7 Movie Series To Watch For An Awesome Movie Marathon Day
Around the time that I was in fifth or sixth grade, my friends and I would challenge ourselves to stay up as late as we could with a movie marathon. This type of tradition continued into middle school, high school and so on. High school and college were much better for watching movie marathons, because staying up late was so much easier than it was when we were kids. Plus, there were more completed movie series out by that time. But as grown adults now, my friends and I try to make a movie marathon day, instead of a movie marathon night. Hey, at 27 years old, I find it quite difficult staying up through the whole night, unless I consume inordinate amounts of coffee. I don’t think even my husband would want to see me that wired! I know I usually complain that I was born into the wrong generation, but there are sill some perks of growing up in the time that I did. Namely, growing up with some of the most amazing movie series, like Harry Potter or Pirates of the Caribbean. I’ll be honest, I grew up in a good time for movies. So, if you and your friends are looking to have a movie marathon day of your own, here are seven movie series that gives a little something for everyone to enjoy.
1. The Avengers
I became a massive Marvel nerd around my senior year of high school. I guess with all the Marvel movies the studio was rolling out, I decided to jump on the band wagon. To be fair though, I didn’t have any friends growing up who were even slightly interested in comic books, so, I never glommed on to it. The Avengers is such an amazing movie series that I believe everyone can sit down and enjoy for a movie marathon day; whether they know the comics or not. Even my grandparents enjoyed the first Avengers movie. My aunt and I have movie nights where we watch not just The Avengers movies, but all of the other Marvel Universe films as well. She loves that I’m so patient, and can explain things to her when she has a question. It’s something that I truly always look forward to! I remember some of my friends agreeing to come see these movies with me, even though I knew they weren’t dedicated fans, and having them enjoy the movie just as much as I did. The Avengers series is also the perfect amount of movies, in my opinion, to be able to watch all four comfortably in a day. You won’t have to worry about starting early, or going late into the night. So, grab your friends, and settle down for a day of watching superheroes kick some butt!
2. The Lord of the Rings
Alright, don’t judge me when I say that I didn’t see this movie series until about two years ago, after my husband had finally convinced me to watch it. I obviously never watched the movies as a kid, because they never interested me, or any of my friends, that I know of, for that matter. I was so glad after I finished The Return of the King that I decided to watch these movies; I simply loved them! Plus, my husband had me watch the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings, where I got to learn the land of Middle-earth that much better. I remember not being able to wait to watch the next movie, because we decided to break it up into nights due to each film being so long. But this awesome movie series can definitely be watched for a movie marathon day! Truly, the Lord of the Rings is a movie series like I had never seen before, and I very much enjoyed all of the different characters, and how they all had to work together on their journey. If you’re looking to host the next movie marathon day, I would highly recommend picking this series to watch.
3. Harry Potter
I’m sure some of you reading this article just knew that this fantastic movie series was going to be mentioned! How could I not include it? I’ve been a Potterhead since the third grade, when I read the first three Harry Potter books that were out at that time. Even now at 27, I still love the series dearly, and I’m so glad that I married someone who’s just as obsessed, if not more than I am, with Harry Potter. Even though our houses are quite opposite from each other; he’s a Hufflepuff and I’m a Slytherin. This was actually one movie series that most of my friends always enjoyed watching with me growing up. It was usually more fun when at least one of them had read the books too, but even if they didn’t, we’d still have a great time with our bowls of popcorn, and shared candy. Now, for this movie marathon day, I recommend starting early as there are eight movies to watch, and each one is fairly lengthy. It can certainly be done, you just have to be extremely determined, and plan your day accordingly. Harry Potter should be at the top of everyone’s list for an awesome movie marathon day!
4. Star Wars
Yup, you probably saw this one coming too. Star Wars is a classic, and definitely deserves to be included on this list! I can’t even remember when I first saw this series, and I’m talking about the original trilogy here. I must’ve been very young, and knowing my dad, he probably couldn’t wait to show these movies to my brother and I. I do, however, remember when the prequels came out, and since those are the Star Wars movies I grew up with, I actually like them. But I will say that A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are my true favorites of the whole series, specifically The Empire Strikes Back; it’s simply a masterpiece. I love that the Star Wars movies can be broken down into the original trilogy, the prequels and the sequels, where you can watch all of them, if you so desire, or just one of the trilogies. Honestly, Star Wars is the perfect series to watch for a movie marathon day, where everyone can sit down with their favorite movie snacks, and enjoy the world of George Lucas.
5. Pirates of the Caribbean
I adored this amazing movie series growing up! I remember when I saw The Curse of the Black Pearl when I was in fourth grade, and my parents had bought the movie due to liking it so much after seeing it in theaters. It was funny, because they led me to believe that it was scary, and after watching it the first time, I didn’t think it was all that frightening at all. But to be fair, I’d already seen movies like Independence Day and Twister, so thematic elements didn’t really bother me as a kid. Although, when I say that you should watch Pirates of the Caribbean for a movie marathon day, that only includes the first three movies. I know I’m not alone when I say that On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales were not all that great; sorry Jack, you can’t carry the series on your own. But the first three films were simply fantastic, and full of many interesting and diverse characters. Plus, I loved the whole storyline! Pirates of the Caribbean is definitely one series that can make for an extremely fun movie marathon day!
6. Indiana Jones
Now, this is one movie series that I’ve loved since I was a young kid! I don’t even remember the first time that I saw any of the Indiana Jones movies, it was just one of those films where it feels like I’ve been watching it since forever. The first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was my all-time favorite as a child, and still is as an adult. Naturally, I don’t like to include the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, as it was just plain weird, and didn’t fit real well with the rest of the series. The first three movies though are fantastic and unique in their own ways! Although The Temple of Doom was a bit odd too, I still loved it for being a vastly different storyline from the first movie, but still of the same caliber. I remember thinking as a kid that being an archaeologist must be one of the coolest and most exciting jobs in the world; I couldn’t be the only one who wanted to be Indy right? Indiana Jones is the perfect series to watch for a movie marathon day for those of us who love a good period piece, with plenty of action to go along with it.
7. Jurassic Park
As a kid, I was lukewarm on Jurassic Park. I just wasn’t the biggest fan of dinosaurs growing up. But as I got older, Jurassic Park definitely grew on me, and I found myself enjoying each of the movies more and more in their own way. Obviously, the first Jurassic Park is by far the best, but I do still love the second and third movies too. I remember being super excited to go on the Jurassic Park ride that was at Hollywood Universal Studios when I was there on a class trip in high school. I believe this was the first ride we went on, after convincing my friends that it would be a lot of fun. It certainly didn’t disappoint, especially with the T-Rex jumping out at you right at the end there! As a grown adult, it’s definitely one of my favorite movie series, where I can just sit back and get lost in the world of Jurassic Park. In my opinion, this exhilarating movie series would be so much fun to watch for a movie marathon day, and you could even include the Jurassic World movies too if you wanted. I honestly didn’t mind the Chris Pratt ones, even though it was the same concept as the originals, just on a much grander scale. If you and your friends are big fans of exciting action movies, then Jurassic Park is the series to choose for your next movie marathon day!
