The Bring It On franchise began in 2000, starring Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, Eliza Dushku, and Jesse Bradford. The plot centered around a high school cheer squad preparing for a national cheer competition, and the rest of the movies essentially follow the same formula. It may seem a little cringe now, but when Bring It On premiered it was a hit and has since become a cult classic. Arguably, an entire Bring It On franchise is a little unnecessary. Eventually, the movies became tired and hard to watch, especially the last two movies.
If you’re looking to dive into the Bring It On franchise and watch the movies from start to finish, or if you’re just looking for the best of the franchise’s entries worth rewatching for nostalgia’s sake, these are all seven movies of the franchise, ranked.
7 Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack (2017)
Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack follows The Rebels, an American cheer squad, as they compete in a virtual cheer competition with squads from around the world. It's the sixth installment in the Bring It On franchise and was released direct-to-video in 2017.
It's by far the worst entry in the Bring It On film series. Arguably, all the movies are a little corny and have a certain level of 2000s cringe that certainly isn't for everyone but isn't impossible to enjoy, but Worldwide #Cheersmack is not that way at all. It's definitely the hardest to watch out of the seven movies in the franchise, which is a shame because the concept of making the cheer competition an international affair is interesting and definitely had potential, but it really fell apart here.
6 Bring It On: Cheer or Die (2022)
Bring It On: Cheer or Die was the last movie in the franchise and was released in 2022. Cheer or Die is wildly different from the other sixth movies because it abandons the typical light, comedic undertones of the rest of the movies and instead makes it a horror flick. It follows a cheer squad — The Diablos — as they practice their routine for an upcoming cheer competition at an abandoned school over Halloween weekend. But there's an unknown killer on the loose, and the cheerleaders start to disappear one by one as those remaining fight to survive.
To be fair, the movie is as ridiculous as it sounds, but it's certainly not the worst entry in the franchise. Also, if you're a fan of cheesy, goofy horror movies that don't take themselves seriously at all, you'll have a lot of fun watching this. It's just ridiculous enough to be funny to watch and entertaining, but not too absurd that you can't stand to sit through it.
5 Bring It On: Again (2004)
Bring It On: Again premiered in 2004 and served as a sequel to the original movie in 2000, however, there aren't any returning characters or references to the original movie, so it's less of a direct sequel. In this movie, a group of new students at a California college want to join the cheer squad but get turned down. They decide to gather the "outcasts" from other groups like the drama club and dance club to form their own cheer squad and train to compete for a national championship against the squad that turned them all down.
If you look at this as a sequel to Bring It On, you'll likely be pretty disappointed because there's really no connection to the original movie. But if you go into it and consider it as a standalone cheerleading movie, it's not terrible. The acting isn't that great and the plot itself is pretty predictable, but for what it's worth it's not a terrible watch, and if you like the concept of cheer movies, you'll have fun watching this.
4 Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)
Following the theme of making the Bring It On movies all standalones, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish is the fifth installment in the franchise, premiering in 2009. The movie follows Lina Cruz (Christina Milian) as she moves to Malibu with her family, where she faces off against the school's super-competitive, super-wealthy cheer captain. Compared to all the other Bring It On movies up to this point, it's really not a different plot and follows much of the same storyline as every other Bring It On movie.
Just like the majority of the other sequels, it's not good or bad, but is instead somewhere in the middle. It doesn't really compare to the original or Bring It On: All or Nothing, but it's also not as bad as some of the other entries in the franchise.
3 Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007)
Releasing direct-to-video in 2007, Bring It On: In It to Win It is the fourth installment in the franchise. This movie has a bit of a different plot from the other movies in the series. It follows the West Coast Sharks Cheerleading Squad and the East Coast Jets Cheer Squad as they compete against each other at the annual Cheer Camp Championships. If the Sharks and Jets rivalry sounds familiar, that's because it's a reference to the classic rivalry that fuels the plot of the musical West Side Story. And to further the similarity, one of the Sharks falls in love with one of the Jets, causing tension between the two teams.
Even though it may sound like a lame premise, and to be fair, it is a very predictable story much like the rest of the franchise, In It to Win It really isn't a bad entry in the franshise. The West Side Story-esque plot makes it a bit more interesting than the rest of the movies, and it's certainly a fun watch compared to some of the weaker franchise entries.
2 Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
Bring It On: All or Nothing is a solid entry in the franchise. It follows Britney Allen (Hayden Panettiere) a wealthy high schooler who is the cheer captain, prom queen and most popular girl at her school, until she has to move with her family to a new school in a less posh, working-class city. Used to her life at her previous PWI (predominately white institution), Britney has a hard time fitting in and the students at her new school have a hard time accepting her. But through the power of competitive cheer, they break new ground together and form a powerhouse of a cheer squad that ends up competing against Britney's old school.
Along with Panettiere, the movie also stars Solange Knowles-Smith and features a cameo from Rihanna. It's a fun watch and is essentially like all the other movies. However, the movie has some racist undertones that may not have aged well since its release in 2006, so take that with a grain of salt if you opt for a rewatch today.
1 Bring It On (2000)
Premiering in 2000, Bring It On is the movie that started the entire cheer-focused franchise and centers on a high school cheer squad preparing for a national competition. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, Eliza Dushku, and Jesse Bradford, Bring It On was a box office hit when it premiered, grossing approximately $90 million, and has since become a cult classic. It was fun to watch when it came out, but it's even more fun to watch now for a healthy dose of 2000s nostalgia.
Bring It On is high energy, high fun. It's a classic teen movie complete with all the drama necessary to make it a standout in the genre. While it's no masterpiece — you may even call it a guilty pleasure movie — it's an enjoyable watch, regardless of how predictable it may be. When you think cheerleading movies, Bring It On is likely the first — and maybe the only — movie that comes to mind, and for good reason.