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''Charlie's Angels'' is an American
media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...
created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which began with the original television series of the same name in 1976. The franchise follows the adventures of the Angels, a team of women working for the Townsend Agency, a private secret agent agency, under the leadership of Charlie Townsend, their unseen boss. The original television series enjoyed huge popularity with audiences and was a top ten hit in the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
for its first two seasons. Following its cancellation in 1981, the series continues to have a 1970s American
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
and
pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...
following through syndication and DVD releases. A great variety of merchandise was produced based on the show, including dolls, a toy line, board games, beauty products, several sets of trading cards and a comic book series by Dynamite Entertainment. In the early 2000s, a film series was launched with '' Charlie's Angels'' (2000) and '' Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' (2003). Taking place after the events of the original series, the films are a continuation of the story with later generations of Angels. The films received mixed reviews from critics and grossed a total of $596 million against a combined budget of $261 million. The franchise was rebooted in 2011 with a television series of the same name, which was canceled after seven episodes. Following the cancellation, a third and final film was produced which restored the original timeline of the franchise.


Television


''Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981)

Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe, and Kelly Garrett have graduated from the police academy in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Despite proving their capability during training, all three have subsequently been assigned to be a meter maid, office worker, and crossing guard, respectively. Dissatisfied with these jobs, they are recruited to work for the Charles Townsend Agency as
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
s. Their boss, Charlie Townsend, nicknames them "Angels". Subsequent Angels are Kris Munroe, Tiffany Welles, and Julie Rogers, Charlie is never viewed full-face. Charlie gives the Angels and his associate John Bosley their assignments via a speakerphone; he never met them face-to-face.


Attempted spin-off

ABC attempted to create a spin-off of ''Charlie's Angels'' in 1980 called ''Toni's Boys''. The backdoor pilot aired near the end of season four, simply titled "Toni's Boys" (season 4, episode 23). The episode starred Barbara Stanwyck as Antonia "Toni" Blake, a wealthy widow socialite and friend of Charlie's who ran a detective agency that she inherited from her late husband. The agency was staffed by three handsome male detectives—Cotton Harper ( Stephen Shortridge), Bob Sorensen ( Bob Seagren), and Matt Parrish (Bruce Bauer)—who took direction from Toni, and solved crimes in a manner similar to the Angels. The show was not picked up as a regular series for the following season.


''Charlie's Angels'' (2011)

Kate Prince, a former
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
cop; Eve French, a former street racer; and Abby Simpson, a former thief; are recruited to work for the Townsend Agency in Miami as private investigators. Aided by John Bosley, a former hacker, they fight crime under the leadership of Charlie Townsend, their unseen boss. The series served as a reboot of the franchise and was cancelled after only one season with seven episodes.


Upcoming television series

In May 9, 2024, a new television series oriented towards tweens and set in Brazil was announced to be in the works at Sony Pictures Television Kids and Floresta with Suzana Pires attached to write.


Crossover

''Note: The table below only accounts for full crossover events, single guest appearances are not included''.


With other series


Films

Launched in 2000, the ''Charlie's Angels'' film series is a continuation of the original television series story.


''Charlie's Angels'' (2000)

Natalie Cook, Dylan Sanders and Alex Munday are the second generation of "Angels", a crime-fighting trio who are the masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts. Charlie assigns them to find Eric Knox, a software genius who created a revolutionary voice-recognition system and heads his own company, Knox Enterprises. Knox is believed to have been kidnapped by Roger Corwin, who runs a communications-satellite company called Redstar. The "Angels", aided by Bosley, set out to bring down the bad guys.


''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' (2003)

Natalie, Dylan and Alex, together with Bosley's adoptive brother Jimmy Bosley, are sent to recover H.A.L.O.
titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
rings stolen from the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
which can display the people listed in the witness protection program. During this adventure, they will cross paths with former Angel Madison Lee.


''Charlie's Angels'' (2019)

The Townsend agency has expanded internationally with multiple teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys, a rank named after John. The European division of the agency is informed that Elena Houghlin, an engineer, wants to expose her superiors for covering up a discovery about how an energy conservation device that she helped invent, named Calisto, has the potential to trigger fatal seizures when used. A new team of Angels are called into action to protect the world from Calisto.


Future

Following the release of ''Full Throttle'', the franchise was confirmed for a third and fourth film, but in 2004, the idea was cancelled. In 2019, a sequel to the 2019 film was discussed, but due to the film's box office performance, the sequel was scrapped.


Short film


''Ru's Angels'' (2019)

A three minute short action comedy film titled ''Ru's Angels'', follows three drag queens
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
, Peppermint and Nina West from ''
RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...
'', who are about to stop a wig snatcher played by Katya. The short film also stars RuPaul as Bos-Slay and the cast of the 2019 ''Charlie's Angels'' film.


Web series


''Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures'' (2003)

''Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures'' is an animated prequel web series consisting of six episodes. The series follows the Angels on a mission to find U.S. Marshal Ray Carter. Carter was kidnapped, and taken to and incarcerated in
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, leading to the events of ''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle''.


Cast and crew


Principal cast

* A indicates the actor or actress lent only their voice for their film character. * A indicates the actor portrayed the role of a younger version of the character. * A indicates the actor appeared as their character through a photographic still. * A indicates a
cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
. * A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.


Additional crew


Reception


Box office performance


Critical and public response


Music


Soundtracks


Singles


Other media and merchandising


Collectible items

During the original series' run,
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
Industries produced an extensive range of ''Charlie's Angels'' merchandise, which was distributed in the US, the UK, and other international markets. A numerous variety of collectible items were produced, including two versions of dolls, boardgames, numerous posters, several sets of trading cards, notebooks, a lunchbox and thermos set, a ''Charlie's Angels'' toy van, children's beauty products and even record albums. Author Sherrie A. Inness, in the text 'Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s' writes that "Charlie's Angels merchandise was big business, Hasbro Industries spent over $2.5 million to advertise its Charlie's Angels dolls". In the UK, as was common with many popular US programs of the era, a series of tie-in hardcover annuals were published by World International Publishing Ltd, containing stories, comics, photos, puzzles and features on the stars. There are four ''Charlie's Angels'' annuals in total. Although it was not connected to the show, a 1976 poster of Farrah Fawcett sporting a red bathing suit became the biggest selling poster in history with more than 12 million copies sold. This poster also helped the burgeoning popularity of the series. The red swimsuit that helped make Farrah Fawcett a 1970s icon became part of the Smithsonian's collection in 2011. The picture has been immortalized as a Black Label Barbie Collection doll and the legendary red bathing suit has been donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The designer of that swimsuit is Norma Kamali.


Collectible card game


Video games

In July 2003, ''
Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...
'' was released for
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
and
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. ''Charlie's Angels: Road Cyclone'' was published for
mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
s. An online video game. ''Charlie's Angels: Angel X'', was also released in May 2003 by Sony Pictures Digital Networks. The three games are based on the first and
second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
films in the series. In April 2008, Ojom announced a new ''Charlie's Angels'' mobile phone game entitled ''Charlie's Angels: Hellfire''. The game was available on operator portals across Europe. In August 2019, a game named ''Charlie's Angels: The Game'' was released on
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
and Android devices by Crazy Labs Games. The game is an endless runner based on the third film in the series.


Comic books

Two British
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
versions were produced. The first appeared in the Polystyle publication ''Target'' in April 1978, drawn by John Canning. ''Target'' was a sister title to the long-running '' TV Comic'' aimed at older children and featuring TV action and crime shows of the day. Proving unpopular, it folded in August and merged back into ''TV Comic'' where Canning's Angels strip continued until October 1979. The second strip was printed in Junior TV Times ''
Look-in ''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior '' TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.Angus Allan and drawn by Jim Baikie and Bill Titcombe. In June 2018, a six-issue limited comic book series based on the television series was launched by Dynamite Entertainment. A crossover comic book series with ''Charlie's Angels'' and ''
The Bionic Woman ''The Bionic Woman'' is an American science fiction film, science fiction Action-adventure fiction, action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson (producer), Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel Cyborg (novel), ''Cyborg'' by ...
'' titled ''Charlie's Angels vs. the Bionic Woman'', was released on July 3, 2019.


References

{{Sony franchises American film series Action film franchises Television franchises Mass media franchises introduced in 1976 Film series introduced in 2000 Columbia Pictures franchises Sony Pictures Television franchises Female superheroes Sony Pictures franchises Fictional trios