparing the United States box office grosses of other American horror film series, A Nightmare on Elm Street is the third highest grossing series in adjusted US dollars. In 1988, a television series was produced with Freddy as the host. The pilot episode focused on the night Freddy was burned alive by the angry parents of the children he had killed, though the rest of the series featured episodes with independent plots. Twelve novels, separate from the adaptations of the films, and multiple comic book series were published featuring Freddy Krueger, as well as a crossover film featuring fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise. A remake of the 1984 film was released in 2010, and a second remake is planned.
The Hannibal Lecter Collection (1986-2007)
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character in a series of suspense novels by Thomas Harris. He is a respected Baltimore forensic psychiatrist, as well as a cannibalistic serial killer. After he is caught and incarcerated for his crimes, he consults with the FBI to assist them in finding other serial killers.
Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon. The novel and its sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, feature Lecter as one of the primary antagonists. In the third novel, Hannibal, Lecter becomes a protagonist. His role as the antihero occurs in the fourth novel, Hannibal Rising, which explores his childhood and development into a serial killer.
The first film adapted from the Harris novels was Manhunter (based on Red Dragon) which features Brian Cox as Lecter, spelled "Lecktor".
Anthony Hopkins won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). He would reprise the role in Hannibal in 2001 and in a second adaptation of Red Dragon made in 2002 under the original title.
The most recent film adapted from the Harris novels is Hannibal Rising (2007), in which Lecter is portrayed by Gaspard Ulliel. Harris himself wrote the screenplay for this film.
The NBC television series Hannibal debuted in 2013, and focuses on the development of the relationship between Lecter and Will Graham, an FBI profiler. In the series, Lecter is portrayed by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who won a Saturn Award for his performance.
In 2003, Hannibal Lecter (as portrayed by Hopkins) was chosen by the American Film Institute as the greatest villain in American cinema. In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named him one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years. In 2019, Hannibal (as portrayed by Mikkelsen) was listed as the 18th greatest villain in television history by Rolling Stone.
Saw is a horror franchise created by Australian film makers James Wan and Leigh Whannell, consisting of ten feature films and additional media. Set in an unnamed city in the United States, the first eight films primarily revolve around the fictional serial killer John "Jigsaw" Kramer, while the ninth movie revolves around a copycat killer while still keeping continuity with the previous films. John Kramer was introduced briefly in Saw and developed in more detail in Saw II and the subsequent films. Rather than killing his victims outright, he traps them in life-threatening situations that he calls "tests" or "games" to test their will to survive through physical or psychological torture, believing that if they survive, they will be "rehabilitated". Kramer was killed off in Saw III, but the films continued to focus on his posthumous influence, particularly by his apprentices, and explore his character via flashbacks.
In 2003, Wan and Whannell made a short film to help pitch a potential feature film concept, after having the original script written for several years. After several unsuccessful attempts in their home country of Australia, Wan and Whannell moved to the United States, after several producers expressed interest in the project. It was ultimately successful, and, in 2004, the first installment debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically that October by Lionsgate. After its immensely successful opening weekend, the first of many sequels was immediately green-lit. Five directors[a] have worked on the series: James Wan, Darren Lynn Bousman, David Hackl, Kevin Greutert and The Spierig Brothers; while Whannell, Bousman, Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger have written the scripts. From 2004 to 2010, each film was released on the Friday before Halloween. Both creators remained with the franchise as executive producers.
In 2010, franchise producer Mark Burg said that the seventh film, Saw 3D, would be the final installment. Lionsgate however expressed interest in continuing the franchise in 2012. An eighth film, Jigsaw, was released in October 2017. A ninth film, Spiral, was released in 2021, with comedian and actor Chris Rock as the film’s lead actor.
The franchise has grossed more than $1 billion from box office and retail sales. The film series as a whole has received mostly mixed to negative reviews, but remains one of the highest-grossing horror film franchises of all time. While some critics have called the films, which have acquired a reputation for extreme graphic violence, "torture porn", the franchise's creators, and most of its fans, disagree with that characterization.
The Purge is an American anthology media franchise centered on a series of dystopian action horror films distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes, which are written and in some cases also directed by James DeMonaco, who was inspired by a Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "The Return of the Archons". The films present a seemingly normal, crime-free America in the near-future. However, the country is a dystopia which observes an annual event known as "the Purge", in which all crime, including murder, is decriminalized for a 12-hour period.
The franchise began in 2013 with The Purge, directed by creator DeMonaco, who also directed two of the sequels and wrote the screenplays for all films in the series. A fifth installment, The Forever Purge, was released on July 2, 2021. In addition to the films, the franchise has spawned a twenty-episode television series which premiered on September 4, 2018, and concluded on December 17, 2019; DeMonaco wrote its pilot episode.
The franchise has received a mixed critical reception, mainly for the screenwriting and clichéd stories, but was praised for the concept, acting, style, and action sequences. The franchise has grossed over $450m overall, against a combined production budget of $53m.
The Matrix is an American media franchise consisting of four feature films, beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with three sequels, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021). The first three films were written and directed by The Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The screenplay for the fourth film was written by David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, was directed by Lana Wachowski, and was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue, and Lana Wachowski. The franchise is owned by Warner Bros., which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures. The latter, along with Silver Pictures, are the two production companies that worked on the first three films.
The series features a cyberpunk story of the technological fall of humanity, in which the creation of artificial intelligence led the way to a race of powerful and self-aware machines that imprisoned mankind in a virtual reality system—the Matrix—to be farmed as a power source. Occasionally, some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and, considered a threat, become pursued by the artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it. The films focus on the plight of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians, such as Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving, Abdul-Mateen II, and Jonathan Groff). The story incorporates references to numerous norms particularly philosophical, religious, and spiritual ideas, among others the dilemma of choice vs. control, the brain in a vat thought experiment, messianism, and the concepts of inter-dependency and love. Influences include the principles of mythology, anime, and Hong Kong action films (particularly "heroic bloodshed" and martial arts movies). The film series is notable for its use of heavily choreographed action sequences and "bullet time" slow motion effects, which revolutionized action films to come.
The characters and setting of the films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe, including animation, comics, and video games. The comic "Bits and Pieces of Information" and The Animatrix short film "The Second Renaissance" act as prequels to the films, explaining how the franchise's setting came to be. The video game Enter the Matrix connects the story of the Animatrix short "Final Flight of the Osiris" with the events of Reloaded, while the online video game The Matrix Online was a direct sequel to Revolutions. These were typically written, commissioned, or approved by the Wachowskis.
The first film was an important critical and commercial success, winning four Academy Awards, introducing popular culture symbols such as the red pill and blue pill, and influencing action filmmaking. For those reasons, it has been added to the National Film Registry for preservation. Its first sequel was also a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, until it was surpassed by Deadpool in 2016. As of 2006, the franchise has generated US$3 billion in revenue. A fourth film, The Matrix Resurrections, was released on December 22, 2021, with Lana Wachowski producing, co-writing and directing and Reeves and Moss reprising their roles.
Mission: Impossible is a multimedia franchise based on a fictional secret espionage agency known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). The 1966 TV series ran for seven seasons and was revived in 1988 for two seasons. It inspired a series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise beginning in 1996. By 2011, the franchise generated over $4 billion in revenue making Mission: Impossible one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. As of 2022, the latest item released in the franchise was the action-drama Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which premiered in Paris, France on July 12, 2018.
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Eon Productions, which now holds the adaptation rights to all of Fleming's Bond novels, made all but two films in the film series.
In 1961, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased the filming rights to Fleming's novels. They founded Eon Productions and, with financial backing by United Artists, produced Dr. No, directed by Terence Young and featuring Connery as Bond. Following its release in 1962, Broccoli and Saltzman created the holding company Danjaq to ensure future productions in the James Bond film series. The Eon series currently has twenty-five films, with the most recent, No Time to Die, released in September 2021. With a combined gross of $7.8 billion to date, it is the fifth-highest-grossing film series in nominal terms. Adjusting for inflation, the series has earned over $19.2 billion in 2022 dollars from box-office receipts alone, with non-Eon entries pushing this inflation-adjusted figure to a grand total in excess of $20 billion.
The films have won six Academy Awards: for Sound Effects (now Sound Editing) in Goldfinger (at the 37th Awards), to John Stears for Visual Effects in Thunderball (at the 38th Awards), to Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for Sound Editing, to Adele and Paul Epworth for Original Song in Skyfall (at the 85th Awards), to Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes for Original Song in Spectre (at the 88th Awards), and to Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for Original Song in No Time to Die (at the 94th Awards). Several other songs produced for the films have been nominated for Academy Awards for Original Song, including Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", and Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only". In 1982, Albert R. Broccoli received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
When Broccoli and Saltzman bought the rights to existing and future Fleming titles, the deal did not include Casino Royale, which had been sold to producer Gregory Ratoff for a television adaptation in 1954. After Ratoff's death, the rights passed to Charles K. Feldman, who subsequently produced the Bond spoof Casino Royale in 1967. A legal case ensured that the film rights to the novel Thunderball were held by Kevin McClory, as he, Fleming and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham had written a film script on which the novel was based. Although Eon Productions and McClory joined forces to produce Thunderball, McClory still retained the rights to the story and adapted Thunderball into 1983's non-Eon entry, Never Say Never Again. Distribution rights to both of those films are currently held by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, which distributes Eon's regular series.
John Wick is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned.
The franchise began with the release of John Wick in 2014, followed by two sequels, John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in 2019. The three films were considered critical and commercial successes, with a collective gross of more than $587 million worldwide. A fourth installment, John Wick: Chapter 4, is in post-production and has a release date of March 24, 2023. Two spin-offs are in development for a 2023 release: the limited series The Continental, and film Ballerina, while a fifth main installment, originally intended to be shot back-to-back with the fourth film, is also in development.
Charlie's Angels is an American media franchise created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which began with the original television series of the same name. The franchise follow the adventures of the Angels, a team of women working for the Townsend Agency, a private secret agent agency, under the leadership of Charlie Townsend, their unseen boss.
The original television series enjoyed huge popularity with audiences and was a top ten hit in the Nielsen ratings for its first two seasons. Following its cancellation in 1981, the series continues to have a 1970s American cult and pop culture following through syndication and DVD releases. A numerous variety of merchandise were produced, including dolls, a toy line, board games, beauty products, several sets of trading cards and a comic book series by Dynamite Entertainment.
A film series was launched in 2000. Taking place after the events of the original series, the films are a continuation of the story with later generations of Angels. The films receive mixed reviews from critics and have grossed a total of $596 million, against a combined budget of $261 million.
The franchise was rebooted in 2011 with a television series of the same name, which was canceled after seven episodes. Following the cancellation, a third film was produced which restored the original timeline of the franchise.
