Skyline (film series)
The Skyline film series consists of American science fiction-disaster alien action films. Created by Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell, the series centers around a global alien invasion and the uprise of mankind to fight back and save humanity. The series implements various genres within each installment.
| Skyline | |
|---|---|
 Official film series logo | |
| Created by |
|
| Original work | Skyline (2010) |
| Owner | Vertical Entertainment |
| Years | 2010–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | |
The first film was met with negative critical reception and was a box office success, given its smaller production budget.[1][2] The second installment was met with a generally positive reception from film critics,[3] and was not a box office success.[4][5] A third film, which mas made in part by a distribution deal with Netflix, was met with mixed reception.[6][7]
Films
| Film | U.S. release date |
Director(s) | Screenwriter | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skyline | November 12, 2010 | Greg Strause & Colin Strause | Joshua Cordes & Liam O'Donnell | Greg Strause, Colin Strause, Kristian Andresen and Liam O'Donnell | |
| Beyond Skyline | December 15, 2017 | Liam O'Donnell | Matthew E. Chausse, Liam O'Donnell, Colin Strause and Greg Strause | ||
| Skylines | December 18, 2020 | Liam O'Donnell | Matthew E. Chausse & Liam O'Donnell | ||
Skyline (2010)
Jarrod and Elaine take a trip to Southern California for a getaway trip and to visit his friend named Terry. Their vacation quickly turns into a horrific weekend of terror, when an alien invasion follows a night of hypnotizing strange lights in the sky. What starts off as a city under attack, quickly becomes a worldwide takeover. While the city is under attack and thousands of terrified people are abducted into the ships, Jarrod and Elaine work together with their companions to survive the ensuing global genocide.[8][9]
Beyond Skyline (2017)
During an alien invasion, Detective Mark Corley braves the warzone and infiltrates their ships, after his estranged son named Trent is abducted. Upon entering the spacecraft, Corley works with some unlikely allies in his rescue efforts. While aboard the ship Corley discovers that the extraterrestrials are harvesting humans for their brainpower. In his pursuits, he receives assistance from a friendly alien lifeform, who's revealed to be living embodiment of Jerrod's intelligence. As Elaine passes away giving birth to their daughter, Jerrod and Detective Corley work together to free Trent and escape the spaceship, while protecting the newborn from its otherworldly inhabitants. During the ensuing fight, Trent is overpowered and his brain is harvested to be used by one of the aliens. When the flying saucer takes a crash-landing into Southeast Asia, the team must form an alliance with a small group of survivors to take back the planet. Meanwhile, it's discovered that exposure to the DNA altering technology has left the baby Rose, who ages rapidly, with enhanced powers and abilities that may be key to defeating the planetary invaders.[10]
Skylines (2020)
After years of working together, a virus from another planet begins to turn humans-turned-alien hybrids against their allied forces. Captain Rose Corley, who has alien-enhanced DNA and has reached adult age, forms a team to venture to the extraterrestrial home world. Together this teams works to find a cure against this unknown ailment plaguing and prevent a once all out war from once again overrunning the Earth. As they fight for survival, Rose works to outsmart the enemies with the benefit of her otherworldly knowledge, and reestablish the once forming peace.[11]
Development
Film series co-writer and two-time director, Liam O'Donnell stated that the each installment intentionally explores additional science fiction genres. The filmmaker stated that various directors were influential on his work within the series, including: James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, George Miller, Paul Verhoeven, John Carpenter, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Jordan Peele.
Skyline, which the filmmaker stated was limited by a smaller budget, was intended to be similar in tone to found-footage horror. Creatives involved were intent with depicting a realistic real-world alien invasion. With the extensive post-production process, the project consisted of extensive CGI special effects, where much of the budget was spent.
O'Donnell stated that with the second film, Beyond Skyline, all creatives involved were intent on making up for the areas in which the first was lacking. The filmmaker stated that he intentionally used practical effects as often as was possible to provide the alien characters with more personality and interaction with each actor. With intentions to introduce a greater level of action sequences, the premise was conceptualized as "John McClane.. in an alien invasion scenario."[14] With fight choreography inspired by the martial arts film genre, the movie has been compared favorably to The Raid.[15]
The third film Skylines, embraced the science fiction elements that were well-received in the previous release with O'Donnell looking to James Cameron's Aliens for referential inspiration. With each release, the filmmaker stated that his primary focus has been on character development.[12]
Main cast and characters
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
- An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
- A indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.
- C indicates a cameo role.
- P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.
- S indicates an appearance through use of special effects.
- Y indicates a younger version of the character.
Notes
- CGI special effects are used to portray Jarrod, in his alien-form.
- A combination of practical and CGI special effects are used to portray Jarrod, in his alien-form.
- Practical effects are used in the archive footage that portrays Jarrod, in his alien-form.
- Akhmad portrays Rose, as a newborn baby.
- Haiden portrays Rose, at the age of 18 months.
- Jayaraz portrays Rose, at the age of 3-years-old.
- Akhmad portrays Rose, as a newborn baby.
- Haiden portrays Rose, at 18-months-old.
- Jayaraz portrays Rose, as a 3-year-old.
- A combination of practical and CGI special effects are used to portray Trent, in his alien-form.
- A combination of practical and CGI special effects portray Trent, in his alien-form.
- A combination of practical and CGI special effects were used to portray the Matriarch.
Additional crew and production details
| Film | Crew/Detail | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Cinematographer | Editor(s) | Production companies |
Distributing company |
Running time | ||
| Skyline | Matthew Margeson | Michael Watson | Nicholas Wayman-Harris | Relativity Media, Rogue, Black Monday Film Services, Hydraulx Entertainment, Transmission Productions, Rat Entertainment, Brothers Strause Films |
Universal Pictures | 94 minutes | |
| Beyond Skyline | Nathan Whitehead | Christopher Probst | Sean Albertson & Banner Gwin | Vertical Entertainment, Hydraulx Entertainment, m45 Productions, XYZ Films, Beijing Creastar Picture International Ltd., Arlberg Productions Limited, S&C Picture Co. Ltd., North Hollywood Films,[16] Ingenious Media |
Vertical Entertainment | 105 minutes | |
| Skylines | Ram Khatabakhsh | Alain Duplantier | Barrett Heathcote | Vertical Entertainment, Hydraulx Entertainment, Liam O'Donnell Films, XYZ Films, m45 Productions, Gifflar Films Limited, Gifflar (Patriot) Films Limited, UAB Cobaltas, Cobalt Films S.L., Ingenious Media, Lipsync Productions LLP, Artbox, Fasten Films |
110 minutes | ||
Reception
Box office and financial performance
| Film | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Home video total |
Gross income | Budget | Net income/loss | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All-time North America |
All-time worldwide | ||||||
| Skyline | $21,416,355 | $46,848,618 | $68,264,973 | #3,510 | #1,887 | $11,228,846 | $79,493,819 | $10,000,000 | $69,493,819 | [2] |
| Beyond Skyline | — | $992,181 | $992,181 | #10,604 | #15,419 | $1,249,049 | $2,241,230 | $14,000,000 | -$17,758,770 | [4][5][17] |
| Skylines | — | $170,581 | $170,581 | #16,270 | #23,294 | figures not publicly available |
>$170,581 | ≤$14,000,000 | > -$13,829,419 | [17][7][18] |
| Totals | $21,416,355 | $48,011,380 | $69,427,735 | x̄ #10,128 | x̄ #13,533 | >$12,477,895 | >$81,905,630 | ≤$38,000,000 | ~$43,905,630 | |
Critical and public response
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyline | 15% (84 reviews)[1] | 26/100 (18 reviews)[19] | D−[20] |
| Beyond Skyline | 67% (21 reviews)[3] | 46/100 (8 reviews)[21] | — |
| Skylines | 56% (27 reviews)[6] | 46/100 (4 reviews)[22] | — |
References
- "Skyline". Rotten Tomatoes.
- "Skyline (2010) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- "Beyond Skyline". Rotten Tomatoes.
- "Beyond Skyline". Box Office Mojo.
- "Beyond Skyline (2017) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- "Skylines". Rotten Tomatoes.
- "Skylines". Box Office Mojo.
- Henderson, Jason (December 20, 2020). "Skylines Brings Back the SF Franchise That Could". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- Mendelson, Scott (December 19, 2021). "How 'Skylines' Succeeds Where 'Independence Day' And 'Pacific Rim' Failed". Forbes. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- Harvey, Dennis (December 23, 2017). "Film Review: 'Beyond Skyline'". Variety. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- Haley (October 28, 2020). "The 'Skyline' Trilogy Comes To an End in Lindsey Morgan Led 'Skylines' Trailer". Nerds and Beyond. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- Kristopowitz, Bryan (December 19, 2020). "Liam O'Donnell On Directing the Sci-Fi Action Sequel Skylines, A Potential Fourth Film". 411 Mania. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- Jerva, John (December 22, 2020). "Frank Grillo to Return for the Fourth Movie in Skyline Franchise?". The Action Elite. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- Milner, Kyle (December 22, 2020). "Interview : Liam O'Donnell, writer/director of Skylines". Movie Hole. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- Curran, Brad (December 20, 2020). "Skyline: Ranking The Sci-Fi Movie Series From Worst To Best". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- "North Hollywood Films".
- O'Donnell, Liam (December 18, 2020). "I'm Liam O'Donnell, Writer/Director of SKYLINES, the third and final installment to the SciFi franchise. I'm here to answer all your questions. AMA!". Reddit AMA. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- "Skylines (2020) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- "Skyline" – via www.metacritic.com.
- "Home". Cinemascore.
- "Beyond Skyline" – via www.metacritic.com.
- "Skylines" – via www.metacritic.com.