The Shadowhunters Chronicles

The Shadowhunter Chronicles is a film series based on The Shadowhunter Chronicles novel series by Cassandra Clare. The films have been in production since 2010, It's produced by Constantin Film and Screen Gems and released by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United States. In the alternative universe Quadwal 1845.98 Epsilon it was a financial success while its first film failed in the prime universe. The series received mixed to positive reviews and it became the second highest grossing film series of all time. 
==Overview==
The series started in 2013 with the release of a film based on the first book. While it received mainly negative reviews from critics it received positive reviews from fans and general audiences. The following films had higher financial and critical success. The film series propelled Jamie Campbell Bower to stardom. However, unlike the books and tv series in the prime timeline the LGTB+ characters are toned-down in the PG-13 releases.
The series popularity lead to prequels and spin-offs. 
In the 2020s following the pandemic, the series continued with a Rated R film series called the Eldest Curses and a sequel series called the Dark Artifices. However, the 023 SAG-AFTRA strike led to the Dark Artifices being delayed due to production setbacks and its first film underperforming at the box office.
==Films==
=== The Mortal Instruments ===
The Mortal Instruments is the first series of The Shadowhunters Chronicles film franchise. It's two trilogies of Urban Fantasy films. The films are Pg-13 and are produced by Screen Gems and Constantin Film. They were released by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United States, Constantine Film in Germany and Entertainment One in Canada. It focuses on Clary Fairchild, a girl who discovers she's a Shadowhunter and joins the New York Shadowhunter Institute. It's set in the modern world and focuses on the team fighting a rogue Shadowhunter named Valentine along with his son Sebastian and the demon Lilith. The plot revolves around The Mortal Instruments, three sacred artifacts to the Shadowhunter race. The series received mixed reviews but was a box office success. 
Film 	Release date 	Director(s) 	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 	August 21, 2013 	Harald Zwart 	Jessica Postigo	Don Carmody 
Robert Kulzer
The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes 	October 7, 2014 	Harald Zwart 	Will Gluck 	Don Carmody
Bernd Eichinger
The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass 	September 25, 2015 	Harald Zwart 	Will Gluck 	Jerry Zucker
Don Carmody
The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels	August 5, 2016 	Paul W. S. Anderson	Rodo Sayagues 	Robert Kulzer
Jerry Zucker
The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls 	December 10th, 2016	Paul W. S. Anderson	Rodo Sayagues 	Robert Kulzer
Jerry Zucker
The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire	June 10th, 2017 	Paul W. S. Anderson	Rodo Sayagues 	Sam Raimi
Ed Decter
=== The Infernal Devices ===
The Infernal Devices is a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series. It's a trilogy of Steampunk Fantasy films. The films are Pg-13 and are produced by Screen Gems, Left Bank Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Wonderland Sound and Vision. They were released by Sony Pictures Releasing. It's set in 1878, and focuses on a teenage girl named Tessa Grey who travels from America to London to find her brother who is revealed to work for a minister planning to create an army of clockwork creatures to take over London. She discovers that she is actually a shapeshifter and is forced to team up with an institute of Shadowhunters. It received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. 
Film 	Release date 	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s) 	Producer(s)
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel 	June 9, 2018 	Sam Mendes 	Peter MorganEric Kripke	Brian GrazerSam RaimiRobert Kulzer
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Prince 	November 20, 2019 	Sam Mendes 	Peter MorganEric Kripke	Brian GrazerSam RaimiRobert Kulzer
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Princess	July 5, 2020 (Delayed) November 29, 2021	Sam Mendes 	Peter MorganEric Kripke	Brian GrazerSam RaimiRobert Kulzer
=== The Eldest Curses ===
The Eldest Curses are a spin-off series set in the time period of The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices. They were released during the gaps between film releases. They are R rated and focus on Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane. Unlike some of the other films the LGTB+ characters are not toned down. They focus on the growing relationship between the two leads while traveling around the world fighting enemies around the globe. Two films The Red Scrolls of Magic and The Lost Book of the White have been released and a third film is planned after the novel The Black Volume of the Dead is published. They were released by Sony Pictures Releasing and were produced by Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Tencent Pictures. They were the lowest grossing installments of the series but received mainly positive reviews. 
Film 	Release date 	Director(s) 	Screenwriter(s) 	Producer(s)
The Eldest Curses: Red Scrolls of Magic 	November 24, 2020	Tim Miller 	Guillermo del Toro 	Brian GrazerRobert Kulzer
The Eldest Curses: The Lost Book of the White 	April 5, 2022 	Guillermo del Toro	Guillermo del ToroTodd SlavkinDarren Swimmer	Brian GrazerRobert Kulzer
The Eldest Curses: The Black Volume of the Dead	TBA 	Guillermo del Toro	TBA 	Robert Kulzer
=== The Dark Artifices ===
The Dark Artifices is a sequel to the Mortal Instruments series. It's a trilogy of Urban Fantasy films focusing on the Los Angeles Institute. It focuses on Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn who fall in love despite being Parabatai which makes their love forbidden. The institute gets involved with the corrupt Shadowhunters Clave and wicked Unseelie King. They're released by Sony Pictures Releasing and are produced by Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision. The first film underperformed at the box office and had Mixed to Positive Reviews. Following the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, the second and third installments production was delayed.
Film 	Release date 	Director(s) 	Screenwriter(s) 	Producer(s)
The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight 	September 30, 2023	Patty Jenkins	Guillermo del Toro	Guillermo del ToroSam RaimiJames Lassiter
The Dark Artifices: Lord of Shadows 	TBA 	Patty Jenkins	Guillermo del Toro	Guillermo del ToroSam RaimiJames Lassiter
The Dark Artifices: Queen of Air and Darkness	TBA 	Patty Jenkins	Guillermo del Toro	Guillermo del ToroSam RaimiJames Lassiter
=== The Last Hours ===
The Last Hours is a planned trilogy based on The Last Hours novel series. It's a sequel to The Infernal Devices.
Film 	Release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Last Hours: Chain of Gold 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	Guillermo del Toro
The Last Hours: Chain of Iron 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	Guillermo del Toro
The Last Hours: Chain of Thorns	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	Guillermo del Toro
=== The Wicked Powers ===
The Wicked Powers is a planned trilogy based on The Wicked Powers novel series. It's the conclusion to the franchise.
Film	Release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
==Reception==
The films were praised for their acting, chemistry between actors, worldbuilding and character development. However, the plot's were criticized for being very similar to each other and featuring poorly written villains. The script of the first film was criticized while the second and third films had improved writing. However, the Mortal Instruments films still had mixed reviews. According to Rotten Tomatoes, all films of the Shadowhunter Chronicles with the exception of the Eldest Curses films are received worse by Top Critics and have a lower average rating then all critics. The only exception is the two Eldest Curses films which have higher top critic ratings.
Eventually, the production companies began to produce sequels and spin-offs such as The Infernal Devices trilogy which had positive reviews. It's been claimed that Shadowhunters is an exception to the rule of thumb that prequels aren't as good as sequels and the original. The Infernal Devices is considered to be the most known prequel that's better than the original. 
=== Religious controversy ===
The popularity of the franchise resulted in the novels being review-bombed on Goodreads, challenged and banned in some places. Some Christians frequently complained about the series being too dark and offensive. They accused the films and books of carelessly combining christian and pagan ideas. Some extremists went far enough to burn copies of the books and home media claiming that it's worse than Harry Potter, Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Underworld combined.
On Christian Answers.net all 11 out of the twelve films have an extremely offensive rating. The exception being The Clockwork Prince with a Very Offensive rating. On Movieguide.org all twelve films have a -4 rating indicating "Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)"
===Box office===
Film 	Release date 	Box office gross	Box office gross 	Box office gross 	Budget
Film 	Release date 	North America 	Other territories	Worldwide 	Budget
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 	August 21, 2013 	$200,000,000 	$100,000,000 	$300,000,000 	$60 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes 	October 7, 2014 	$500,000,000 	$200,000,000 	$700,000,000 	$80 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass 	September 25, 2015 	$700,000,000 	$300,000,000 	$1,000,000,000 	$200 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels	August 5, 2016 	$600,000,000 	$100,000,000 	$700,000,000 	$200 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls 	December 10th, 2016	$600,000,000 	$150,000,000 	$750,000,000 	$200 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire	June 10th, 2017 	$800,000,000 	$450,000,000 	$1,250,000,000 	$200 million
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel 	June 9th, 2018 	$600,000,000 	$645,000,000 	$1,245,000,000 	$150 million
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Prince 	November 20, 2019 	$900,000,000 	$893,000,000 	$1,793,000,000 	$150 million
The Eldest Curses: Red Scrolls of Magic 	November 24, 2020 	$40,000,000 	$30,000,000 	$70,000,000 	$40 million
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Princess 	November 29, 2021 	$1,100,000,000 	$1,110,000,000 	$2,210,000,000 	$200 million
The Eldest Curses: The Lost Book of the White	April 5, 2022 	$200,000,000 	$50,000,000 	$250,000,000 	$100 million
The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight 	September 30, 2023 	$250,000,000 	$160,000,000 	$410,000,000 	$200 million
Total 	Total 	$6,490,000,000 	$4,188,000,000 	$10,678,000,000  	$1.630 billion
===Critical and public response===
Film 	Rotten Tomatoes 	Metacritic 	CinemaScore
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 	29% (200 reviews)	37 (70 reviews) 	A-
The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes 	59% (210 reviews)	43 (80 reviews) 	A-
The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass 	69% (250 reviews)	50 (150 reviews)	A
The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels	24% (240 reviews)	30 (140 reviews)	B
The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls 	33% (245 reviews)	40 (145 reviews)	B+
The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire	67% (250 reviews)	55 (150 reviews)	A+
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel 	71% (250 reviews)	65 (80 reviews) 	A+
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Prince 	79% (250 reviews)	68 (80 reviews) 	A+
The Eldest Curses: Red Scrolls of Magic 	70% (100 reviews)	70 (80 reviews) 	A
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Princess 	85% (420 reviews)	73 (80 reviews) 	A+
The Eldest Curses: The Lost Book of the White	69% (200 reviews)	65 (150 reviews)	A
The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight 	63% (250 reviews)	53 (34 reviews) 	B+
==Possible Future Franchise==
Before the publication of The Sword Catcher, Cassandra Clare sold the film-rights to the series to Screen Gems so that a film series based on it could be produced.
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