Which film franchises have five or more entries?

While Wes Craven is no longer with us, his horror series remains. “Scream” was a nice mix of meta-comedy and true horror movie moments, and the series went four films in its initial run. Now, a fifth film has been added to the series. A bit of a reboot, it still has Neve Campbell as Sydney in it – not to mention Courteney Cox and David Arquette – so it’s still the same series. A sixth film, this one sans Campbell and set in New York continued the franchise, and a seventh, with Campbell back, is in the works.

They call it the “Skywalker Saga,” so it counts as a series. It began with the first three “Star Wars” movies, which are beloved classics. Then, we got the prequels, which don’t really work. That was followed by the most recent trilogy, which people on the internet were totally cool about. The saga seems to be over, so any future “Star Wars” movies won’t be part of this series. Still, these nine films are as significant a cultural event as any.

We’re not including the reboot, which had three films in it, or a couple of “TNG” films. No, we are talking about the six movies about the original “Star Trek” crew. Not every adventure of William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is a winner, but at the very least we got “The Wrath of Khan.”

Even if you didn't include the "Creed" movies, "Rocky" still got to five films and beyond. Sylvester Stallone made his career with the Oscar-winning "Rocky," and Rocky Balboa would go on to fight Mr. T and end the Cold War in later films.

It’s a little surprising this series ended up cracking five. We thought things were done after the third film “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Those original three films about Matt Damon as amnesiac hitman Jason Bourne were really good. Then, we got “The Bourne Legacy,” which starred Jeremy Renner but was more indebted to the trilogy than we expected. It didn’t quite hit, which may be why we got “Jason Bourne,” which saw Damon return but didn’t really recapture the magic.

This is a series that, frankly, we wish hadn’t gone beyond one film. “Die Hard” is a nearly-perfect action movie (and a great Christmas movie). John McClane and Hans Gruber are awesome together. Then, we got four sequels, none of them terribly good. Hey, at least we got “Die Hard.” Although, iffy as this series became, it is unfortunate Bruce Willis' health led to a retirement that made certain this franchise was done. 

This series sort of took on the name of the main character played by Clint Eastwood. “Dirty” Harry Callahan is a cop that plays by his own rules. Of course, he always gets results. Callahan did give us some memorable quotes (“Go ahead, make my day,” for example), but the movies are hit or miss.

Take the murkiness of the “Dirty Harry” series and ramp it up. The first “Death Wish” movie starring Charles Bronson at least seems to be about the hollowness of going on a vengeful rampage. Then, the series seemed to lose that element and just became revenge-action movies. Bronson spent five movies dishing out violence on the streets prior to a 2018 reboot starring Bruce Willis.

It all started with a small action film about illegal drag racing and stealing DVDs. Then, it became the most over-the-top action series in the world. We never imagined there would be 10 films about Dominic Toretto and his “family.” That’s not even including “Hobbs and Shaw.” The series will be coming to a close soon, and after the disastrous "Fast X" featuring a scenery-chewing Jason Momoa, that may not be a bad thing.

“The Exorcist” is a chilling horror movie. It’s also pretty prestigious and serious. As such, it’s a little odd it became the jumping-off point for a franchise. Nevertheless, we’ve gotten several “Exorcist” movies, though most of them are of the schlocky horror movie variety. A recent attempt to reboot things proved fairly lackluster.

The “Harry Potter” books proved so popular that it was inevitable they would yield a film series. Not only that, it’s one of the most successful movie franchises ever. Naturally, we were going to get at least one movie for all seven books, but the final one “Deathly Hallows” was split into two films.

You don’t see “Ice Age” talked about much. And yet, it’s one of the highest-grossing film franchises ever. These animated films about Ice Age animals must be popular with some people. Maybe kids of the 2000s? Now that the franchise is owned by Disney, it’s still going. However, now the sixth film “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild” is a Disney+ offering.

The first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film was greeted with skepticism, but clearly, it worked. “The Curse of the Black Pearl” made $654 million worldwide and was critically successful as well. Not bad for a movie based on a theme park ride. While the characters from the original haven’t always been around, through five films we’ve gotten a lot of seafaring adventures.

It seems almost impossible that “Planet of the Apes” spawned a five-film franchise (not including the reboot or the three-film prequel series). Not just because the first film ends in a twist. No, it’s because the second film “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” ends with nuclear annihilation. The franchise was too popular to end, though, which meant we got three more movies.

“Shrek” became a surprise phenomenon, well before he became a meme. The ogre voiced by Mike Myers really struck a chord with people. There have been four “Shrek” movies, plus “Puss in Boots,” which is within the series as well. "Puss in Boots" now has a sequel of its own, and it was well-received enough to earn a nomination for Best Animated Feature from the Academy Awards. A fifth "Shrek," with Zendaya of all people playing Shrek's moody teenage daughter, is in the near future. You've been warned.

Much like “Harry Potter,” the “Twilight” books proved so popular a film adaptation was inevitable. That’s in spite of the fact that, well, the “Twilight” books are bad. The movies aren’t exactly cinematic gold either, but they delivered what people wanted, which was mostly Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart making goo-goo eyes at each other. While there are only four books, like with “Harry Potter” the last one was split into two movies.

Vampires versus werewolves. Need we say more? The Kate Beckinsale series is a little silly but in a good way. Her character Selene is a vampire who is doing a lot of fighting with lycans. They threw a prequel in the middle, but in the end, the action-packed, scenery-chewing series closed with “Blood Wars” in 2016.

“Resident Evil” has a lot in common with “Underworld.” It’s a solid if silly, action series centered on a female protagonist. This time, though it’s based on a popular video game and is about zombies and monsters of that ilk. The first film is a little iffy, but the series became a solid action-horror offering. Milla Jovovich’s run as Alice came to an end in 2016’s “The Final Chapter,” but we just got a reboot to the franchise in “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.”

The “Jurassic World” series is a clear continuation of the first three “Jurassic Park” films, so this definitely counts. After all, Ian Malcolm is in “Fallen Kingdom,” and Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler returned for “Dominion.” That being said, while “Jurassic Park” is a classic, the rest of the series ranges from decent to not very good. Now, there is another reboot coming, one that seems to be resetting the franchise. 

“The Thin Man” is an adaptation of a Dashiell Hammett novel about Nick and Nora Charles, a couple who love each other, love to drink, and love to solve a mystery. The titular “Thin Man” is actually a guy who disappears in the story and turns out to have been murdered. And yet, the “Thin Man” part continued to be part of the series’ name all the way through the sixth film. The best of the bunch is actually the second film in the series, “After the Thin Man.”

You can call them the “Road to” films or the “Road” pictures, but the first one is “Road to Singapore.” Bob Hope and Bing Crosby starred across the series, basically playing thinly-veiled versions of themselves. And, of course, we can’t forget Dorothy Lamour, who is also a key part of at least the first six films of the series. The plots are slight, and they are as many travelogues with jokes as anything, but the series proved super popular and made Hope and Crosby perhaps the two biggest movie stars of the 1940s.

“Mission: Impossible” began in 1996, when Tom Cruise was a much younger man. It was a nice, slick action film. Then we got to the fourth film “Ghost Protocol” and Cruise climbed the Burj Khalifa. Now, this is perhaps the action series of record over the last 20-plus years. Cruise keeps doing ridiculous stunts, and the series seems to keep getting better. So far, there have been seven films, with a (purported) "Final Reckoning" remaining.