There are twelve feature films and two TV shows in the RING franchise, but I have only seen three of the films. The three films I have seen are the original Japanese RING (or RINGU), the Korean remake THE RING VIRUS, and the American remake THE RING. As you can tell, I'm only interested in that original story, which I thought was perfect on its own. So perfect that I made the decision not to watch any continuations or take in any further information on the franchise. There have been times when I've considered checking out sequels, but have never actually done it.
The American film got two sequels I never saw. The Japanese film has gotten a prequel, a crossover with the JU-ON/GRUDGE franchise, and five sequels that, according to Wikipedia, branch off into two different timelines.
The first Japanese RING was directed by Hideo Nakata, who returned to direct RING 2 the following year (and a few years later directed the American sequel THE RING TWO). Twenty years after RING 2 and fourteen after THE RING TWO, Nakata has returned to the franchise again with this year's release of SADAKO.
Scripted by Noriaki Sugihara, SADAKO stars Himeka Himejima, Elaiza Ikeda, Ren Kiriyama, Hiroya Shimizu, Rie Tomosaka, and Takashi Tsukamoto, with Hitomi Sat? reprising her RING and RING 2 role of Masami Kurahashi. The synopsis:
A group of people must find out how to stop a deadly curse, which has gone viral after a Youtuber accidentally captured a vengeful ghost on camera.
SADAKO was released in Japan on May 24th, with a release in Singapore following on May 30th. It was shown at a film festival in South Korea last week, and will be screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada this Thursday.
While we wait to hear more international distribution news, a trailer featuring English subtitles has been released online and can be seen right here: