The 13 Best Movie Franchises to Marathon Watch

The 13 Best Movie Franchises in Film History

1 | Star Wars

There is a lot to watch when it comes to the sci-fi epic Star Wars, and you should begin by traveling all the way back to 1977,  when we first met space farmer-turned-Jedi hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). The franchise consists of the nine movies of the Skywalker Saga, which began with the first trilogy released between 1977 and 1983, continued to the prequel trilogy released between 1999 and 2005, and ended with a sequel trilogy, which was released between 2015 and 2019. The franchise also includes the spin-off films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and The Clone Wars. If that's not enough, there are also some non-canon movies—like the wacky 1978 Christmas special—and a whole bunch of TV shows.

2 | Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter books made for eight Harry Potter movies—the last book was split into two films—which were released between 2001 and 2011. The lengthy series tells all about wizard Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) journey to take down the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) during his teenage years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Beyond this, there are the three Fantastic Beasts films, which serve as prequels to the events in Harry Potter.

3 | The Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, also known as the MCU, consists of over 30 films about comic book superheroes, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, and many, many more. The first MCU movie was 2008's Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., which led to the four mega-successful Avengers movies, among others. The most recently released MCU movie was 2023's The Marvels, and there are a bunch more films already on the way.

4 | Bridget Jones

If you're looking for something a little—OK, a lot—less time consuming, and more rom-com than sci-fi, check out the Bridget Jones movies, released between 2011 and 2016. Based on the books by Helen Fielding, the three Bridget Jones movies tell the story of Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) and her struggles with her love life, work life, and personal life. Love interests are played by Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, and Patrick Dempsey. A new addition to the franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, is set to debut in 2025.

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5 | Mission: Impossible

Since 1996, seven Mission: Impossible movies have been released, all of which star Tom Cruise as Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt. The films are known for the elaborate and death-defying stunts that Cruise undertakes during filming, including climbing the side of a cliff in 2000's Mission: Impossible 2 and scaling the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, in 2011's Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. And the missions aren't over yet: An eighth film is scheduled to be released in 2025.

6 | Scream

Horror fan? There are a number of franchises to embark on in that genre, from Halloween to Saw, but one of the most fun is Scream. In this universe, the characters are aware of horror movies and their tropes, so there's a lot of meta humor aimed directly at horror devotees mixed in with the scares.

The first movie was released in 1996, and there have since been five more, with the latest being 2023's Scream VI. As with many of the franchises listed here, another movie is on the way. Courtney Cox and Roger L. Jackson, who voices the villain Ghostface, are the only actors to be in all of the movies, while other stars of the franchise include Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Hayden Panettiere.

RELATED: The 25 Best Classic Movies That Every Film Fan Needs to See.

7 | Rocky

Sylvester Stallone created and stars in the Rocky franchise, all about fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, his training, his rivals in the ring, and his personal life. Six Rocky movies were released between 1976 and 2006, and then the franchise spun off into the Creed movies, about Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) the boxer son of Rocky's rival-turned friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). There have been three Creed films so far with—you guessed it—another on the way. There has also been talk about a movie about another Rocky rival: Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) from Rocky IV.

8 | The Lord of the Rings

It took a trilogy of three-hour-plus movies released between 2001 and 2003 to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's lengthy fantasy book The Lord of the Rings for the screen. The story centers the quest of hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) to destroy a magical ring before it brings the evil Sauron more power. In addition to this trilogy, director Peter Jackson also made a trilogy of films based on Tolkien's book The Hobbit, with events taking place prior to those in The Lord of the Rings. There is a new animated movie in the franchise titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim being released in 2024.

9 | The Before Trilogy

If you want to spend a lot of time with a few characters, you don't have to commit to an action or fantasy franchise. Filmmaker Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy features three films all about one couple, spanning nearly 20 years in their lives. The first film, 1995's Before Sunrise shows Céline (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meeting for the first time on a train as young people and then deciding to spend a day together in Vienna. The two subsequent movies, Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) shows how their connection to each other changes over the years.

10 | Indiana Jones

Join Harrison Ford on some outlandish archeology-themed adventures with the five Indiana Jones movies. The fun starts with 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, which introduces audiences to the now-iconic character and shows him trying to stop Nazis from finding the Ark of the Covenant. The latest film is 2023's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and features Ford back in action as the adventurer over 40 years later. Unlike most of the other franchises on our list, this one is actually over. Ford has officially hung up his hat and whip.

RELATED: The 25 Best Coming-of-Age Movies Ever Made.

11 | Fast & Furious

Back when The Fast & the Furious premiered in 2001, no one could have known that a movie about tractor-trailer thefts and an undercover cop (Paul Walker) sent to investigate them would spawn nine (and counting!) increasingly preposterous sequels that basically turn the characters into superheroes. In the ninth movie, they even take a car to space!

Take in all of the over-the-top car stunts and the various globe-trotting missions "the family" find themselves on with the 10 main movies of the franchise, as well as the 2019 spinoff film Hobbs & Shaw, which revolves around Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's federal agent and mercenary characters.

12 | Ocean's Eleven

There are five Ocean's Eleven movies, four of which exist in the same universe. 2001's Ocean's Eleven stars George Clooney as Danny Ocean, a thief who organizes the heist of a Las Vegas casino with 10 cohorts, all with their own specialty. Two sequels feature the same cast. Then, there came 2018's Ocean's 8, about an all-women group of thieves, starring Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, Danny's sister. You can also go way back to the 1960 original, Ocean's 11, which stars members of the Rat Pack, including Frank Sinatra as Danny.

13 | James Bond

We end with the longest-running franchise on our list: Bond, James Bond. The franchise consists of 27 movies and counting with the famous spy played by seven actors, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and, most recently, Daniel Craig. The most recent Bond movie was 2021's No Time to Die, and with it being Craig's last, everyone's still wondering who the next star to order a "shaken, not stirred" martini will be.