New Line Cinema
- Franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “Star Wars” have ruled the box office.
- But other movie franchises are more critically acclaimed.
- We ranked the greatest franchises of all time based on data from review aggregator Metacritic.
For more than a decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has built an expansive set of films while raising the commercial expectations for ongoing movie series.
But extensive film franchises have been around for awhile, and several older series, like the film adaptations from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth books, have received more positive critical acclaim on average than Marvel’s. And some are only getting better as time goes on, like “Mission: Impossible,” which reached its critical zenith with 2018’s “Fallout.”
Stretching from the first James Bond film, 1962’s “Dr. No,” to the latest MCU and “Star Wars” entries, this list we compiled from Metacritic data ranks prominent film franchises by their average critical reception (derived from the critical scores for each movie in a franchise). Insider updated the list to reflect new movies that weren’t included at the time that Metacritic compiled its list.
Many of the franchises that made the cut have more movies on the way. “The Batman” opened in theaters over the weekend. Marvel has three movies coming this year. A “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel is in the works.
Metacritic only included franchises that had four or more films with scores on its site (so no “John Wick,” for instance) and it excluded horror films and animated franchises.
John Lynch contributed to a previous version of this post. This post has been updated.
Here are the 27 greatest movie franchises of all time, according to critic scores:
20th Century Fox
“Die Hard” (1988) — 70%
“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” (1990) — 67%
“Die Hard: With a Vengeance” (1995) — 58%
“Live Free or Die Hard” (2007) — 69%
“A Good Day to Die Hard” (2013) — 28%
20th Century Fox
“Alien” (1979) — 83%
“Aliens” (1986) — 84%
“Alien 3” (1992) — 59%
“Alien Resurrection” (1997) — 63%
“Alien vs. Predator” (2004) — 29%
“Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem” (2007) — 29%
“Prometheus” (2012) — 64%
“Alien: Covenant” (2017) — 65%
Paramount
“The Hunt for Red October” (1990) — 58%
“Patriot Games” (1992) — 64%
“Clear and Present Danger” (1994) — 74%
“The Sum of All Fears” (2002) — 45%
“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (2014) — 57%
The Weinstein Company
“Clerks” (1994) — 70%
“Mallrats” (1995) — 41%
“Chasing Amy” (1997) — 71%
“Dogma” (1999) — 62%
“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (2001) — 51%
“Clerks II” (2006) — 65%
Warner Bros.
“Dirty Harry” (1971) — 90%
“Magnum Force” (1973) — 58%
“The Enforcer” (1976) — 58%
“Sudden Impact” (1983) — 52%
“The Dead Pool” (1988) — 46%
Paramount
“The Terminator” (1984) — 84%
“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) — 75%
“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003) — 66%
“Terminator Salvation” (2009) — 49%
“Terminator Genisys” (2015) — 38%
“Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019) — 54%
20th Century Fox
“X-Men” (2000) — 64%
“X2: X-Men United” (2003) — 68%
“X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006) — 58%
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) — 40%
“X-Men: First Class” (2011) — 65%
“The Wolverine” (2013) — 61%
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2014) — 75%
“Deadpool” (2016) — 65%
“X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016) — 52%
“Logan” (2017) — 77%
“Deadpool 2” (2018) — 66%
“Dark Phoenix” (2019) — 43%
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
“Barbershop” (2002) — 66%
“Barbershop 2: Back in Business” (2004) — 59%
“Beauty Shop” (2005) — 53%
“Barbershop: The Next Cut” (2016) — 67%
MGM
“Rocky” (1976) — 70%
“Rocky II” (1979) — 61%
“Rocky III” (1982) — 57%
“Rocky IV” (1985) — 40%
“Rocky V” (1990) — 55%
“Rocky Balboa” (2006) — 63%
“Creed” (2015) — 82%
“Creed II” (2018) — 66%
Orion Pictures via YouTube
“Manhunter” (1986) — 75%
“The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) — 85%
“Hannibal” (2001) — 57%
“Red Dragon” (2002) — 60%
“Hannibal Rising” (2007) — 35%
Fox
“Planet of the Apes” (1968) — 79%
“Beneath the Planet of the Apes” (1970) — 46%
“Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (1971) — 69%
“Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” (1972) — 49%
“Battle for the Planet of the Apes” (1973) — 40%
“Planet of the Apes” (2001) — 50%
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011) — 68%
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014) — 79%
“War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017) — 82%
Paramount Pictures
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979) — 48%
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982) — 66%
“Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984) — 56%
“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986) — 71%
“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” (1989) — 43%
“Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991) — 65%
“Star Trek Generations” (1994) — 55%
“Star Trek: First Contact” (1996) — 71%
“Star Trek: Insurrection” (1998) — 64%
“Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) — 51%
“Star Trek” (2009) — 82%
“Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013) — 72%
“Star Trek Beyond” (2016) — 68%
ITC Entertainment
“The Muppet Movie” (1979) — 74%
“The Great Muppet Caper” (1981) — 70%
“The Muppets Take Manhattan” (1984) — 64%
“The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992) — 64%
“Muppet Treasure Island” (1996) — 64%
“Muppets from Space” (1999) — 53%
“The Muppets” (2011) — 75%
“Muppets Most Wanted” (2014) — 61%
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (2009) — 76%
“The Girl Who Played with Fire” (2010) — 66%
“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” (2010) — 60%
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (2011) — 71%
“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” (2019) — 43%
Warner Bros.
“Batman” (1966) — 71%
“Batman” (1989) — 69%
“Batman Returns” (1992) — 68%
“Batman Forever” (1995) — 51%
“Batman and Robin” (1997) — 28%
“Batman Begins” (2005) — 70%
“The Dark Knight” (2008) — 82%
“The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) — 78%
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) — 44%
“The Batman” (2022) — 72%
Warner Bros.
“Ocean’s Eleven” (2001) — 74%
“Ocean’s Twelve” (2004) — 58%
“Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007) — 62%
“Ocean’s 8” (2018) — 61%
United Artists
“Dr. No” (1962) — 78%
“From Russia With Love” (1963) — 85%
“Goldfinger” (1964) — 87%
“Thunderball” (1965) — 64%
“Casino Royale” (1967) — 48%
“You Only Live Twice” (1967) — 61%
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969) — 61%
“Diamonds Are Forever” (1971) — 59%
“Live and Let Die” (1973) — 55%
“The Man With the Golden Gun” (1974) — 43%
“The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977) — 55%
“Moonraker” (1979) — 66%
“For Your Eyes Only” (1981) — 54%
“Octopussy” (1983) — 63%
“Never Say Never Again” (1983) — 68%
“A View to a Kill” (1985) — 40%
“The Living Daylights” (1987) — 60%
“Licence to Kill” (1989) — 58%
“GoldenEye” (1995) — 65%
“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) — 52%
“The World Is Not Enough” (1999) — 57%
“Die Another Day” (2002) — 56%
“Casino Royale” (2006) — 80%
“Quantum of Solace” (2008) — 58%
“Skyfall” (2012) — 81%
“Spectre” (2015) — 60%
“No Time to Die” (2021) — 68%
Paramount Pictures
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) — 85%
“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) — 57%
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989) — 65%
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008) — 65%
Lucasfilm Ltd.
“Star Wars” (1977) — 90%
“The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) — 82%
“Return of the Jedi” (1983) — 58%
“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999) — 51%
“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002) — 54%
“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005) — 68%
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015) — 81%
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016) — 65%
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017) — 85%
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” (2018) — 62%
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019) — 53%
Marvel
“Iron Man” (2008) — 79%
“The Incredible Hulk” (2008) — 61%
“Iron Man 2” (2010) — 57%
“Thor” (2011) — 57%
“Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) — 66%
“Marvel’s The Avengers” (2012) — 69%
“Iron Man 3” (2013) — 62%
“Thor: The Dark World” (2013) — 54%
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014) — 70%
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014) — 76%
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015) — 66%
“Ant-Man” (2015) — 64%
“Captain America: Civil War” (2016) — 75%
“Doctor Strange” (2016) — 72%
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017) — 67%
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017) — 73%
“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) — 74%
“Black Panther” (2018) — 88%
“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) — 68%
“Ant-Man and the Wasp” (2018) — 70%
“Captain Marvel” (2019) — 64%
“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) — 78%
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019) — 69%
“Black Widow” (2021) — 67%
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021) — 71%
“Eternals” (2021) — 52%
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021) — 71%
Lionsgate
“The Hunger Games” (2012) — 68%
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013) — 76%
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” (2014) — 64%
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” (2015) — 65%
Sony
“Spider-Man” (2002) — 73%
“Spider-Man 2” (2004) — 83%
“Spider-Man 3” (2007) — 59%
“The Amazing Spider-Man” (2012) — 66%
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014) — 53%
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017) — 73%
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019) — 69%
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021) — 71%
Universal
“The Bourne Identity” (2002) — 68%
“The Bourne Supremacy” (2004) — 73%
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007) — 85%
“The Bourne Legacy” (2012) — 61%
“Jason Bourne” (2016) — 58%
Paramount Pictures
“Mission: Impossible” (1996) — 59%
“Mission: Impossible 2” (2000) — 59%
“Mission: Impossible III” (2006) — 66%
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (2011) — 73%
“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (2015) — 75%
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (2018) — 86%
Warner Bros.
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001) — 64%
“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) — 63%
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004) — 82%
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005) — 81%
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007) — 71%
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (2009) — 78%
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” (2010) — 65%
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” (2011) — 87%
“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” (2016) — 66%
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (2018) — 52%
New Line
“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001) — 92%
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002) — 87%
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) — 94%
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012) — 58%
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (2013) — 66%
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (2014) — 59%
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