Meet the Parents (film series)

Last updated
Meet the Parents
The Biggest Focker Collection Ever.jpg
DVD cover art for collected edition
Directed by Jay Roach (1–2)
Paul Weitz (3)
John Hamburg (4)
Produced by Robert De Niro
Jane Rosenthal
Jay Roach
John Hamburg (3–4)
Nancy Tenenbaum (1)
Ben Stiller (4)
John Lesher (4)
Starring
Cinematography Peter James (1)
John Schwartzman (2)
Remi Adefarasin (3)
Music by Randy Newman (1–2)
Stephen Trask (3)
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures (1–2)
Paramount Pictures (3–4)
Release dates
 Meet the Parents : October 6, 2000 (2000-10-06)
Meet the Fockers : December 22, 2004
Little Fockers : December 22, 2010
Focker In-Law : November 25, 2026
Running time
321 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Meet the Parents is a film series following the character Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) as he interacts with his family and in-laws. The series is made up of three movies: Meet the Parents (2000), Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010). A fourth film, titled Focker In-Law , is set to release in 2026. The series primarily stars Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. The three films earned over $1.15 billion at the box office.

Contents

1992 independent film

Before the remake in 2000, Greg Glienna and Mary Ruth Clarke cowrote the original independent film, Meet the Parents, in 1992. Glienna also directed the film, wrote two original songs, and starred as protagonist Greg: a Chicago advertising agent who travels with his fiancée Pam Burns to meet her parents, Irv and Kay, for a weekend but sets off a series of accidents and causes the family to fall apart. Despite this, Greg alone survives: after Pam's sister Fay hangs herself, having accused Greg of wanting to cheat on Pam with her and framed him for her suicide, Irv attempts to shoot him but accidentally kills Kay and Pam before dying of a heart attack.

Several years after the film's release, Universal Pictures purchased the rights to the independent film. After hiring screenwriter Jim Herzfeld to expand the script, a new version of Meet the Parents was filmed and released in October 2000. [1]

Films

Meet the Parents (2000)

Meet the Fockers (2004)

Little Fockers (2010)

Focker In-Law (2026)

In December 2024, it was reported that Stiller, De Niro, Danner and Polo were in early talks to star in a new Meet the Parents film. [2] On March 20, 2025, it was officially announced that a fourth Meet the Parents film was in development, with John Hamburg, who wrote each of the first three films, directing in addition to writing the film. [3] [4]

On May 30, 2025, it was announced that the film would be released on November 25, 2026, and that Ariana Grande would join the cast. Additionally, Stiller along with De Niro, Danner, Polo and Wilson are confirmed to be reprising their roles. [5] In late July, Skyler Gisondo was in talks to join the film. [6] Later that month, it was announced that the film had been titled Focker In-Law. [7]

Principal photography began on August 18, 2025, in New York City and is expected to last until November 4. [8] [9]

FilmU.S. release dateDirector(s)Screenwriter(s)Producer(s)
Meet the Parents October 6, 2000 Jay Roach Jim Herzfeld, John Hamburg, Greg Glienna & Mary Ruth ClarkeJay Roach, Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro & Nancy Tenenbaum
Meet the Fockers December 22, 2004 Marc Hyman, Jim Herzfeld & John Hamburg Jay Roach, Jane Rosenthal & Robert De Niro
Little Fockers December 22, 2010 Paul Weitz John Hamburg & Larry Stuckey Jay Roach, John Hamburg, Jane Rosenthal & Robert De Niro
Focker In-Law November 25, 2026 John Hamburg Jay Roach, Ben Stiller, John Lesher, John Hamburg, Jane Rosenthal & Robert De Niro

Legacy

The success of Meet the Parents was initially responsible for a 2002 NBC reality television show titled Meet My Folks in which a young woman's love interest, vying for her family's approval, is interrogated by the woman's overprotective father with the help of a lie detector machine. [10] [11] In September 2002, NBC also aired a situation comedy titled In-Laws . During the development of the sitcom, NBC called it "a Meet the Parents project" which prompted an investigation by Universal into whether NBC was infringing on Universal's copyright. [12] Universal did not pursue any action against NBC, but neither show lasted more than one season. NBC and Universal merged on a corporate level two years later in 2004.

On July 18, 2005, a regularly scheduled American Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to San Juan, Puerto Rico, had to be diverted back to Fort Lauderdale shortly after take-off due to a bomb threat. The pilot turned the airplane around approximately 40 minutes into the flight after a flight attendant found a crumpled napkin that read "Bomb, bomb, bomb ... meet the parents", a clear reference to the scene in which Ben Stiller's character repeatedly shouts the word "bomb" while being detained by airport security. [13] [14] The airplane was met by a bomb squad of the local sheriff's office as well as the FBI whose agents questioned the plane's 176 passengers about the note.

Reception

Critical reception

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore [15]
Meet the Parents85% (148 reviews) [16] 73 (33 reviews) [17] A−
Meet the Fockers38% (164 reviews) [18] 41 (34 reviews) [19] B+
Little Fockers9% (148 reviews) [20] 27 (32 reviews) [21] B−

Box office performance

FilmRelease dateBudgetBox Office revenueRankReference
North AmericaInternationalWorldwideAll time domesticAll time worldwide
Meet the ParentsOctober 6, 2000$55 million$166,244,045$164,200,000$330,444,045#312#428 [22]
Meet the FockersDecember 22, 2004$80 million$279,261,160$243,396,776$522,657,936#106#204 [23]
Little FockersDecember 22, 2010$100 million$148,438,600$162,211,985$310,650,585#380#467 [24]
Total$235 million$593,943,805$569,808,761$1,163,752,566 [25]

Recurring characters

Character Meet the Parents Meet the Parents Meet the Fockers Little Fockers Focker In-Law
19922000200420102026
Gaylord Myron "Greg" Focker Greg Glienna Ben Stiller
Pamela "Pam" Martha ByrnesJacqueline Cahill Teri Polo
Jack Tiberius ByrnesDick Galloway Robert De Niro
Dina Byrnes Blythe Danner
Deborah "Debbie" ByrnesMary Ruth Clarke Nicole DeHuff
Father O'BoyleMike ToomeyWilliam Severs
Kevin Rawley Owen Wilson
Flight Attendant Kali Rocha
Dr. Robert "Bob" Banks Thomas McCarthy Thomas McCarthy
Denny Byrnes Jon Abrahams
Larry Banks James Rebhorn
Linda Banks Phyllis George
Bernard "Bernie" FockerMentioned Dustin Hoffman
Rosalind "Roz" Focker Barbra Streisand
Officer Vern LeFlore Tim Blake Nelson
Isabel Villalobos Alanna Ubach
Jorge Villalobos Ray Santiago
Judge Ira Goldfarb Shelley Berman
Jack BanksSpencer & Bradley Pickren
Andi Garcia Jessica Alba
Prudence Simmons Laura Dern
Randy Weir Harvey Keitel
Henry FockerColin Baiocchi Skyler Gisondo
Samantha Focker Daisy Tahan Beanie Feldstein
Nurse Louis Kevin Hart
Junior Yul Vazquez
Olivia Jones Ariana Grande

Note: A gray cell indicates character did not appear in that film.

References

  1. ↑ The Boys Who Met the Parents Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , Stumped. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
  2. ↑ Grobar, Matt (December 10, 2024). "Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo & Blythe Danner In Early Talks To Star In New 'Meet The Parents' Film". Deadline. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  3. ↑ Gajewski, Ryan (March 20, 2025). "'Meet the Parents 4' Lands John Hamburg to Direct for Universal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  4. ↑ Kroll, Justim (March 20, 2025). "'Meet The Parents 4': John Hamburg Comes On As Director For Universal Sequel". Deadline. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
  5. ↑ Kroll, Justin (May 30, 2025). "Ariana Grande Joins 'Meet The Parents' Sequel At Universal; Fall 2026 Release Date Set". Deadline. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
  6. ↑ Grobar, Matt (2025-07-23). "'Superman's Skyler Gisondo Joins 'Meet The Parents' Sequel At Universal". Deadline. Retrieved 2025-08-13.
  7. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (2025-07-28). "'Meet the Parents 4' Officially Titled 'Focker in-Law'". Variety. Retrieved 2025-08-13.
  8. ↑ Dutta, Shubhabrata (June 19, 2025). "Meet The Parents 4 Starts Filming in New York in August". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  9. ↑ Hammond, Pete (August 18, 2025). "Ben Stiller On The Emmys And Where 'Severance' Goes In Season 3, 'Happy Gilmore 2' And Reuniting With De Niro For 'Focker In-Law' – Behind The Lens". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  10. ↑ Gallo, Phil. Meet My Folks, Variety , July 21, 2002. Accessed May 27, 2008.
  11. ↑ Fenwick, Alexandra. Meet My Folks brings a fiance's worst nightmare to television Archived 2008-12-10 at the Wayback Machine , The Johns Hopkins News-Letter , September 13, 2002. Accessed October 10, 2008.
  12. ↑ Lynette Rice and Dan Snierson. On the Air, Entertainment Weekly , August 9, 2002. Accessed October 10, 2008.
  13. ↑ Candiotti, Susan. Suspicious note diverts flight, CNN, July 19, 2005. Accessed August 14, 2009.
  14. ↑ Carey, Bridget. Bomb Threat Diverts American Airlines Flight Back to Fla Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , Associated Press. Accessed August 14, 2009.
  15. ↑ "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Meet The Parents". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Meet The Parents Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Meet The Fockers". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Meet The Fockers Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Little Fockers". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Little Fockers Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Meet The Parents". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  23. ↑ "Meet The Fockers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  24. ↑ "Little Fockers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  25. ↑ "Meet The Parents series". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
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