Searching (film series)

The Searching film series consists of American mystery-thriller screenlife films, including two theatrical movies, and one theatrical-streaming exclusive film. The plot of each movie centers around parent-child relationships, and depict the use of public records through technology in investigations of true crime.

The films have been well received by critics and audiences alike. The original film starring John Cho was met with critical and financial success, with praise for its integration of found footage sub-genre "screen life", and its realism. The 2020 standalone installment starring Sarah Paulson was likewise met with a positive critical reaction, while acknowledging its campy elements praise was directed at the cast and the film's premise. The standalone sequel which starred Storm Reid, was mostly well received by critics with some comparing it superior the previous installments, while criticizing elements of its plot as unbelievable. The film series as a whole has also been deemed a financial success at the box office, turning a profit for the associated studios.

Searching (2018)
When high school student Margot Kim goes missing, her father David becomes desperate when the initial police investigation is unsuccessful. Frantically searching her personal laptop for any clues to where she has gone, David sorts through videos and photos, contacts all of her peers, and tries to retrace her digital footprint to assist in locating his daughter. As he starts to solve the mystery, he begins to question everything he thought he knew.

Run. (2020)
Chloe Sherman, a homeschooled student raised in isolation, lives with her protective and doating mother named Diane. Wheelchair-bound, her mother attends to her every need from the time she was born with various undisclosed medical conditions. Now a teenager, she one day discovers some documents which make her begin to question her upbringing and the reality she's been taught to believe. When she discontinues taking the medication that her mother gives her, she plots an escape from the house. When she leaves, she races against time before Diane realizes she is missing, and to find the truth to the questions that she can't be answer from the confines of her home.

Missing (2023)
June Allen is a well behaved teenager, who gives support to her widowed mother named Grace. When Grace goes on a trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend, but never comes home, June contacts the police. Due to international red tape, she searches for her mom using the technology that she has access to. Becoming creative in the process of her digital sleuthing, she starts to question the means of Grace's whereabouts. With the information she acquires, she races against time to solve the mystery before it's too late and her mother is lost in a foreign country forever.

Future
In January 2023 co-screenwriters/co-directors of Missing, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, confirmed that the studio has already approached them with development of another movie. The duo stated that while all creatives involved have ideas for the next film, they intend to wait some time before writing the story.

Connections
The filmmakers of each installment have stated that there are various ways that the movies connect to each other, both directly with continuing plot threads and through a hidden sub-plot within the films.

Continuing story
During the events of Searching, references are made to characters from Run.; something that the filmmakers included to foreshadow the plot of the latter film. In Run., references are made to David and Margot Kim from Searching in the form of in-universe news coverage to the characters, as well as the appearance of Hannah who is a model in the overarching story. In Missing, it's shown that the experiences of David and Margot have been detailed in the form of a true crime series, which June is invested in. It is also revealed that following previous events, Diane Sherman has escaped the psych-ward she was admitted to.

Sub-plot
In 2018 following the release of Searching, Chaganty and Ohanian confirmed an additional story that was presented in the background of the primary plot of the film. Stating that it started off as an inside joke, the filmmaking duo decided to explore an alien invasion sub-plot. The story continued in as a secondary plot of the standalone sequel Missing, where they revealed that following the aftermath of the invasion, someone with abilities that they inherited as a result of the attack from the extraterrestrials, defended communities from the ill intentions of the otherworldly creatures.