# Piranha (film series)

Piranha is a horror film series that consists of five films. The original film is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws.

## Films

| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
| Piranha | August 3, 1978 (1978-08-03) | Joe Dante | John Sayles | Roger Corman, Jon Davison and Chako van Leeuwen |
| Piranha II: The Spawning | November 5, 1982 (1982-11-05) | James Cameron | Ovidio G. Assonitis, James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee | Chako van Leeuwen and Jeff Schechtman |
| Piranha | October 1, 1995 (1995-10-01) | Scott P. Levy | Alex Simon | Chako van Leeuwen and Mike Elliott |
| Piranha 3D | August 20, 2010 (2010-08-20) | Alexandre Aja | Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg | Alexandre Aja, Mark Canton, Marc Toberoff and Grégory Levasseur |
| Piranha 3DD | June 1, 2012 (2012-06-01) | John Gulager | Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Joel Soisson | Mark Canton, Marc Toberoff and Joel Soisson |

### Piranha (1978)

Piranha is a 1978 American horror B movie about a swarm of killer piranhas. It was directed and co-edited by Joe Dante and starred Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. Produced by Roger Corman, Piranha was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws, which had been a major success for distributor Universal Studios and director Steven Spielberg. It has since inspired a series of similarly themed B movies such as Grizzly.
The film involves a private investigator Maggie McNamara from Lyon Investigation. She was hired by the wealthy J.R. Randolph to find his niece, who disappeared with her boyfriend. Maggie seeks out the lonely environmentalist Paul Grogan to help her to look for the teenager. They head to an abandoned army facility and Maggie decides to drain the pools to see if the body of the girl is one of them. They are assaulted by a man with a crowbar, but they subdue him. However, he escapes, and soon they learn that the man is Dr. Robert Hoak, who, for military purposes, is researching a hybrid species of piranha that is capable of surviving in fresh and sea waters. Furthermore, Maggie has released the piranhas in the river, and they are heading to the Lost River Lake Resort.

### Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)

Piranha II: The Spawning, also known as Piranha II: Flying Killers, is a 1982 horror film and the sequel to the 1978 low-budget cult film Piranha. The film is the feature film directorial debut of James Cameron.

### Piranha 3

Piranha 3 was announced in October 1991 as part of a slate of films to be produced by Ovidio G. Assonits' International Movie Service in Variety for sale at the American Film Market. The plot concerned a scientist releasing flesh-eating fish into the pool system of a ski resort. The film was never made.
In April 1994, rights holder Chako van Leeuwen announced the revival of her film company, Chako Film International, to produce Spirit (later released as Raging Angels with Sean Patrick Flanery and Diane Ladd) and Piranha III to be backed by United Artists. Again, no film was produced.

### Piranha (1995)

Piranha, also known as Piranhas, is a 1995 American horror film directed by Scott P. Levy about a school of killer piranhas descending upon the bustling Lost River Lake Resort. Produced as part of Roger Corman Presents, a series of TV films by Roger Corman for Showtime, it is a remake of the 1978 film Piranha.

### Piranha 3-D: The Invisible Menace

Piranha 3-D: The Invisible Menace was announced in April 2007 to be produced by Ovidio G. Assonitis and his production company KOA Films Entertainment. In February 2008, it was announced that Alexandre Aja's remake would be produced in 3D and Piranha 3-D: The Invisible Menace was dropped from KOA Films Entertainment's production slate.

### Piranha 3D (2010)

Piranha 3D is a 2010 American 3D horror comedy film and a remake of the 1978 film Piranha. It was directed by Alexandre Aja and sports an ensemble cast featuring Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Ving Rhames and Eli Roth. The film begins with a sudden underwater tremor that frees scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish. An unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents.

### Piranha 3DD (2012)

Piranha 3DD is a 2012 American 3D comedy horror film and sequel to the 2010 film Piranha 3D. It is directed by John Gulager from a screenplay by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. It stars Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Koechner, Chris Zylka, Katrina Bowden, Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd, and David Hasselhoff. Production began on April 27, 2011 with a release scheduled for November 23, 2011, but a month prior to release this date was revised to an unspecified 2012 date. The film was eventually released in the UK on May 11, 2012 and in the U.S. on June 1, 2012.

### Piranha IIID

During production and post-production of Piranha 3DD, Dimension Films began developing a follow-up, entitled Piranha IIID but due to the commercial failure of 3DD no film was made.

### Piranha JPN/Summer of the Piranha

Summer of the Piranha was announced in 2017. The project was known as Piranha JPN in Japan, but retitled as Summer of the Piranha internationally with Chako van Leeuwen and Roger Corman returning to produce and Christopher Lloyd was signed to star. No film has yet been released as Corman passed away in 2024.

## Cast and crew
### Cast

| Character | Original series | Original series | Remake | Remake series | Remake series | Remake series |
| Character | Piranha | Piranha II: The Spawning | Piranha | Piranha 3D | Piranha 3DD | Piranha JPN Summer of the Piranha |
| Character | 1978 | 1982 | 1995 | 2010 | 2012 | TBA |
| Paul Grogan | Bradford Dillman | | William Katt | | | |
| Maggie McKeown | Heather Menzies | | Alexandra Paul (as Maggie McNamara) | | | |
| Suzie Grogan | Shannon Collins | | Mila Kunis (as Susie Grogan) | | | |
| Jack | Keenan Wynn | | James E. Brodhead | | | |
| Laura Dickinson | Melody Thomas Scott | | Soleil Moon Frye | Brooklynn Proulx (as Laura Forester) | | |
| Betsy | Belinda Balaski | | Chelsea Madison-Ciu | | | |
| Dr. Robert Hoak | Kevin McCarthy | | | | | |
| Buck Gardner | Dick Miller | | | | | |
| Dr. Mengers | Barbara Steele | | | | | |
| Anne Kimbrough | | Tricia O'Neil | | | | |
| Tyler Sherman | | Steve Marachuk | | | | |
| Steve Kimbrough | | Lance Henriksen | | | | |
| Chris Kimbrough | | Ricky G. Paull | | | | |
| Raoul | | Ted Richert | | | | |
| Allison Dumont | | Leslie Graves | | | | |
| Leo Bell, D.D.S. | | Albert Sanders | | | | |
| Beverly | | Tracy Berg | | | | |
| Ralph Benotti | | Phil Colby | | | | |
| Myrna Benotti | | Hildy Maganasun | | | | |
| Gina Green | | | Kehli O'Byrne | | | |
| Dave | | | Richard Israel | | | |
| Sheriff Carl | | | Kaz Garas | | | |
| Terry Wechsler | | | Leland Orser | | | |
| Earl Lyon | | | Ben Slack | | | |
| Jake Forester | | | | Steven R. McQueen | | |
| Sheriff Julie Forester | | | | Elisabeth Shue | | |
| Novak Radzinsky | | | | Adam Scott | | |
| Derrick Jones | | | | Jerry O'Connell | | |
| Kelly Driscoll | | | | Jessica Szohr | | |
| Deputy Fallon | | | | Ving Rhames | Ving Rhames | |
| Carl Goodman | | | | Christopher Lloyd | Christopher Lloyd | Christopher Lloyd |
| Andrew Cunningham | | | | Paul Scheer | Paul Scheer | |
| Maddy | | | | | Danielle Panabaker | |
| Barry | | | | | Matt Bush | |
| Chet | | | | | David Koechner | |
| Kyle | | | | | Chris Zylka | |

### Crew

| Crew | Film | Film | Film | Film | Film | Film |
| Crew | Piranha | Piranha II: The Spawning | Piranha | Piranha 3D | Piranha 3DD | Piranha JPN/Summer of the Piranha |
| Crew | 1978 | 1982 | 1995 | 2010 | 2012 | 20?? |
| Director | Joe Dante | James Cameron Ovidio G. Assonitis | Scott P. Levy | Alexandre Aja | John Gulager | — |
| Producer(s) | Roger CormanJon DavidsonChako van Leeuwen | Chako van Leeuwen Jeff Schechtman | Chako van Leeuwen Mike Elliott | Alexandre AjaMark CantonMarc ToberoffGrégory Levasseur | Mark CantonMarc ToberoffJoel Soisson | Chako van Leeuwen Roger Corman |
| Screenwriter(s) | John Sayles (screenplay)Richard RobinsonJohn Sayles (story) | H.A. Milton | Alex Simon (screenplay)Richard RobinsonJohn Sayles (story) | Pete Goldfinger Josh Stolberg | Patrick MeltonMarcus DunstanJoel Soisson | — |
| Composer | Pino Donaggio | Steve Powder | Christopher Lennertz | Michael Wandmacher | Elia Cmiral | — |
| Cinematographer | Jamie Anderson | Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli | Christopher Baffa | John R. Leonetti | Alexandre Lehmann | — |
| Editor | Joe Dante Mark Goldblatt | Robert Silvi | John Gilbert | Baxter | Devin C. Lussier Martin Bernfeld Kirk Morri | — |
| Production company | New World Pictures Chako Film Company | Brouwersgracht Investments Chako Film Company | Concorde-New Horizons Chako Film Company | The Weinstein CompanyAtmosphere EntertainmentChako Film CompanyMark Canton/IPW | Radius-TWCMark Canton/IPWNeo Art & Logic | IXFilm Group |

## Reception
### Critical response

| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
| Piranha (1978) | 70% (27 reviews) | 71/100 (8 reviews) | — |
| Piranha II: The Spawning | 5% (19 reviews) | 15/100 (5 reviews) | — |
| Piranha (1995) | — | — | — |
| Piranha 3D | 74% (132 reviews) | 53/100 (20 reviews) | C |
| Piranha 3DD | 12% (52 reviews) | 24/100 (13 reviews) | — |