Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a great portrayal of growing up in the United States. The whole franchise is enormously popular in the states, and although illustrated books are the primary source material for the franchise, there are also other derivative materials that comprise the franchise. Among them are the four live-action movies that have been released between 2010 and 2017; two animated movies have also been released, as the live-action series came to an end, and Disney shifted its focus to an animated series.
In this article, we are going to bring you all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies in order. You’re going to find out some basic information about the movies and how you should watch them. The article is, of course, going to include both the live-action series, as well as the two animated movies that have been released.
How Many Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies are there?
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is better known as a book series, but due to the immense popularity of the books, the series has also been adapted for the screen. The franchise began in 2010 and ended in 2017, with a total of four movies. They are:
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017)
An animated reboot of the series is going to start in December 2021, when an animated version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is going to be released, followed by Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, a sequel with a 2022 scheduled release date. The animated series consists of the following titles:
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid live-action movies in order:
In this section, we are going to talk about the live-action movies only, not the upcoming animated movies, which are going to be analyzed in a separate section. The movies are going to be listed in the proper watching order and you’ll receive some basic production information on each of them.
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
Directed By: Thor Freudenthal
Written by: Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo, and Jeff Judah & Gabe Sachs
Release Date: March 19, 2010
Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), is an 11-year-old boy who is eager to start high school. He is a good and well-intentioned boy, but sometimes things don’t go his way, because he is surrounded by somewhat dysfunctional people who will make him look bad. He is confident that he will easily become the most popular kid in his school.
However, Greg worries that his best friend; Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), still maintains childish behaviors that could humiliate him and feels sorry for him. On the first day of school, Rowley goes to school dressed in a Guatemalan serape, which embarrasses Greg.
On their first day of school, Greg and Rowley meet Angie (Chloë Grace Moretz), a 7th-grade girl who works for the school newspaper and who offers her friendship and help during their stay there, (which Greg rejects) She tells them about how the high school works, which she believes was created to keep children busy as they make the difficult transition between children and teens. Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar), a classmate, tells Greg and Rowley the story behind a slice of cheese on the court.
When touching the cheese, a boy named Darren Walsh (Harrison Houde) contracted the “Touch of Cheese.” Anyone who touches the cheese contracts the Touch and no one comes close until they pass the Touch to another person by touching it. The Cheese Touch ended when it was contracted by a German exchange student from Germany named Dieter Muller (Severin Korfer).
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011)
Directed By: David Bowers
Written by: Jeff Judah & Gabe Sachs
Release Date: March 25, 2011
The film begins when Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his family go to an ice skating rink, where they host a welcome party for 7th Graders, where Greg meets his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) and his classmates Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag (Karan Brar).
After he meets Holly Hills (Peyton List), a new girl who came to school, and immediately becomes Greg’s love interest, his older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) teases him by saying that Holly will never notice him, but he tells her that it is not true, then Rodrick tells him that every hour on the hour they play music for people to skate as a couple, and that if he wants to be with her to ask him to skate.
Greg walks onto the skating rink, and just with a few seconds left until the hour, Greg talks to her and almost gets her to ask her to skate with him, but Rodrick asks a drummer to yell into a microphone saying he’s going to play Rock music, which makes Greg unable to ask Holly to skate with him, and then the light goes out and people start skating as a couple.
Greg tries to get off the skating rink but falls, and his mother yells at him into the microphone telling him that his father is going to save him, the father comes in and grabs him in his arms, and takes him off the skating rink, and he feels ashamed, and people start laughing at him, except Holly and Rowley.
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012)
Directed By: David Bowers
Written by: Wallace Wolodarsky & Maya Forbes
Release Date: August 3, 2012
Since school is over, Greg Heffley is ready to enjoy his summer vacation: no more 10-year-old tormentors, no more homework, and no more waking up early in the morning… In short, he decides to have a great vacation, to stay hours in front of his video games, living room curtains closed. But for her mother, the perfect summer should be lived with the family. Unless a new member of the Heffley family gets involved.
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017)
Directed By: David Bowers
Written by: Jeff Kinney & David Bowers
Release Date: May 19, 2017
A year after the previous film, while at Corny’s restaurant, the Heffley family plans to travel across the United States to attend Mimò’s 90th birthday. However, after Rowley and Greg rescue Manny, who is stuck in a tube in the play area, the protagonist ends up in a ball pit with a diaper stuck on his hand, causing him to wince.
He later becomes famous after the people around him record him and publish the footage on the Internet, leading Greg to be nicknamed “Manolino”, much to him. Later, at Heffley’s residence, Greg learns that Player Expo is taking place not far from Mimo’s home in Indianapolis. Greg’s game star Mac Digby will be in attendance and Greg hopes to meet him and get into one of his videos to gain new popularity. The Heffley family reaches the street, where all their cell phones are confiscated by Susan.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid animated movies in order:
In this section, we are going to talk about animated movies only. The movies are going to be listed in the proper watching order and you’ll receive some basic production information on each of them.
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)
Directed By: Swinton Scott
Written by: Jeff Kinney
Release Date: December 3, 2021
Greg Heffley, along with his best friend Rowley Jefferson, are about to start their new adventure in middle school. Greg gets advice from his older brother Rodrick on how to “survive” (how to avoid the cheese disease, which supposedly makes one incredibly unpopular). Imagining Rowley’s childhood tendencies will make them bullied, Greg tries to urge his friend to grow up, almost telling him about the cheese, but decides not to, not wanting to scare him.
Before long, the first day of school arrives and Greg tries to help Rowley adjust, although they both end up being ignored by most of the students, mainly due to Rowley’s somewhat childish antics, which include the use of word “play” over “get out.” However, they manage to avoid scraping the bottom of the school hierarchy. On Halloween night, Greg and Rowley are forced to take the first’s younger brother, Manny, with them. Although annoyed at first, Greg realizes that Manny’s adorable pirate costume allows them to acquire a large amount of candy.
Eventually, Manny and Rowley get tired, but Greg insists they continue and take a shortcut through Snake Road, despite his mother Susan forbidding it. They meet a trio of teens who start teasing them and chasing them with water balloons along the way. The children manage to evade them by getting them to drive their pickup truck into a ditch and get home on time, but once they get there, Greg’s father, Frank, mistakes them for teenagers and spills them with water, ruining theirs. candies. Manny later reveals the Snake Road incident to Susan and, as a result, Greg is banned from playing video games for a week.
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022)
Directed By: Luke Cormican
Written by: Jeff Kinney
Release Date: December 2, 2021
Greg Heffley had a very bad summer (also envying his friend Rowley, who went to South America), in which he was forced by his father to take a competitive swimming course in the pool very early in the morning without obtaining concrete results. Back at school, he is amazed to see Chirag Gupta, a rather short boy, who had to move in June and who is still there with them.
Greg and his companions, happy to see him again, decide to play a joke on him before giving him the official welcome again, pretending that he is invisible, then acting as if he is really not there (ignoring him even when he physically points out his presence) and talking of him with nostalgia. Greg thinks he will stop with his joke the next day, but unfortunately, his whole class, amused by the joke, continues to pretend that Chirag is invisible and not there.
Greg continues the joke, given the success achieved among his classmates. Eventually, the joke degenerates and continues until Chirag gets impatient and has Greg summoned by the vice principal. It seems that the protagonist escapes her only by a stroke of luck, as the vice principal got confused about who the victim of the joke is, and made Greg apologize to another boy.
Enraged Chirag tells his father about the joke, who immediately calls Susan. Greg denies everything, but his mother goes to Rowley’s house to ask for confirmation. The latter, frightened, confess everything, so Greg is sent to the Gupta house to apologize to Chirag, who forgives him and invites him to play his video games.
Do you need to watch the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies in order?
Well, save for the first movie, which you should watch first so you get a better perspective on what you’re watching in the first place, the other movies can be watched without any strict order, as they are all standalone episodes from Greg’s (school) life. We suggest watching them in the release order, but if you happen to skip a title or two, you can easily come back to it.
Will there be more Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies?
As far as the live-action movies are concerned, that series seems to be over, but we are going to see more Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies in the future. An animated reboot movie came out on December 3, 2021, with a sequel titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released a year later, in December 2022. It is not known whether Disney is going to produce more movies about Greg.
