Beethoven (franchise) Beethoven (franchise) The Beethoven film series is a series of eight American films, created by John Hughes (credited as Edmond Dantès) and Amy Holden Jones, in which the plot revolves around a family attempting to control the antics of their pet Saint Bernard. The first two films were theatrical releases and all after have been direct to video. The original "Beethoven" hit theaters in April 1992. Its opening grossed $7,587,565. It was the year's 26th largest grossing film in the U.S. at $57,114,049. In "Beethoven", the Newton family finds and adopts a Saint Bernard. The family, with the exception of
Beethoven in film German DEFA Studio for Feature Film. Beethoven is portrayed by Donatas Banionis. The film covers Beethoven's life in Vienna between 1813 and 1819. Beethoven was portrayed by Clifford David in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989) as one of the historical figures kidnapped to fulfil a school history class assignment by the time travelling protagonists. Their clueless phonetic mispronunciation of his name as Beeth-Oven is a recurring comic device. Neil Munro portrayed Beethoven in the 1992 Canadian television movie "Beethoven Lives Upstairs"; it won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. Gary Oldman portrayed Beethoven in the 1994 film