{ "id": "ep3913zrew", "slug": "the-movies-that-made-us", "title": "The Movies That Made Us", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.music_arts_biography_docuseries", "label": "Music, arts, and biographical docuseries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.music_arts_biography_docuseries" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "United States · 2001 to 2020: Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001", "label": "United States · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Movies That Made Us is a Netflix documentary series (2019–2021, 3 seasons, 14 episodes) by Brian Volk-Weiss and The Nacelle Company, spun off from The Toys That Made Us, profiling films like Die Hard, Jurassic Park, and Aliens.", "snippet": "The Movies That Made Us is a Netflix documentary series (2019–2021, 3 seasons, 14 episodes) by Brian Volk-Weiss and The Nacelle Company, spun off from The Toys That Made Us, profiling films like Die Hard, Jurassic Park, and Aliens.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.music_arts_biography_docuseries", "markdown": "# The Movies That Made Us\n\n**The Movies That Made Us** is an American documentary television series that streamed on Netflix from 2019 to 2021, in which each episode traces the development, production, and cultural legacy of a single classic Hollywood film through interviews with the crew members who made it. It was created by Brian Volk-Weiss and produced by The Nacelle Company as a spin-off of the toy-history series *[The Toys That Made Us](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-toys-that-made-us)*, and it ran for three seasons covering films such as *Dirty Dancing*, *Die Hard*, *Jurassic Park*, and *Aliens*.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us) • [2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | One film per episode, covering its origins, production obstacles, and impact on release[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us) |\n| Run | 3 seasons, 2019–2021; 14 episodes total[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us) • [3](https://stream-tracker.com/en/serie/the-movies-that-made-us-2019) |\n| Creator | Brian Volk-Weiss, produced by The Nacelle Company for Netflix[4](https://www.nacellecompany.com/catalog/the-movies-that-made-us/) |\n| Season 1 (Nov 2019) | Dirty Dancing, Home Alone, Ghostbusters, Die Hard[5](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/themoviesthatmadeus-s1review/) |\n| Season 2 (Jul 21, 2021) | Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Pretty Woman, Forrest Gump[2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/) |\n| Season 3 (Oct 2021) | RoboCop, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Aliens, Coming to America[6](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1198046-interview-brian-volk-weiss-the-movies-that-made-us) |\n| Reception | Season 1: 100% Tomatometer (6 reviews), 82% Popcornmeter; series IMDb rating 7.6/10[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us/s01) • [8](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80990849) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Seasons and films covered\n\n**Season 1** premiered in November 2019 with four episodes on 1980s films: *Dirty Dancing*, *Home Alone*, *Ghostbusters*, and *Die Hard*, each drawn from a different genre.[5](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/themoviesthatmadeus-s1review/) A holiday special followed in 2020, covering *Elf* and *The Nightmare Before Christmas*.[2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/)\n\n**Season 2** was announced as in development in February 2020 and arrived globally on Netflix on July 21, 2021, with four episodes of 45 to 50 minutes each on *Jurassic Park* (1993), *Back to the Future* (1985), *Pretty Woman* (1990), and *Forrest Gump* (1994).[2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/)\n\n**Season 3**, released in October 2021, was longer than the previous seasons and expanded to six films: *RoboCop*, *Halloween*, *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, *Friday the 13th*, *Aliens*, and *Coming to America*.[6](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1198046-interview-brian-volk-weiss-the-movies-that-made-us) • [9](https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-the-movies-that-made-us-1848042789) Volk-Weiss described the film selection as a negotiated process: Netflix requests a batch of titles, his team researches about ten options per slot, Netflix does its own research, and the list narrows to two or three candidates per slot before production begins.[10](https://rue-morgue.com/series-creator-brian-volk-weiss-discusses-the-movies-that-made-us/)\n\n## Format\n\nEach episode follows a fixed arc. It opens with the origins of the featured film, including the first draft of the script and early conceptual ideas, moves through the production itself with its studio push-backs, budget problems, and cast and crew difficulties, and closes with the film's reception and lasting effect on the industry.[5](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/themoviesthatmadeus-s1review/) The storytelling relies on face-to-face interviews with crew members, writers, and producers, who piece together the development, production, and legacy of each title.[2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/) Episodes run roughly 45 to 50 minutes.[2](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/)\n\nThe series is rated TV-MA on Netflix.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us)\n\n## Origin of the series\n\nThe show grew out of the success of *The Toys That Made Us*, which premiered on Netflix in 2017. When Netflix asked Volk-Weiss for follow-up ideas, his company spent more than a hundred hours preparing a sales tape for a proposed *The Video Games That Made Us*. The day before the pitch meeting, Volk-Weiss decided a second idea would strengthen the meeting and, in about an hour, had his art department photoshop [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra)'s face onto the famous *Die Hard* poster of [Bruce Willis](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-willis) in front of Nakatomi Tower, because *Die Hard* is a sequel to an early-1970s Frank Sinatra film. Netflix chose the movie concept, and *The Games That Made Us* never came to fruition.[6](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1198046-interview-brian-volk-weiss-the-movies-that-made-us) • [9](https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-the-movies-that-made-us-1848042789)\n\n## Reception and criticism\n\nSeason 1 holds a 100% Tomatometer score from six critics and an 82% Popcornmeter audience score on Rotten Tomatoes; the series-wide averages are 0 critic reviews and a 70% audience score.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us/s01) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us) Reviewers highlighted the interviews with people often overlooked in film coverage, such as screenwriters and producers, as the show's strength.[11](https://subcultureentertainment.com/2021/08/tv-review-the-movies-that-made-us-review-2021/) The most common criticism was the absence of the films' stars: the producers did not secure appearances from lead actors, which reviewers and viewers felt limited the account of each film's making and cultural impact.[11](https://subcultureentertainment.com/2021/08/tv-review-the-movies-that-made-us-review-2021/)\n\n## Related Nacelle projects\n\nThe series belongs to a family of nostalgia documentaries from The Nacelle Company, which also produced *The Toys That Made Us* (three seasons on Netflix), *Behind The Attraction* for Disney+, and the Emmy Award-winning *Down To Earth with Zac Efron*.[6](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1198046-interview-brian-volk-weiss-the-movies-that-made-us) Volk-Weiss separately created *The Center Seat*, a ten-episode [History Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/history-channel) docuseries on the history of *Star Trek*.[9](https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-the-movies-that-made-us-1848042789) No fourth season of *The Movies That Made Us* has been announced; Netflix issued no cancellation statement, and the series is listed as ended.[3](https://stream-tracker.com/en/serie/the-movies-that-made-us-2019) • [8](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80990849)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Movies That Made Us, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us)\n2. [The Movies That Made Us Season 2 Coming to Netflix in July 2021, What's on Netflix](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-movies-that-made-us-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2021/)\n3. [The Movies That Made Us, Stream Tracker](https://stream-tracker.com/en/serie/the-movies-that-made-us-2019)\n4. [The Movies That Made Us, The Nacelle Company](https://www.nacellecompany.com/catalog/the-movies-that-made-us/)\n5. [The Movies That Made Us – Netflix Season 1 Review, The Review Geek](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/themoviesthatmadeus-s1review/)\n6. [Interview: Brian Volk-Weiss Talks Season 3 of The Movies That Made Us, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1198046-interview-brian-volk-weiss-the-movies-that-made-us)\n7. [The Movies That Made Us: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_movies_that_made_us/s01)\n8. [Is The Movies That Made Us on Netflix?, New On Netflix USA](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80990849)\n9. [The Making of The Movies That Made Us, Gizmodo/io9](https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-the-movies-that-made-us-1848042789)\n10. [Creator Brian Volk-Weiss Discusses The Movies That Made Us, Rue Morgue](https://rue-morgue.com/series-creator-brian-volk-weiss-discusses-the-movies-that-made-us/)\n11. [The Movies That Made Us Review (2021), Subculture Entertainment](https://subcultureentertainment.com/2021/08/tv-review-the-movies-that-made-us-review-2021/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Music, arts, and biographical docuseries*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Movies That Made Us\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Movies That Made Us](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Movies That Made Us\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-movies-that-made-us. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Movies That Made Us is a Netflix documentary series by Brian Volk-Weiss and The Nacelle Company, spun off from The Toys That Made Us, profiling films like Die Hard, Jurassic Park, and Aliens." }