Every Tarzan Movie (in order of release)

Although most people are familiar with Disney Tarzan and the 2016 film The Legend of Tarzanthe classic story has been adapted for film dozens of times. The character was created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, who published the first Tarzan novel in 1914. From there he wrote several sequels, and it wasn’t long before the first film was made about the English baby lord raised by monkeys. From then on, a new version of the Tarzan appeared on screen decade after decade, turning Burroughs’ books into several films.

In the classic story of Tarzanwhich has been adapted into live-action and animated filmsAn English gentleman and his wife, John and Alice Clayton, are stranded with their young son after they are shipwrecked off the coast of Africa. After Alice and John die, their son, John Clayton III, is abandoned. Fortunately, he is taken in by a monkey, who raises him and takes care of him as if he were her own. It has become a story as old as time, and the story was repeated and expanded in several films bearing the name Tarzan.

Every Tarzan Movie in Order of Release Date

The first Tarzan film arrived in 1918

The first Tarzan The film was brought to the screen just four years after Burroughs published his first novel, Tarzan of the Apes in 1912. This was a silent film and a few films of the same format followed. Burroughs and several co-authors published 24 sequels over the years, and this led to many stories for films and TV shows over the years that followed. Seven of the next Tarzan films were in the silent era and when sound entered Hollywood films, it created a new era for the franchise.

In 1932, Johnny Weissmüller took on the lead role in the first Tarzan film produced with sound, starting a cinematic franchise. A new film following the character was released almost every year until 1970. After 1970, the franchise remained dormant for over a decade. However, 1981 saw the return of the character, and some Tarzan films have been released every decade since then, including animated films and live-action films following the legendary action hero.

The silent Tarzan films (1918 – 1929)

Adapting Edgar Rice Burroughs’ early Tarzan novels

The silent Tarzan The films were the first to bring the ape-man to the screen, although he didn’t have a voice until more than a decade later. The first film released in 1918 was a faithful adaptation of Burroughs’ story, with actor Elmo Lincoln serving as the first on-screen adult Tarzan. Lincoln returned for two more films before actors P. Dempsey Tabler and James Pierce took turns playing the classic character.

The last silence Tarzan film, Tarzan the Tiger (1929), was dubbed with sound before its release, but is still typically included with the others, as it was initially filmed without sound. For the Tarzan silent films, the first – Tarzan of the Apes – was based on the first novel by Edgar Burroughs.

The second and third films are considered “lost films” and cover the second half of the first novel and the first half of the novel, The Return of Tarzanrespectively. Tarzan and the Golden Lion is based on the novel of the same name and stars Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) in the cast. The other four films are part of a series of silent films, with Tarzan the Mighty being the only one that is an original story not based on a novel.

The Tarzan franchise films (1932 – 1970)

From Johnny Weissmuller to Mike Henry

The longest batch of Tarzan films were released over 40 yearswith a new film arriving almost annually. The first and most popular of them, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), restarted the Tarzan story and included the iconic dialogue between the titular ape-man and Jane when they first met (something repeated in many popular adaptations). From here, 33 more Tarzan films were released, each taking Tarzan on a new adventure.

The actors who played the main character in this franchise were Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, Mike Henry and Ron Ely. The first Tarzan talking film that MGM made was Tarzan the Ape Manwhich as the first silent film, was based on the first novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes. Unlike the silent era films that adapted Burroughs’ books, the films that followed the first film were mostly original stories based solely on characters from the novels.

• Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

• Tarzan the Fearless (1933)

• Tarzan and his companion (1934)

• The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)

• Tarzan Escapes (1936)

• Tarzan’s Revenge (1938)

• Tarzan finds a son! (1939)

• Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941)

• Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942)

• Triumphs of Tarzan (1943)

• Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943)

• Tarzan and the Amazons (1945)

• Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946)

• Tarzan and the Huntress (1947)

• Tarzan and the Sirens (1948)

• Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949)

• Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950)

• The Danger of Tarzan (1951)

• Tarzan’s Wild Fury (1952)

• Tarzan and the Devil (1953)

• Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle (1955)

• Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)

• Tarzan’s Fight for Life (1958)

• Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959)

• Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)

• Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)

• Tarzan and the Hunters (1960)

• Tarzan Goes to India (1962)

• The Three Trials of Tarzan (1963)

• Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)

• Tarzan and the Great River (1967)

• Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion (1967)

• Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968)

• Tarzan’s The Deadly Silence (1970)

Tarzan the Ape Man (1981)

Starring Miles O’Keeffe and Bo Derek as Tarzan and Jane

In 1981, the story of Tarzan was restarted again with Tarzan and the Ape Man. The film was directed by John Derek and starred Miles O’Keeffe as Tarzan, Bo Derek (the director’s wife) as Jane Porter and Richard Harris as his father. The 1981 version of Tarzan the Ape Man is often considered the worst of films based on Burroughs’ iconic character with a 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience rating of just 18%.

Despite this, the film was a box office success, grossing US$36.5 million in the United States and Canada. As with the first silent film and the initial film in the franchise, this adapted Burroughs’ first novel, Tarzan of the Apesbut made a big change by making Jane the point of view characterprobably because the husband directed the film as a showcase for his beautiful wife, who was coming off the box office success of Dustin Hoffman’s film 10 two years earlier.

GreyStoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

The first Tarzan film to receive Oscar nominations

This 1984 film is widthely considered one of the best in Tarzan films. Directed by Hugh Hudson and starring Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as Tarzan and Andie MacDowell (Four weddings and a funeral) like Jane, the film has a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is yet another adaptation of Burroughs’ original novel, Tarzan and the Ape Man. The film is much more faithful to the original novel, with a screenplay by Oscar nominee Robert Towne. The film also used Burroughs’ idea that Tarzan is more intelligent than other films have portrayed him as.

GreyStoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes was nominated for three Oscars during the 57th Academy Awards, becoming the first Tarzan adaptation to be indicated. Despite the impressive critical reception, this Tarzan the film grossed only slightly more than its 1981 predecessor, grossing $45.9 million. In some interesting tidbits, the name “Tarzan” is never used in the film, and he is never called by that name by any of the characters.

Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)

A box office bomb starring Casper Van Dien

More than a decade after the success of 1984 Tarzan movie, another movie hit theaters, and this was a a huge commercial failure. Tarzan and the Lost City was directed by Carl Schenkel and starred Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) as Tarzan and Jane March (The lover) as Jane Porter. This film was approached as a sequel to the original Tarzan history, but the unique premise failed to impress critics or fans. Made with a budget of US$20 million, the film only grossed US$2.2 million at the box officeseemingly dooming future live action Tarzan films.

Even more criticized than 1981 Tarzan the Ape Man, Tarzan and the Lost City has the franchise’s lowest box office numbers in the modern day. It also has a minimum Rotten Tomatoes score of 6% from critics and 23% from audiences. The film was based on an original idea based on the characters, as were most of the sequels to the original films in the franchise, but this one fell through, with reviews trashing the script and extremely low production values ​​for an adventure film.

Tarzan of the Apes (1999)

The first animated Tarzan film

Tarzan of the Apes is a 1999 animated film that is often overlooked. It was a direct-to-video release produced by Diane Eskenazi and Darcy Wright and released by Sony Wonder, the film studio’s animation arm at the time. The voice thrown to Tarzan of the Apes was never credited, and since the film never reached theaters, it’s not easy to quantify its financial success. Furthermore, since it was released shortly before the highly popular Tarzan Disney movieThis animated film went unnoticed by the public.

The film is another adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, Tarzan of the Apeswhich is the adventurer’s origin story. The main change here from the upcoming animated film released by Disney is that it appears that chimpanzees raise Tarzan in this film rather than gorillas in the Disney animated film release. The release was questionable as it was released as part of the Sony Wonder Enchanted Tales series two years after it was made, but this meant that its release coincided with the Disney film, causing it to fall into oblivion.

Disney’s Tarzan animated films (1999-2005)

The first Tarzan film to win an Oscar

Perhaps the most memorable film based on Burroughs’ novels Disney animated film Tarzan is considered a House of Mouse classic. Kevin Lima and Chris Buck direct the film, which stars Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan and Minnie Driver as Jane Porter, with several other prominent stars such as Rosie O’Donnell, Glenn Close, Brian Blessed and Lance Henriksen lending their voices to the supporting characters. Tarzan is also memorable for its Phil Collins soundtrackwhich earned the film an Oscar.

from Disney Tarzan was followed by two direct-to-video sequels, Tarzan and Jane (2002), which explored the couple’s lives in Africa after the end of the original film, and Tarzan IIset during the character’s childhood. Both films are considered disappointments, although they were part of Disney Animatrion’s slate of direct-to-video sequels to their popular theatrical releases. Just like most of the other sequels, these two were also original stories based solely on characters from the novels.

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Jane

The Legend of Tarzan is the latest film adaptation based on Burroughs’ novels. Directed by David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Janethe 2016 film is another that explores Tarzan’s story after his initial departure from Africa. The film was not based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs story and merely used its characters to create a new story. The plot shows Tarzan in London when someone convinces him to return to Africa to investigate irregularities in his old home.

The Legend of Tarzan is considered a box office disappointment, managing just US$126.6 million domestically and US$356.7 million abroad, with a budget of US$180 million. Margot Robbie also received some praise for her performance, being nominated at the Jupiter Awards in Germany for her role as Jane. The film gained new life on Netflix, reaching the top of the streaming ratings for the week of January 15, 2024, proving that there is always room for more Tarzan films in the future.

O futuro dos filmes de Tarzan

A Sony Pictures detém os direitos, mas alguns livros agora são de domínio público

O último Tarzan O filme foi lançado em 2016 e, desde então, não houve filmes de ação ao vivo baseados no personagem Edgar Rice Burroughs. No entanto, Sony Pictures planeja fazer algo grande com o personagem no futuro. O estúdio supostamente quer entregar uma “reinvenção total” de Tarzan como personagem e mito. A notícia chegou em 2022, embora a Sony não tenha tido uma resposta oficial à história. Segundo relatos, a Sony Pictures adquiriu os direitos de exibição do espólio de Burroughs naquele ano (via THR).

A Sony Pictures pode querer reinventar Tarzan para modernizar a história com as sensibilidades de hoje. As histórias originais foram frequentemente criticadas por ideias de colonialismo, salvador branco e estereótipos raciais e de gênero. Há um pequeno problema quando Tarzan ultrapassa a linha entre os domínios público e privado. Os primeiros 11 livros são de domínio público, mas aqueles escritos em seus últimos anos estão protegidos. Além disso, sua propriedade possui a marca registrada Tarzan. Isso significa que qualquer um pode fazer um Tarzan filme agora, mas eles não podem usar a marca registrada.

Quais filmes de Tarzan são considerados os melhores?

da Disney Tarzan, Tarzan e sua companheira& Greystoke

Quando se trata do melhor dos melhores Tarzan filmes, um filme fica no topo e nada chega nem perto. Essa é a animação da Disney Tarzan filme de 1999. O filme ganhou o Oscar e o Globo de Ouro de Melhor Canção Original e recebeu nove indicações ao Annie Awards em tudo, desde Melhor Filme de Animação até direção, dublagem e roteiro.

No entanto, a maioria dos fãs volta aos originais quando se trata de filmes live-action, mesmo com os temas problemáticos que as pessoas veem hoje. Tarzan e sua companheira (1934) é amplamente considerado um dos melhores filmes já feitos apresentando o herói clássico. Tarzan e sua companheira foi adicionado ao National Film Registry pela Biblioteca do Congresso em 2003 e tem um índice de aprovação perfeito de 100% no Rotten Tomatoes. Do original Tarzan filmes, este é o melhor de todos.

UM Reddit também foi criado um tópico com fãs discutindo seus filmes favoritos de Tarzan. O OP disse que só viu o filme de animação e queria recomendações. FilmeMike007 escreveu, “Aquele que considero que melhor capturou o espírito do livro é A Maior Aventura de Tarzan (1959), que também tem a vantagem de estrelar atores notáveis ​​como Anthony Quale e Sean Connery.”

Greystoke: A Lenda de Tarzan, Senhor dos Macacos tem uma vantagem sobre todas as outras Tarzan filmes além do animado. Foi a única versão live-action que recebeu uma indicação ao Oscar. Greystoke recebeu três indicações ao Oscar, incluindo Melhor Ator Coadjuvante (Ralph Richardson), Melhor Roteiro (Robert Towne e Michael Austin) e Melhor Maquiagem (Rick Baker e Paul Engelen).