Searching | |
---|---|
![]() Official film series logo | |
Based on | An original story by Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian |
Starring |
|
Distributed by | |
Release date | 2018-present |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $8,880,000 (3 films) [1] [2] [3] [4] |
Box office | $90,616,177 (3 films) [1] [2] [4] |
The Searching film series [5] consists of American mystery-thriller screenlife films, including two theatrical movies, and one theatrical-streaming exclusive film. The plot of each movie centers around parent-child relationships, and depict the use of public records through technology in investigations of true crime.
The films have been well received by critics and audiences alike. [6] [7] [8] The original film starring John Cho was met with critical and financial success, with praise for its integration of found footage sub-genre "screen life", and its realism. [9] [10] [11] The 2020 standalone installment starring Sarah Paulson was likewise met with a positive critical reaction, while acknowledging its campy elements praise was directed at the cast and the film's premise. [12] [13] [14] The standalone sequel which starred Storm Reid, was mostly well received by critics with some comparing it superior the previous installments, [15] [16] while criticizing elements of its plot as unbelievable. [17] [18] The film series as a whole has also been deemed a financial success at the box office, turning a profit for the associated studios. [1] [2] [4]
Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching | August 24, 2018 | Aneesh Chaganty | Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian | Natalie Qasabian, Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian and Adam Sidman | |
Run. | November 20, 2020 | Natalie Qasabian and Sev Ohanian | |||
Missing | January 20, 2023 | Nick Johnson & Will Merrick | Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian | Natalie Qasabian, Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, Aneesh Chaganty and Adam Sidman | |
When high school student Margot Kim goes missing, her father David becomes desperate when the initial police investigation is unsuccessful. Frantically searching her personal laptop for any clues to where she has gone, David sorts through videos and photos, contacts all of her peers, and tries to retrace her digital footprint to assist in locating his daughter. As he starts to solve the mystery, he begins to question everything he thought he knew. [19] [9] [20] [21] [22] [10] [11]
Chloe Sherman, a homeschooled student raised in isolation, lives with her protective and doating mother named Diane. Wheelchair-bound, her mother attends to her every need from the time she was born with various undisclosed medical conditions. Now a teenager, she one day discovers some documents which make her begin to question her upbringing and the reality she's been taught to believe. When she discontinues taking the medication that her mother gives her, she plots an escape from the house. When she leaves, she races against time before Diane realizes she is missing, and to find the truth to the questions that she can't be answer from the confines of her home. [12] [23] [24] [25] [13] [26] [14] [27]
June Allen is a well behaved teenager, who gives support to her widowed mother named Grace. When Grace goes on a trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend, but never comes home, June contacts the police. Due to international red tape, she searches for her mom using the technology that she has access to. Becoming creative in the process of her digital sleuthing, she starts to question the means of Grace's whereabouts. With the information she acquires, she races against time to solve the mystery before it's too late and her mother is lost in a foreign country forever. [15] [28] [29] [30] [16] [31] [32] [33] [34]
In January 2023 co-screenwriters/co-directors of Missing, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, confirmed that the studio has already approached them with development of another movie. The duo stated that while all creatives involved have ideas for the next film, they intend to wait some time before writing the story. [35]
The filmmakers of each installment have stated that there are various ways that the movies connect to each other, both directly with continuing plot threads and through a hidden sub-plot within the films. [36] [5]
During the events of Searching, references are made to characters from Run.; something that the filmmakers included to foreshadow the plot of the latter film. [36] In Run., references are made to David and Margot Kim from Searching in the form of in-universe news coverage to the characters, as well as the appearance of Hannah who is a model in the overarching story. [36] [5] In Missing, it's shown that the experiences of David and Margot have been detailed in the form of a true crime series, which June is invested in. It is also revealed that following previous events, Diane Sherman has escaped the psych-ward she was admitted to. [5]
In 2018 following the release of Searching, Chaganty and Ohanian confirmed an additional story that was presented in the background of the primary plot of the film. Stating that it started off as an inside joke, the filmmaking duo decided to explore an alien invasion sub-plot. [37] The story continued in as a secondary plot of the standalone sequel Missing, where they revealed that following the aftermath of the invasion, someone with abilities that they inherited as a result of the attack from the extraterrestrials, defended communities from the ill intentions of the otherworldly creatures. [35] [38] [39] [36] [40]
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
Character | Films | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Searching | Run. | Missing | ||
Principal cast | ||||
David Kim | John Cho | John Cho C P [41] [42] | ||
Margot Kim | Michelle La [lower-alpha 1] | Referenced [41] [42] | ||
Det. Sgt. Rosemary Vick | Debra Messing | |||
Robert Vick | Steven Michael Eich | |||
Dianne Sherman | Referenced [36] | Sarah Paulson | Referenced | |
Chloe Sherman | Referenced [36] | Kiera Allen | ||
June Allen | Storm Reid [lower-alpha 2] | |||
Grace Allen | Nia Long | |||
James "Jimmy" Allen | Tim Griffin | |||
Supporting cast | ||||
Pamela Nam Kim | Sara Sohn | |||
Peter Kim | Joseph Lee | |||
Hannah the model (@fish_n_chips) | Erica Jenkins [43] | |||
Mailman Tom | Pat Healy | |||
Nurse Kammy | Sara Sohn | |||
Pharm.D. Kathy Bates | Sharon Bajer | |||
Brooklyn Boy | Tony Revolori V | |||
Kevin | Ken Leung | |||
Javier | Joaquim de Almeida | |||
Agent Elijah Park | Daniel Henney | |||
Heather | Amy Landecker | |||
Film | Crew/Detail | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Composer | Cinematographer | Editors | Production companies | Distributing companies | Running time | ||
Searching | Torin Borrowdale | Juan Sebastian Baron | Nick Johnson & Will Merrick | Sony Pictures, Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films, Bazelevs Company | Sony Pictures Releasing | 1 hr 42 mins | |
Run. | Hillary Spera | Lions Gate Films, Summit Entertainment, Search Party Productions, Hulu Original Films | Hulu, Lionsgate | 1 hr 29 mins | |||
Missing | Julian Scherle | Steven Holleran | Austin Keeling & Arielle Zakowski | Sony Pictures, Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films, Bazelevs Company, Search Party Productions | Sony Pictures Releasing | 1 hr 51 mins | |
Film | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Video sales gross | Worldwide total gross income | Budget | Worldwide total net income | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America | All time worldwide | ||||||
Searching | $26,020,957 | $49,620,898 | $75,641,855 | #3,170 | #1,883 | $275,861 | $75,917,716 | $880,000 | $75,037,716 | [1] [44] |
Run. | — | $5,184,368 | $5,184,368 | — | #9,886 | Figures not publicly available | >$5,184,368 | $1,000,000 | >$4,184,368 | [2] [45] [3] |
Missing | $31,575,974 | $5,100,000 | $36,675,974 | #2,800 | #6,163 | [ to be determined ] | >$36,675,974 | $7,000,000 | ≥$29,675,974 | [4] [46] |
Totals | $57,596,931 | $59,905,266 | $117,502,197 | x̄ #1,990 [lower-alpha 3] | x̄ #5,977 [lower-alpha 4] | >$275,861 | >$117,778,058 | $8,880,000 | $108,898,058 |
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
---|---|---|---|
Searching | 92% (261 reviews) [6] | 71/100 (34 reviews) [47] | A− [48] |
Run. | 89% (141 reviews) [7] | 67/100 (20 reviews) [49] | — |
Missing | 87% (119 reviews) [8] | 67/100 (30 reviews) [50] | B [51] |
Linda Carroll Hamilton is an American actress. Known for portraying tough, resilient characters, she made her film debut in 1979 before coming to prominence with her starring role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and two of its sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). Hamilton is the recipient of various accolades, including two Saturn Awards, two MTV Movie Awards, one Satellite Award and one Romy Award, as well as nominations for three Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy.
Cherry Jones is an American actress. She started her career in theater as a founding member of the American Repertory Theater in 1980 before transitioning into film and television. Celebrated for her dynamic roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards, as well as nominations for an Olivier Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Sarah Catharine Paulson is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Alien is a science fiction horror and action media franchise centered on the original film series which depicts warrant officer Ellen Ripley and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as the Alien ("Xenomorph"), and the prequel series following the exploits of the David 8 android and the creators of the eponymous creatures referred to as the "Engineers".
Martha Marcy May Marlene is a 2011 American psychological thriller-drama film written and directed by Sean Durkin in his directional feature film debut, and starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy. The plot focuses on a young woman suffering from delusions and paranoia after returning to her family from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains.
Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Glazer and Walter Campbell, loosely based on the 2000 novel by Michel Faber. It stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys on men in Scotland. The film premiered at Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2013. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2014, and in other territories later in the year.
Alien: Covenant is a 2017 science fiction horror film directed and produced by Ridley Scott, and written by John Logan and Dante Harper from a story by Michael Green and Jack Paglen. A joint American and British production, it is a sequel to Prometheus (2012), the second entry in the Alien prequel series, and the sixth installment in the Alien franchise. It features returning star Michael Fassbender, with Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demián Bichir in supporting roles. It follows the crew of a colony ship that lands on an uncharted planet and makes a terrifying discovery.
Split is a 2016 American psychological horror thriller film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, and starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley. The film follows a man with dissociative identity disorder who kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility.
Ratched is an American psychological thriller streaming television series created by Evan Romansky, developed by Ryan Murphy and starring Sarah Paulson in the title role of Nurse Mildred Ratched. A prequel to Miloš Forman's 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it depicts the life of Mildred Ratched prior to the events portrayed in the film, albeit in a different state. Ratched received a two-season series order. The first season premiered on Netflix on September 18, 2020. Speaking to Variety in August 2022, Sarah Paulson revealed that she is unsure if the second season is still happening. In February 2024, Ratched was cancelled after one season, with Paulson also confirming the fate of the series.
Glass is a 2019 superhero film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also produced with Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, and Ashwin Rajan. The film is a crossover and sequel to Shyamalan's previous films Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016) and the third and final installment in the Unbreakable trilogy. Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark, and Charlayne Woodard reprise their Unbreakable roles, while James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy return as their Split characters, with Sarah Paulson, Adam David Thompson, and Luke Kirby joining the cast. The film sees David Dunn / The Overseer as he and Kevin Wendell Crumb / The Horde are captured and placed in a psychiatric facility with Elijah Price / Mr. Glass, where they contemplate the authenticity of their superhuman powers.
Searching is a 2018 American screenlife mystery thriller film directed by Aneesh Chaganty in his feature debut, written by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Set entirely on computer screens and smartphones, the film follows a father trying to find his missing 16-year-old daughter with the help of a police detective. This was the first mainstream Hollywood thriller headlined by an Asian-American actor.
Terminator: Dark Fate is a 2019 American science fiction action film. It is the sixth installment in the Terminator franchise and a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), ignoring the events depicted in Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015). The film stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising their characters Sarah Connor and the T-800 Terminator, respectively, and introduces Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Diego Boneta as new characters. Dark Fate is directed by Tim Miller and written by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray, based on a story by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, Goyer, and Rhodes.
The Woman in the Window is a 2021 American psychological thriller film directed by Joe Wright from a screenplay by Tracy Letts, based on the bestselling 2018 novel of the same name by author A. J. Finn. The film follows an agoraphobic woman who begins to spy on her new neighbors and is witness to a crime in their apartment. Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, and Jennifer Jason Leigh also star.
Aneesh Chaganty is an American film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2018 thriller Searching, for which he won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Run is a 2020 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Aneesh Chaganty, and written by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian. The film stars Kiera Allen as disabled teenager Chloe Sherman, who begins to suspect that her mother, Diane, has been keeping a dark secret about her upbringing. The film has connections to other films by Chaganty and Ohanian and is the second installment in the filmmaking duo's Searching film series.
The Tomorrow War is a 2021 American military science fiction action film directed by Chris McKay, written by Zach Dean, and starring Chris Pratt. It was produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, David S. Goyer, Jules Daly, and Adam Kolbrenner, with a supporting cast featuring Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, and Keith Powers. It follows a mix of present-day soldiers and civilians sent into the future to fight an alien army.
Don't Breathe 2 is a 2021 American horror thriller film directed by Rodo Sayagues in his directorial debut, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Fede Álvarez. The sequel to 2016's Don't Breathe, it was produced by Álvarez, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. The film stars Stephen Lang, reprising his role as Norman Nordstrom / "The Blind Man", with Brendan Sexton III and Madelyn Grace in supporting roles.
Sevak "Sev" Ohanian is an American film producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-writer and producer of the films Searching and Run, as well as executive producer on the film Judas and the Black Messiah. He is also one of the founders of Proximity Media.
Natalie Qasabian is an American film producer based in Los Angeles. She is best known as a producer of the films Searching, All About Nina and Run.
Missing is a 2023 American screenlife mystery thriller film written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson from a story by Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty, who also produced the film with Natalie Qasabian. The film is a standalone film in the universe of Searching (2018). It stars Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney, and Nia Long. Its plot follows June Allen, a teenager who tries to find her missing mother after she disappears on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend.