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Charlie's Angels (franchise)

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Charlie's Angels
Official logo of original television series.
Created by
Original workCharlie's Angels (1976–1981)
OwnerColumbia Pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Years1976–2019
Print publications
Comics
  • Charlie's Angels (2018)
  • Charlie's Angels vs. the Bionic Woman
Films and television
Film(s)
Short film(s)Ru's Angels
Television series
Web seriesCharlie's Angels: Animated Adventures
Games
TraditionalThe Charlie's Angels Game
Video game(s)
  • Charlie's Angels
  • Charlie's Angels: Angel X
  • Charlie's Angels: Road Cyclone
  • Charlie's Angels: Hellfire
  • Charlie's Angels: The Game
Audio
Soundtrack(s)
Original music

Charlie's Angels is an American media franchise created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which began with the original television series of the same name. 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 for its first two seasons. Following its cancellation in 1981, the series continues to have a 1970s American cult and pop culture following through syndication and DVD releases.[1][2] A numerous variety of merchandise were produced, including dolls, a toy line, board games, beauty products, several sets of trading cards and a comic book series by Dynamite Entertainment.[3][4]

A film series was launched in 2000. Taking place after the events of the original series, the films are a continuation of the story with later generations of Angels. The films receive mixed reviews from critics and have 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.[5] Following the cancellation, a third film was produced which restored the original timeline of the franchise.[6]

Television

Series Season Episodes First released Last released Showrunner(s) Network(s)
Charlie's Angels (1976) 5 115 September 22, 1976 June 24, 1981 Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts ABC
Charlie's Angels (2011) 1 8 September 22, 2011 November 10, 2011 Miles Millar & Alfred Gough

Charlie's Angels (1976–1981)

Main article: Charlie's Angels
Season one cast (1976–1977): Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett, and Kate Jackson

Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe, and Kelly Garrett have graduated from the police academy in Los Angeles, California. 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 investigators.

Their boss, Charlie Townsend, who nicknames them "Angels", 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.[7] 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.[8]

Charlie's Angels (2011)

Main article: Charlie's Angels (2011 TV series)

Kate Prince, a former Miami 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.

Crossover

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

With other series

Crossover between Episode Type Actors crossing over Date aired
Series A Series B
Charlie's Angels (1976) Vegas "Angels in Vegas" (Parts 1 & 2)
(Charlie's Angels 3.01 & 3.02)		 Guest appearance Appearing in Series A: Robert Urich September 13, 1978
When violent and suspicious deaths strike his closest friends, a casino boss hires the Angels to go undercover at the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas. The Angels must discover the culprit behind the series of mysterious murders before it's too late. The character Dan Tanna (played by Robert Urich) from the detective series Vegas appeared in the episode "Angels in Vegas" a week before the Vegas season one debut. The crossover was simply used to reintroduce the Dan Tanna character and to promote Vegas as an ongoing series.[9]
Charlie's Angels (1976) The Love Boat "Love Boat Angels" (Parts 1 & 2)
(Charlie's Angels 4.01 & 4.02)		 Guest appearance Appearing in Series A: Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange & Lauren Tewes September 12, 1979
Tiffany Welles joins the Townsend Agency after Sabrina Duncan has quit to get married and start a family. Charlie tells his girls to take a cruise on the Pacific Princess to catch art thief Paul Hollister. Kris offers to get close to their target, but soon begins to feel an attraction to him. The characters of the series The Love Boat, are guest starred in a two-hour season premiere of season 4. It is also the debut appearance of Shelley Hack as Tiffany Welles.

Films

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

Film U.S. release date Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Story by Producer(s)
Charlie's Angels (2000) November 3, 2000 (2000-11-03) McG Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon & John August Nancy Juvonen, Drew Barrymore & Leonard Goldberg
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle June 27, 2003 (2003-06-27) John August, Cormac & Marianne Wibberley John August
Charlie's Angels (2019) November 15, 2019 (2019-11-15) Elizabeth Banks David Auburn & Evan Spiliotopoulos Doug Belgrad, Max Handelman, Elizabeth Banks & Elizabeth Cantillon

Charlie's Angels (2000)

Main article: Charlie's Angels (2000 film)

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)

Main article: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Natalie, Dylan and Alex, together with Bosley's adoptive brother Jimmy Bosley, are sent to recover H.A.L.O. titanium rings stolen from the United States Department of Justice 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)

Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska, the third generation of Angels.
Main article: Charlie's Angels (2019 film)

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.[10]

Short film

Ru's Angels (2019)

A three minute short action comedy film titled Ru's Angels, follows three drag queens Alaska, Peppermint and Nina West from RuPaul's Drag Race, 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.[11]

Web series

Series Season Episodes First released Last released Showrunner(s) Network(s)
Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures 1 6 May 13, 2003 (2003-05-13) June 17, 2003 (2003-06-17) Stephanie Savage AnimatedAngels.com

Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures (2003)

Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures is an animated prequel web series consisting of six episodes.[12][13] 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, leading to the events of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.[14]

Cast and crew

Principal cast

Main article: List of Charlie's Angels characters
Key
  • A V indicates the actor or actress lent only their voice for their film character.
  • A Y indicates the actor portrayed the role of a younger version of the character.
  • A P indicates the actor appeared as their character through a photographic still.
  • A C indicates a cameo appearance.
  • A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.
Characters Original television series Film series Web series Video game Reboot television series
Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels
Full Throttle 		Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels
Animated Adventures 		Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels
1976-1981 2000 2003 2019 2003 2003 2011
The Angels
Sabrina Duncan Kate Jackson Kate JacksonP Kate JacksonP
Jill Munroe Farrah Fawcett Farrah FawcettP
Kelly Garrett Jaclyn Smith
Tonya CroweY 		Jaclyn SmithP Jaclyn SmithC
Kris Munroe Cheryl Ladd
Jordan LaddY 		Cheryl LaddP
Tiffany Welles Shelley Hack
Julie Rogers Tanya Roberts Tanya RobertsP
Natalie Cook Cameron Diaz Cameron DiazP Silent Cameron Diaz
Dylan Sanders
Helen Zaas 		Drew Barrymore Drew BarrymoreP Drew Barrymore
Alexandra "Alex" Munday Lucy Liu Lucy LiuP Lucy Liu
Sabina Wilson Kristen Stewart
Elena Houghlin Naomi Scott
Jane Kano Ella Balinska
Ingrid Hannah Hoekstra
Angels Hailee SteinfeldC
Lili ReinhartC
Aly RaismanC
Chloe KimC
Huda KattanC
Fight Instructor Ronda RouseyC
Driving Instructor Danica PatrickC
Bomb Instructor Laverne CoxC
Kate Prince Annie Ilonzeh
Abigail "Abby" Simpson Rachael Taylor
Eve French Minka Kelly
Taylor BlackwellY
Gloria Martinez Nadine Velazquez
Anahi ArticaY
Townsend Agency
Charles "Charlie" Townsend John ForsytheV Robert ClotworthyV John ForsytheV Allan WengerV Victor GarberV
John Bosley David Doyle Bill Murray Bill MurrayP Patrick Stewart
David DoyleP
Bill MurrayP 		Ramon Rodriguez
Jimmy Bosley Bernie Mac Thomas M. PollardV
Rebekah "Bosley" Elizabeth Banks
Edgar "Bosley" Dessange Djimon Hounsou
The Saint Luis Gerardo Méndez
New York Bosley Michael StrahanC
Other cast and characters
Thin Man / Anthony Crispin Glover Crispin Glover
Zack ShadaY 		Silent
Jason Gibbons Matt LeBlanc
Peter Kominsky Luke Wilson
Eric Knox
John McAdam 		Sam Rockwell
Roger Corwin Tim Curry
Vivian Wood Kelly Lynch
Madison Lee Demi Moore
Seamus O'Grad Justin Theroux
Marshal Ray Carter Robert Patrick Silent
Alexander Brok Sam Claflin
Langston Noah Centineo
Hodak Jonathan Tucker
Victor Simpson John Terry
Ray Goodson Isaiah Mustafa

Additional crew

Film Crew/Detail
Composer(s) Cinematographer Editor(s) Executive producer(s) Production companies Distributing companies Running time
Charlie's Angels (2000) Edward Shearmur Russell Carpenter Wayne Wahrman
Peter Teschner 		Betty Thomas
Jenno Topping
Joseph M. Caracciolo 		Flower Films (II)
Columbia Pictures
Tall Trees Productions
Leonard Goldberg Productions 		Columbia Pictures 98 minutes
Charlie's Angels:
Full Throttle 		Wayne Wahrman Jenno Topping
Patrick Crowley 		Flower Films (II)
Columbia Pictures
Tall Trees Productions
Wonderland Sound and Vision
Leonard Goldberg Productions 		106 minutes
Charlie's Angels (2019) Brian Tyler Bill Pope Mary Jo Markey
Alan Baumgarten 		Nancy Juvonen
Matthew Hirsch
Drew Barrymore
Leonard Goldberg 		2.0 Entertainment
Columbia Pictures
Cantillon Company
Perfect World Pictures
Brownstone Productions (II) 		Sony Pictures Releasing 119 minutes

Reception

Box office performance

Film U.S. release date Box office gross Budget Ref.
North America Other territories Worldwide
Charlie's Angels (2000) November 3, 2000 $125,305,545 $138,800,000 $264,105,545 $93 million [15]
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle June 27, 2003 $100,830,111 $158,345,677 $259,175,788 $120 million [16]
Charlie's Angels (2019) November 15, 2019 $17,803,077 $55,476,811 $73,279,888 $48–55 million [17][18]
Total $243,938,733 $352,622,488 $596,561,221 $261–268 million [19]

Critical and public response

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Charlie's Angels (2000) 68% (146 reviews)[20] 52 (34 reviews)[21] A−[22]
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 41% (186 reviews)[23] 48 (39 reviews)[24] B+[22]
Charlie's Angels (2019) 52% (224 reviews)[25] 52 (41 reviews)[26] B+[22]

Music

Soundtracks

Title U.S. release date Performed by Length Label
Charlie's Angels: Music from the Motion Picture (2000) October 24, 2000 (2000-10-24) Various Artists 58:22 Columbia
Sony Music Soundtrax
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (Music from the Motion Picture) June 24, 2003 (2003-06-24) 49:57
Charlie's Angels: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2019) November 1, 2019 (2019-11-01) 36:37 Republic
Charlie's Angels: Original Motion Picture Score (2019) November 8, 2019 (2019-11-08) Brian Tyler 1:13:56 Sony Classical

Singles

Title U.S. release date Length Artist(s) Label Film
"Independent Women" August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29) 3:37 Destiny's Child Columbia Charlie's Angels (2000)
"Angel's Eye" 2000 (2000) 3:22 Aerosmith
"Charlie's Angels 2000" November 27, 2000 (2000-11-27) 3:54 Apollo 440
"Feel Good Time" June 20, 2003 (2003-06-20) 3:56 Pink feat. William Orbit Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
"Don't Call Me Angel" September 13, 2019 (2019-09-13) 3:10 Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey Republic Charlie's Angels (2019)
"How It's Done" October 11, 2019 (2019-10-11) 3:02 Kash Doll, Kim Petras, Alma and Stefflon Don
"Pantera" October 23, 2019 (2019-10-23) 2:04 Anitta
"Bad to You" November 1, 2019 (2019-11-01) 2:52 Ariana Grande, Normani and Nicki Minaj
"Charlie's Angels Theme" November 1, 2019 (2019-11-01) 2:19 Brian Tyler Sony Classical

Other media and merchandising

Collectible items

During the original series' run, Hasbro Industries produced an extensive range of Charlie's Angels merchandise, which was distributed in the US, the UK, and other international markets.[27] 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".[28]

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.[29]

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.[30] 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.[31]

Collectible card game

Video games

In July 2003, Charlie's Angels was released for GameCube and PlayStation 2. Charlie's Angels: Road Cyclone was published for mobile phones. 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 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 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 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, debuting in November 1979 (as soon as Polystyle's deal expired), written by Angus Allan and drawn by Jim Baikie[32] and Bill Titcombe.

In June 2018, a six-issue limited comic book series based on the television series was launched by Dynamite Entertainment.[33] A crossover comic book series with Charlie's Angels and The Bionic Woman titled Charlie's Angels vs. the Bionic Woman, was released on July 3, 2019.[34]

References

  1. ^ "When Aaron Spelling Ruled Television: An Oral History of Entertainment's Prolific, Populist Producer". The Hollywood Reporter. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Charlie's Angels Turns 40: Jaclyn Smith Reflects on the 'Groundbreaking' Series That Had a $20,000 Per Episode Wardrobe Budget". PEOPLE.com.
  3. ^ Inness, Sherrie A (2003-01-13). Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s. ISBN 978-0812218411.
  4. ^ "Charlie's Angels Comes To Comics in June with John Layman and Joe Eisma Embracing the '70s". Comicsbeat.com. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  5. ^ Rice, Lynette (October 14, 2011). "Goodbye girls! ABC Cancels 'Charlie's Angels'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  6. ^ Shirley Li (April 12, 2019). "Charlie's Angels first look: See Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska in Elizabeth Banks' update". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  7. ^ Condon, Jack and David Hofstede, Charlie's Angels Casebook, Pomegranate Press, Ltd., 2000 pgs. 254-256
  8. ^ "Charlie's Angels: Toni's Boys". TV.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  9. ^ "Charlie's Angels". Tv.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  10. ^ Pasquini, Maria (December 16, 2019). "Kristen Stewart Says She's 'Bummed' 'Charlie's Angels' Likely Won't Get a Sequel After Film Bombs". People Magazine. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  11. ^ Nolfi, Joey (November 8, 2019). "Kristen Stewart, Charlie's Angels fight evil with RuPaul's Drag Race queens in new short film". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  12. ^ Baisley, Sarah (May 12, 2003). "Charlie's Angels See Animated Action On The Web". Animation World Network. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  13. ^ Head, Steve (May 6, 2003). "Angels Ready for Animated Debut". IGN. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  14. ^ "Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures". Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  15. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  16. ^ "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  17. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2019)". The Numbers. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  18. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2019)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  19. ^ "Charlie's Angels series". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  20. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  21. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2000) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  22. ^ a b c "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  23. ^ "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  24. ^ "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  25. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  26. ^ "Charlie's Angels (2019) Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  27. ^ McGoldrick, Anthony A (2013-03-10). TV Toys. ISBN 9780747813385.
  28. ^ Inness, Sherrie A (2003-01-13). Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s. ISBN 978-0812218411.
  29. ^ "The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television - Charlie's Angels". Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  30. ^ "Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit goes to Smithsonian". The Washington Times.
  31. ^ "Norma Kamali Wasn't a Fan of Farrah Fawcett's Iconic Red Swimsuit - and She Designed It!". PEOPLE.com.
  32. ^ "Jim Baikie". lambiek.net.
  33. ^ "Charlie's Angels Comes To Comics in June with John Layman and Joe Eisma Embracing the '70s". Comicsbeat.com. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  34. ^ Graeme McMillan (April 17, 2019). "'Charlie's Angels/Bionic Woman' Team for Comic Book Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
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