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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Wicked Powers
The Wicked Powers is a planned trilogy based on The Wicked Powers novel series. It's the conclusion to the franchise.

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)"

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.