The original. A surprise sleeper hit in the summer of 1868. Box office returns exceeded expectations pleasing studio execs who greenlighted a sequel.
The sequel written by the same screenwriters as the original that shamelessly cribbed plotlines from Dickens and focused on the relationship between the main characters. Did good numbers on DVD sales.
A second sequel that focuses on the lives of Rylands and Fletcher after the decision of the House of Lords. Notable for its extended training montage as Rylands trains in a Venetian assassin academy having sworn revenge on Lord Cairns. Historians of the franchise mark this as the point at which the wheels started to fall off.
Tells the origin story of Rylands v Fletcher. Stars the original actors but uses de-ageing software to allow them to portray themselves as young men. The plot details a young Fletcher rebelling against a family history of mining, and a young Rylands overcoming a childhood fear of reservoirs.
The road trip movie that nobody asked for. The script was originally “Rylands v Fletcher in the French Riviera” before a series of studio tax breaks shifted filming to the Pacific North West. Released directly to streaming services.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman, this dark meditative piece is well-remembered for the audio motif of dripping water. Filmed in Swedish, with English subtitles.
An all-woman remake of the original Rylands v Fletcher. This film earned Meryl Streep her second nomination for an Academy Award.
The franchise reimagined for the modern era as a Borat-style mockumentary. When Rylands and Fletcher embark on a tour of American reservoirs as part of a travel show, a series of comic misunderstandings seems them pursued through the mid-West by Hells Angels.
Intended as a dark comedy, “Rylands v Fletcher – fire in polystyrene factory” was widely panned by critics as “in unbelievably poor taste” and “deeply offensive to victims of polystyrene factory fires and the families of victims of polystyrene factory fires”. Banned in the European Union.
Set in a world where a super-virus has turned John Rylands into a zombie overlord. Thomas Fletcher must lead a rag-tag bunch of survivors through a series of tunnels in his mine into the abandoned reservoir where Rylands holds court in order to assassinate him and save the human race.
Strictly obiter 