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Curated playlist

American film series

  • The Lord of the Rings (film series)A studio wanted The Lord of the Rings cut to one two-hour film. New Line instead asked for three.
  • Terminator (franchise)The Terminator franchise began with a sale that cost the buyer a single dollar. Before the first film existed, James Cameron sold the rights to Gale Anne Hurd, who would later become his wife. He attached one strict condition: he had to be…
  • Star Wars original trilogyGeorge Lucas could not get the rights to Flash Gordon, so he built his own space universe. That choice led to Star Wars.
  • Indiana JonesIndiana Jones began with a beach chat in Maui in May 1977.
  • The Matrix (franchise)The Matrix franchise began in 1999 with a film that cost $63 million to make and earned over $460 million worldwide. That success grew into four feature films, plus animation, video games and comics set in the same universe. Joel Silver…
  • Harry Potter (film series)The Harry Potter films began with a book left on the wrong shelf. A secretary rescued it from a low-priority pile.
  • Dungeons & Dragons (film series)Only one actor appears in both the 2000 and 2005 Dungeons & Dragons films. Bruce Payne played Damodar.
  • Star Wars prequel trilogyTwo Jedi Knights stumble upon a nine-year-old slave boy, Anakin Skywalker, on Tatooine.
  • The Pink PantherThe Pink Panther is a film franchise whose first installment ends with a cartoon animal being run over by a police car. In the closing seconds of the 1963 original, the car carrying Inspector Jacques Clouseau to prison hits a traffic…
  • Star Wars sequel trilogyGeorge Lucas said in 2008 there would be no Star Wars Episodes VII through IX. Three more films still followed.

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