Puppet Master (franchise)

The Puppet Master Franchise
R1 DVD Box set containing the first seven installments.
Directed by	Charles Band David W. Allen David DeCoteau Jeff Burr David Schmoeller Ted Nicolaou
Produced by	Charles Band Hope Perello Keith S. Payson Gordon Gustafson Kirk Edward Hansen Vlad Paunescu Dana Scanlan Mona C. Vasiloiu Kurt Iswarienko Matt Wolpert Alan Bursteen Cary Glieberman
Written by	Charles Band Kenneth J. Hall David Pabian C. Courtney Joyner David Schmoeller Douglas Aarniokoski Steven E. Carr Jo Duffy Todd Henschell Benjamin Carr David S. Goyer Ted Nicolaou
Music by	Richard Band Jeffrey Walton John Massari Peter Bernstein
Distributed by	Full Moon Features
Release date	1989–present
Running time	770 minutes (combined total)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4,230,000+ (combined total)

Puppet Master is an American horror film franchise which focuses on a group of anthropomorphic puppets animated by an Egyptian spell, each equipped with its own unique and dangerous device (although not in all installments of the series are the puppets portrayed as threatening) and are represented as heroes, anti-heroes, and antagonists. Produced by Full Moon Features, the series was established in 1989 with the eponymous first installment, which has since been followed by ten sequels, a non-canon crossover with the characters of Demonic Toys, two comic book mini-series, an ongoing comic book series, and numerous other collector's items.

After the collapse of his film studio, Empire Pictures, Charles Band relocated to the United States and opened Full Moon Productions. Band's goal with Full Moon was to create low budget horror, science fiction and fantasy films which mirrored the quality of films with more generous budgets. After partnering with Paramount Pictures and Pioneer Home Entertainment, Full Moon began production on its first feature film, Puppet Master, which had a premise similar to an earlier Empire film produced by Band, Dolls. Originally intended for theatrical release in summer 1989, before being released on home video the following September, Puppet Master was ultimately pushed to a direct-to-video release on October 12, 1989, as Band felt he was likely to make more money this way than he would in the theatrical market.