TIME: "Top 10 Long-Running Franchises"

[JamesG]

Top 10 Long-Running Movie Franchises
July 18, 2011



10. Indiana Jones


Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)




The very common mistake people make when talking about this series has to do with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Though it was released after the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom takes place one year earlier, which technically makes it a prequel.

No one was using that word in 1984, though, so everyone considers it a sequel. (Ideally, those sentences should be narrated by a voice in your head that sounds like Comic Book Guy from "The Simpsons".)



Despite a successful trilogy of films, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg couldn't leave well enough alone and added a fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to the franchise that had arrived at a great conclusion (in both story and title) with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Rumors of a fifth film are frightening.













9. Star Wars


Star Wars (1977) *later re-titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope*
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)




George Lucas' 200-page script for Star Wars was more than any one movie could handle.

He used one-third of it for the first movie, and based on the success of that film — which was the highest-grossing film of 1977 and won six Academy Awards — he created two additional films with the leftovers.

Twenty years later, eager to cash in on the continued popularity of his original trilogy, Lucas created a trio of prequel films that hit theaters from 1999 to 2005.













8. Batman


Batman (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman & Robin (1997)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)




In 1989, Tim Burton brought us the first Batman. The film was a darkly comedic, visionary version of the comic strip, starring Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

After a solid sequel, Burton and Keaton dropped out, passing the torch to director Joel Schumacher and actor Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader. The movie was bad, but not as bad as Schumacher's follow-up, Batman & Robin.



Eight dark years went by before indie filmmaker Christopher Nolan rebooted the series with Batman Begins. The movie, which told the story of Batman's origin, saw Christian Bale in the Batmobile and in the follow-up The Dark Knight Heath Ledger as the Joker, whose immersed performance won the actor a posthumous Oscar nod.

Next up is The Dark Knight Rises. Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures recently released a teaser trailer for the film, which is said to be the final in the Nolan series, but given the success of the franchise, we wouldn't be surprised to see another Batman come to life in the future.














7. Planet of the Apes


Planet of the Apes (1968)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)




The original Planet of the Apes has one of the greatest twist endings of all time. But we're not going to ruin it here for you. All we'll say is that some astronauts — the most masculine of whom is played by Charlton Heston — land on a planet where apes rule and humans are enslaved.

A quartet of sequels followed (there was one released each of the first four years of the 1970s), and an unwise remake of the original, directed by Tim Burton, came out in 2001.

This summer's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, starring James Franco, is a reboot that re-imagines the franchise's origins.













6. Harry Potter


Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005)
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (2006)
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010)
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011)




As the sun set on July 14, thousands across the country lined up to wait hours for the midnight opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

It was a joyously sad occasion for those who couldn't wait for the conclusion but dreaded saying goodbye to their old friends.



In 2000, the then virtually unknown actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, were cast in the first Harry Potter film.

Eleven years — and eight movies — later, the still youthful troupe are some of the best-known actors in the world.

And the franchise, with more than $6 billion in box-office sales, is the highest-grossing film series of all time.













5. Halloween


Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III: The Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Halloween (2007)
Halloween II (2009)




John Carpenter's horror film gave bloody birth to the slasher-film genre of the 1980s. Michael Myers, the movie's mute, slow-walking, unstoppable killer, directly inspired Jason Voorhees in the dozen-film strong Friday the 13th franchise.

Halloween's 10-entry series includes two remakes by heavy-metal rocker Rob Zombie (an unsurprisingly fantastic horror-film director) and a sequel — Halloween III: Season of the Witch — that has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other films.

It's about creepy Halloween masks and Michael Myers is nowhere to be found.













4. Star Trek


Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Trek Generations (1994)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
Star Trek (2009)




It took 13 years from the time the first "Star Trek" TV episode aired to the release of the first movie.

Since then, there have been nine sequels, featuring the cast from two different TV incarnations and one reboot.



There's a commonly acknowledged rule among Star Trek fans that the odd-numbered movies are terrible and the even-numbered films are good (or in some cases, just less terrible).

That rule has mostly held, though J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot, the 11th in the series, is probably one of the franchise's best, re-imagining the crew of the original Enterprise as young, cocky, emotional and extremely attractive.

A sequel is in the works. Naturally.













3. The Pink Panther


The Pink Panther (1963)
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Inspector Clouseau (1968)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
Son of the Pink Panther (1993)
The Pink Panther (2006)
The Pink Panther 2 (2009)




How long has The Pink Panther series been running? Let's put it this way: when the first film came out, Lyndon Johnson was President.

Though it's been around forever, the comedy series about a bumbling French detective named Jacques Clouseau has not run regularly — sometimes as many as 13 years elapsed between movies.



Peter Sellers played Clouseau in five Panther movies before his death in 1980 (six if you count 1982's Trail of the Pink Panther, in which filmmakers relied on unused footage of Sellers from previous movies).

Alan Arkin, Roger Moore and most recently Steve Martin have all donned the signature trench coat and mustache, but no one has ever matched Sellers' pratfalls and refined mimicry.

Other actors may appear in future Panther installments, but there will be only one Clouseau.













2. James Bond


Dr. No (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1963)
Thunderball (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Moonraker (1979)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Octopus*y (1983)
A View to Kill (1985)
The Living Daylights (1987)
Licence to Kill (1989)
Goldeneye (1995)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The World is not Enough (1999)
Die Another Day (2002)
Casino Royale (2006)
Quantum of Solace (2008)




Throughout the years, the dapper secret agent may have been played by six different actors, but James Bond has always maintained his swagger.

Based on the British secret agent birthed in print by author Ian Fleming, the first Bond film, Dr. No, emerged in 1962 with the Scottish sweet talker Sean Connery at the helm.

Throughout the franchise's nearly 40-year history, the explosions have gotten bigger and the locations more exotic, but his mission remains the same: fight off evil, save the world, kiss the girl.













1. Godzilla


Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
All Monsters Attack (1969)
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
The Return of Godzilla (1984)
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Godzilla (1998) *U.S. remake*
Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)




The original Godzilla emerged from the Pacific Ocean in 1954 to level Tokyo — and has become one of the longest-running movie franchises of all time.

In his nearly 60 years, the radioactively stirred lizard has battled everything, from the world's greatest armies to King Kong and giant moths.



But what makes the Godzilla series so enduring isn't its comical premise or even its mindless destruction, but rather the sustaining idea that when humanity is faced with seemingly impossible odds, it will persevere — even over giant destructive movie monsters.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...083407,00.html