Ocean’s Eleven spawned itself into a popular and quite profitable film franchise. It all began with the original 1960 film, which starred 5 members of the Rat Pack: Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin and Joey Bishop, with Sinatra playing the titular role of Danny Ocean. For the title of the film, they decided to go for present the number 11 as such. In its numerical digits, as opposed to the 2001 remake that would style the film was ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. This franchise is the go-to casino film series in the world. Watching one of them will immediately have you longing for some live dealer casino games, transporting yourself into the world of iconic casino landmarks like the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand, sparking your appetite for traditional games like blackjack, baccarat, poker, and other table games.
The 2001 film was hugely successful and is perhaps the one that most people will think of first when talking about the franchise. The film celebrated a huge ensemble cast featuring big Hollywood names. Those making up the Eleven were George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Casey Affleck, Scott Cann, Don Cheadle, Eddie Jemison and Qin Shaobo. The film also starred Julia Robert and Andy Garcia.
Moving onto the sequel in 2003, the film added Julia Roberts as an official member of the gang, letting them live up to the titular name of Oceans Twelve. The film was not as well regarded as its predecessor on account of some silly plot lines that spoiled some of the charms of the original. Julia Roberts had scenes where she played Julia Roberts alongside Bruce Willis playing Bruce Willis. It all got a bit weird. It is a far away from the quality of the first film and long off from ebing one of the best times an actor has played themselves on screen. That being said, it still proved itself to be successful enough to garner another sequel.
Ocean’s Thirteen added Al Pacino to the cast as the antagonist. Will Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have made some iconic films that are set in casinos, Al Pacino is cut from the same cloth and seemed a perfect person to step into this series. Again, this film struggled to receive the same amount of plaudits as the original but was deemed by many to be an improvement over Oceans Twelves. The film added Andy Garcia, the villain from the previous two films, now as a member of Ocean’s team, with Eddie Izzard filling in the remaining role to bring them up to thirteen.
Over a decade later, Hollywood used this franchise to cash in on a trend, the all female remake. Saving the title of Ocean’s Fourteen in case George Clooney and company ever decided to return to the franchise, the sequel slash spin off, Oceans Eight was released in 2018. The film revolves around Danny Ocean’s sister played by Sandra Bullock as she forms her own team to pull off a heist of her own. The rest of the team is made up of Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Awkwafina, Rihanna, Sarah Paulsen, Helena Bonham Carter and Mindy Kaling. Elliot Gould and Qin Shaobo also return for brief cameos that link the film to the original trilogy. It was originally rumoured that Matt Damon was due to return in the film, as was Carl Reiner, however, it is believed that their appearances were cut and left out of the film.
What does the future hold for the franchise
There have since been talks of another film in the franchise coming out in the near future, an as-yet-untitled prequel set to be directed by Jay Roach. There was talk of a sequel for some time but that has since been shushed after the death of Bernie Mac. However, there have been rumours that director Steven Soderbergh has been working on a follow up script. The prequel however is rumoured to be set in 1960’s Europe and will star Margot Robbie, with Ryan Gosling rumoured to also be in the film. This would reunite the pair after they are set to star together in the upcoming Barbie film. While some people are somewhat sceptical about whether a new instalment is really needed, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling have a great track record with their filmography and seem like a rather certain way to achieve a great production. That is pretty close to everything we know about the prequel, other than it is due to start production at some point in 2023.
So with five films in the franchise and more to come, the Ocean’s franchise can have a good chance at claiming the name of being the biggest casino-based film franchise around. You could go all in on that claim. Something that the makers and those involved will have no plans on folding on, and will look to maintain for quite some time.
