With every Halloween, interest in the moody and brooding vampire vs werewolf Underworld series sparks once more - but with so many entries in the franchise, you might wonder how to watch the Underworld movies in order.

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Following on from the first Underworld in 2003, there have been five films in total, as well as a collection of animated shorts that explore the universe futher - and rumours that a sixth film may be on its way have surfaced.

The Underworld saga follows vampiric Death Dealer Selene, portrayed by Kate Beckinsale, in her quest to avenge the gruesome murder of her family, with Selene believing the Lycans to be responsible.

Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen also make appearances throughout the gothic saga, and Beckinsale takes the lead role in all but one of the many films.

With all that said, you're here to find out how to delve into the world of Vampires, Lycans and Death Dealers, so read on how to watch the Underworld movies in release and chronological order, and to see which films performed best with the critics and at the box office.

Underworld films in order of release

This is fairly straightforward, and would make sense if you want to experience the films in the order that fans first got to watch them.

Unfortunuately, none of the Underworld films are available for streaming in the UK - and can only be purchased or rented.

In 2022, the series was added to Netflix in the run-up to Halloween, but it seems to be recieving no such treatment for 2023.

Nonetheless, the order is as follows:

  1. Underworld (2003)
  2. Underworld Evolution (2006)
  3. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
  4. Underworld: Endless War (2011)
  5. Underworld Awakening (2012)
  6. Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Underworld films in chronological order

If you'd rather watch the films in the order of events, then there's only one change to your viewing schedule.

2009 film Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – the only one in which Beckinsale does not star – is a prequel, and so should be watched before the other instalments.

The correct order is therefore:

  1. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
  2. Underworld (2003)
  3. Underworld Evolution (2006)
  4. Underworld: Endless War (2011)
  5. Underworld Awakening (2012)
  6. Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Highest-grossing Underworld films

Despite not achieving huge critical success, the Underworld films have managed to pull in enough revenue to make five feature-length films.

Overall, the films made over $539 million worldwide, making for a handsome profit over a combined budget of $207 million.

Below, we have all of the Underworld films in order of gross revenue from highest to lowest.

  1. Underworld: Awakening (2012) – $160,380,000
  2. Underworld: Evolution (2006) – $113,418,000
  3. Underworld (2003) – $95,708,500
  4. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) – $92,142,000
  5. Underworld: Blood Wars (2016) – $81,210,000

Best rated Underworld films

Whilst fans of the series clearly enjoyed the Underworld films, the critics weren't quite besotted by the stylised dark action-horror franchise, as evidenced by their ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

  1. Underworld (2003) – 31% critic consensus | 79% audience score
  2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) – 30% critic consensus | 63% audience score
  3. Underworld: Awakening (2012) – 25% critic consensus | 62% audience score
  4. Underworld: Blood Wars (2016) – 21% critic consensus | 49% audience score
  5. Underworld: Evolution (2006) – 17% critic consensus | 72% audience score

Interestingly, the audience score mostly follows the order of the critic consensus - other than the first direct sequel, Underworld: Evolution, which is considered to be the second-best in the series by the fans, but the worst by the critics.

Being online shorts, the Endless War animations aren't included on Rotten Tomatoes, but they hold a 6.1/10 user review rating over on IMDb.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on tonight.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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