# Taxi (film series)

Taxi is a series of French comedy films, created by screenwriter and producer Luc Besson, consisting of five films primarily set in Marseille. In addition, an American-French remake of the 1998 original was made in 2004 and titled Taxi. In 2014 an American-French TV series called Taxi Brooklyn also aired.

## Films

| Film | Release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
| Original series |||||
| Taxi | April 8, 1998 (1998-04-08) | Gérard Pirès | Luc Besson | Luc Besson, Michèle Pétin & Laurent Pétin |
| Taxi 2 | March 29, 2000 (2000-03-29) | Gérard Krawczyk | Luc Besson | Luc Besson, Michèle Pétin & Laurent Pétin |
| Taxi 3 | January 29, 2003 (2003-01-29) | Gérard Krawczyk | Luc Besson | Luc Besson |
| Taxi 4 | February 14, 2007 (2007-02-14) | Gérard Krawczyk | Luc Besson | Luc Besson, Laurent Pétin & Michèle Pétin |
| Taxi 5 | April 11, 2018 (2018-04-11) | Franck Gastambide | Franck Gastambide, Stéphane Kazandjian & Ahmed Hamidi | Luc Besson |
| Remake |||||
| Taxi | October 6, 2004 (2004-10-06) | Tim Story | Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon & Jim Kouf | Luc Besson |

### Original series
#### Taxi (1998)

Taxi was shot in 1998 by Gérard Pirès based on the script by Luc Besson. It tells the story of the young taxi driver Daniel, who loves risk and high speeds, and clumsy policeman Émilien who team up to catch a German gang of bank robbers. In the end, thanks to Daniel's ingenuity, they succeed. The movie earned $44.4 million at the box office with a budget of $8.1 million.

#### Taxi 2 (2000)

In 2000, director Gérard Krawczyk filmed the sequel. The scriptwriter and producer of the picture was Luc Besson. At the heart of the story lies the confrontation between Daniel and Émilien about the kidnapping of the Japanese minister of defense who arrived in Marseille to get acquainted with France's achievements in the fight against terrorists. The movie earned $64.4 million at the box office with a budget of €10.7 million.

#### Taxi 3 (2003)

In 2003 Taxi 3 was released. The director was again Gérard Krawczyk, with Luc Besson still being producer and script writer. Daniel and Émilien reunite once again to fight a gang of bank robbers disguised as Santa Claus. The movie earned $64.5 million at the box office with a budget of €14.5 million.

#### Taxi 4 (2007)

On February 14, 2007, the premiere of the film Taxi 4 was held in France. As in the two previous movies, the director was Gerard Krawczyk, and Luc Besson was scriptwriter and producer. The most dangerous criminal in the world, Albert van den Bosch, escapes from the Marseille police station because of Émilien's incapability. As a result of this, Émilien is dismissed and is now working with Daniel and his wife Petra trying to track down and arrest the escaped criminal. The movie raised more than $65 million at the box office with a budget of €17.3 million.

#### Taxi 5 (2018)

Taxi 5 premiered in theaters on April 12, 2018. As before, the scriptwriter and producer was Luc Besson, while Gerard Krawczyk was replaced by the young director Franck Gastambide. The characters were also changed, instead of Daniel and Émilien, the heroes of the movie are Daniel's nephew Eddie Makhlouf and the Parisian police officer Silvain Maro, transferred to Marseille. They have to catch a gang of Italian robbers who use Italian supercars as their getaway vehicles. The movie earned $42 million at the box office with a budget of €20.39 million.

### Remake
#### Taxi (2004)

The success of the series of films Taxi attracted the attention of Hollywood. In 2004, Luc Besson's studio EuropaCorp and the American 20th Century Fox jointly shot a remake of the first Taxi, keeping the same title.
Belle Williams is the fastest taxi driver of New York and dreams of competing in NASCAR. But instead of racing, she has to team up with police officer Andy Washburn, a dimwitted detective and an inept driver. Together, they pursue a gang of bank robbers led by Vanessa – a cold and prudent beauty.
The film turned out to be financially profitable, grossing nearly $69 million worldwide with a budget of $25 million but received negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with a rating of 10%.

### Future

In an interview with “50 Minutes Inside,” Franck Gastambide announced that if Taxi 5 pays off well at the box office, then Taxi 6 will be his next job. Unfortunately, the film failed at the box office with a budget of €20.39 million, raising only $35 million. Despite this, the director still plans to make the sixth film.
In an interview with the Premiere newspaper, Samy Naceri said that he was ready to star in Taxi 6 if Luc Besson “assembled the old team”, he refused to only appear as a cameo.
At the Dinar Film Festival of 2018, Sabrina Ouazani confirmed that the sixth film is still in planning stage, further details are currently unknown.

## Television

| Series | Season | Episodes | First released | Last released | Showrunner(s) | Network(s) |
| Taxi Brooklyn | 1 | 12 | April 14, 2014 | May 12, 2014 | Gary Scott Thompson, Stephen Tolkin & Franck Ollivier | TF1, NBC |
In 2014, the television series Taxi Brooklyn, filmed jointly by EuropaCorp Television, the French TV channel TF1 and the American NBC, aired on television. The main creator of the series was Gary Scott Thompson. The plot was based on the first "Taxi".
Caitlin "Cat" Sullivan is an NYPD detective working in Brooklyn. After her driving privileges are suspended, she relies on Leo Romba, a Brooklyn cab driver from France. Leo becomes Cat's driver and a de facto consultant on her cases. While solving crimes with Leo, Cat is also running her own unauthorized investigation into the death of her father, an NYPD detective thought to have been executed by the Capella crime family. In doing so, she clashes with her boss, Captain Baker, and her ex-husband Gregg, who has picked up the case for the FBI.
On the site Rotten Tomatoes, the series received a rating of 38%. On March 6, 2015, NBC cancelled the show.

## Cast and crew
### Principal cast

   * This table shows the characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise
   * Italics indicate the actor only appears in flashbacks via archive footage from previous films
   * A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film
| Character | Original series | Original series | Original series | Original series | Original series | Remake |
| Character | Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4 | Taxi 5 | Taxi |
| Character | 1998 | 2000 | 2003 | 2007 | 2018 | 2004 |
| Daniel Morales | Samy Naceri | Samy Naceri | Samy Naceri | Samy Naceri | Mentioned | |
| Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec | Frédéric Diefenthal | Frédéric Diefenthal | Frédéric Diefenthal | Frédéric Diefenthal | Mentioned | |
| Lilly Bertineau | Marion Cotillard | Marion Cotillard | Marion Cotillard | Mentioned | | |
| Petra | Emma Wiklund | Emma Wiklund | Emma Wiklund | Emma Wiklund | | |
| Commissaire Gérard Gibert | Bernard Farcy | Bernard Farcy | Bernard Farcy | Bernard Farcy | Bernard Farcy | |
| Alain Trésor | Édouard Montoute | Édouard Montoute | Édouard Montoute | Édouard Montoute | Édouard Montoute | |
| General Edmond Bertineau | | Jean-Christophe Bouvet | Jean-Christophe Bouvet | Jean-Christophe Bouvet | Mentioned | |
| Sylvain Marot | | | | | Franck Gastambide | |
| Eddy Maklouf | | | | | Malik Bentalha | |
| Samia | | | | | Sabrina Ouazani | |
| Sandy | | | | | Sand Van Roy | |
| Isabelle "Belle" Precious Williams | | | | | | Queen Latifah |
| Detective Andrew Washburn | | | | | | Jimmy Fallon |
| Vanessa | | | | | | Gisele Bündchen |
| Jesse | | | | | | Henry Simmons |
| Lieutenant Mata Robbins | | | | | | Jennifer Esposito |

### Additional crew

| Title | Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4 | Taxi 5 |
| Director | Gérard Pirès | Gérard Krawczyk | Gérard Krawczyk | Gérard Krawczyk | Franck Gastambide |
| Screenplay | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Franck Gastambide Stéphane Kazandjian Luc Besson |
| Editing | Véronique Lange | Thierry Hosse | Yann Herve | Kristin Luca Navarro Friederic Toraval | Julien Rey |
| Producer | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Luc Besson | Luc Besson |
| Producer | Michèle Pétin | Michèle Pétin | Michèle Pétin | Michèle Pétin | |
| Producer | Laurent Pétin | Laurent Pétin | Laurent Pétin | Laurent Pétin | |
| Music | Akhenaton | Al Kemya | Kore & Skalp | Tefa, Masta Weallstar—Da. Octopusss | Kore |
| Cinematographer | Jean-Pierre Sauveur | Gerard Sterin | Gerard Sterin | Pierre Morel | Vincent Richard |
| Premiere | 8 April 1998 | 29 March 2000 | 29 January 2003 | 10 February 2007 (Marseille) 15 February 2007 (rest of France) | 7 April 2018 (Marseille) 11 April 2018 (rest of France) |
| Runtime | 90 minutes | 88 minutes | 87 minutes | 97 minutes | 102 minutes |
| Budget | €8.1 mln | €10.7 mln | €14.49 mln | €17.3 mln | €20.39 mln |
| Genre | Comedy Action | Comedy Action | Comedy Action | Comedy Action | Comedy Action |
| Country | France | France | France | France | France |
| Company |
| ARP Sélection |||||
| TF1 Films Production |||||
| Company | StudioCanal | StudioCanal | StudioCanal | Apipoulaï | |
| Company | Leeloo Productions | Leeloo Productions | EuropaCorp | EuropaCorp | EuropaCorp |
| Distributor France | EuropaCorp Distribution | EuropaCorp Distribution | EuropaCorp Distribution | EuropaCorp Distribution | EuropaCorp Distribution |

## Reception
### Box office performance

| | Film | Film | Film | Film | Film | All films of the Taxi (film series) |
| | Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4 | Taxi 5 | All films of the Taxi (film series) |
| France | $37,980,000 | $63,704,000 | $35,752,480 | $33,342,703 | $21,899,085 | $192,678,268 |
| United States | $268,254 | $729,844 | $497,208 | — | — | $1,495,306 |
| Worldwide | $44,218,015 | $64,433,844 | $64,497,208 | $65,114,802 | $64,497,208 | $302,761,077 |

## Music
### Soundtracks

* Taxi: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1998
* Taxi 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2000
* Taxi 3: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2003
* Taxi: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2004
* Taxi 4: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2007
* Taxi 5: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2018

## Video games

* Taxi 2 – Based on Taxi 2. Released in 2000.
* Taxi 3 – Based on Taxi 3. Released in 2003.