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 (film) of 4.7/10. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave Beethoven a grade A. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun Times" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing in his review, "this is not the sort of entertainment I scour the movie pages for, hoping desperately for a new film about a cute dog. Nor did I find anything particularly new in ""Beethoven"", although I concede that the filmmakers secured an admirable dog for the title role, and that Charles Grodin, who is almost always amusing, has what fun can be had playing the grumpy dad." The film grossed $57,114,049 in