From Marvel to Lord of the Rings, Mission: Impossible and Fast and Furious, there's been so many epic movie franchises over the years - and this week's UNILAD RANKED is bringing you five of the best.
If you're looking to get your teeth into one of the cult classics - or re-watch all in one weekend - then we've got a definitive list to choose from.
And with both Jurassic Park and Superman adding new movies to their collections this week - with Jurassic World: Rebirth and the new Superman film starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent landing in theaters - there's no better time to revisit your favourite.
As voted by Facebook users over on the Netflix Bangers group, there were five pretty clear winners.
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This week's UNILAD RANKED gives you five movie franchises that have been voted the best of all time - but which will you binge watch over the weekend?
5) Pirates of the Caribbean
There are five movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
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There was also a short released in 2011 which served as a prequel to the movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code – Wedlocked.
Voted in fifth place over on Facebook, it's clear the movies are much-loved with audiences - and the Rotten Tomatoes scores speak for themselves.
While the first movie had an 86 percent Popcornmeter score, the second and third scored 72 percent, while the fourth dipped at 54 percent and the fifth movie scored 60 percent among audiences.
Johnny Depp starred in all five of the movies, alongside Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley in the first three films.
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Meanwhile, the likes of Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane and Geoffrey Rush also starred.
The OG movie featured Depp as the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow and Bloom as Will Turner, and followed the pair as they attempted to rescue Elizabeth Swann - played by Knightley - from the clutches of Captain Hector Barbossa (Rush). Knightley was just 17 years old when she took on the role of Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Directors of the series include Gore Verbinski, Rob Marshall, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.
4) Star Wars
In fourth place is Star Wars - although you might need longer than one weekend to re-watch all the movies and spin-offs.
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There are currently 12 main Star Wars movies, which can be categorized into different trilogies, as per Rotten Tomatoes.
The original trilogy includes Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi (1983).
Next up, the prequel trilogy, which includes Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).
Meanwhile, the sequel trilogy includes some of the newest movies - Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
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Other films in the franchise are Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).
Star Wars was first created in seventies by George Lucas and focused on a man named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who found himself in the middle of an interplanetary war.
Over the following 50 years, multiple films, spin-offs, videos, books and merchandise have followed.
Many of the films have scored near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes ratings, including the very first movie which bagged a 94 percent Tomatometer score and a 96 percent Popcornmeter rating.
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Some of the biggest names in the franchise include Harrison Ford, who played Hans Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala, Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren.
The Lord of the Rings is one of the most iconic film trilogies of all time (New Line Cinema)
3) The Lord of the Rings
In third place, film fans have voted The Lord of the Rings as one of the top movie franchises.
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The iconic trilogy - which is set in the fictional world of Middle Earth - came to an end in 2003, however, it was followed by The Hobbit film series (2012-2014) and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series, which began in 2022.
And the spin-offs are set to continue too, with anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim dropping last year, and a live-action series with Gollum at the helm confirmed by Warner Bros. currently set to begin in 2026.
The first movie, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, with a 92 percent Tomatometer and a 95 percent Popcornmeter.
It follows young hobbit Frodo Baggins as he embarks on a quest to destroy the One Ring.
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The following two movies in the original trilogy were equally well-received among critics and audiences, making it one of the most iconic franchises out there.
Peter Jackson is the mastermind director behind the films, meanwhile some of the actors included Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Liv Tyler as Arwen and Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.
The original trilogy became a global phenomenon, taking in well over $3 billion at the box office.
2) Harry Potter
At the time of writing, 25 percent of those polled had voted for the Harry Potter films as the best movie franchise of all time.
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The Harry Potter films ended over 10 years ago, but fans are just as obsessed with them now as they were back then.
Based on J.K. Rowling's beloved book series of the same name, the Harry Potter films follow the adventures of its eponymous wizard (played by Daniel Radcliffe) as he embarks on many a-quest with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson).
The movies include: Harry Potter and the Philosopher'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 (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).
Four directors worked on the series: Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates.
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Meanwhile other actors who starred in the films included Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, Alan Rickman as Professor Snape and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid.
Isaacs originally auditioned for the role of Gidleroy Lockhart but was offered the part of Lucius Malfoy instead.
The actor almost turned it down, as he didn't want to play a character too similar to his role of Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
Not only is the Harry Potter film franchise one of the top franchises among fans, it's also one of the most successful too.
The eight movies, along with the Fantastic Beasts spin offs have grossed over $9.5 billion.
And in first place... (Marvel)
1) Marvel Cinematic Universe
Taking the top spot is the Marvel Cinematic Universe which, as we all know, is absolutely huge and spans a whopping 36 movies.
It'd probably take you a while to start at the beginning and work your way through, but - if you'd like to see them in chronological order - they are as follows:
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (May 6, 2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- Marvel’s The First Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Black Panther (2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Captain Marvel (2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
- Black Widow (2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Eternals (2021)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
- The Marvels (2023)
- Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
- Thunderbolts (2025)
Each film in the MCU exists primarily in a shared universe, meaning characters and plots are often interconnected.
There are a number of iconic superheroes - such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk - and characters often appear in different movies within the MCU.
It all started with the 2008 movie, Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., followed by The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America.
There's been some pretty huge names in the MCU over the years, too, including Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds and Evangeline Lily.
It's also the most lucrative film franchise and last year was the first ever to cross $30 billion at the global box office.
UNILAD RANKED is a weekly series with a new article released every Friday.
Topics: Film and TV, UNILAD RANKED, Entertainment, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars
Lucy Devine