How many movie trilogies actually stuck the landing?

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  • #161756

    What I mean by that is how many movie trilogies do you think actually had consistent quality all the way through, with no film being anything less than great?  It seems most series crap out by or before the third film (Alien, Terminator, Spider-Man, X-Men, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, and I could go on and on).

    I can only think of 7:

    Original Star Wars trilogy
    The Lord of the Rings
    The Dark Knight
    Back to the Future
    Indiana Jones (I know Crystal Skull exists, so I’m cheating here a bit)
    Toy Story (Again, I’ll exclude the 4th film)
    The Planet of the Apes reboot (I haven’t seen War yet, but hear it’s every bit as good as the first two)

    The only other trilogy that I considered was Captain America, but I excluded that for two reasons: 1) It’s hard to really to separate anything in the MCU as its own trilogy, and 2) Civil War was basically Avengers 3.  Also, I personally love the Star Wars prequels and Hobbit trilogy, but I fully understand most wouldn’t agree with me on those, so I’ll leave them out.

    What are your thoughts?  Did I miss any?

    #161847

    I had to reach for some of these, OP. But looking through my movie collection, the below choices are the only ones I could come up with outside of the ones you brought up(although I’ll have to disagree with you on the Planet of the Apes movies. I think the first one is boring, so that trilogy is clearly not meant for me)

    I’m not saying they’re ironclad, but here are the trilogies/Sagas that I would be willing to argue for having a consistent great or better quality and a stuck landing on the last movie:
    Predator(1987-2009): Unlike the Alien franchise(Rot in Hell, Alien 3), Predator’s first three films are all successes, to varying degrees. Predator is fantastic, Predator 2 is still very good(this may be my nostalgia goggles), and Predators is fantastic again. I know this is not a universal opinion, but I would be willing to argue for this franchise. 2018’s The Predator is mediocre, though. Not gonna lie.
    Harry Potter films(2001-2011): I thought all films in this series were very good. There was not a noticeable quality loss as the series went on. And in my opinion they stuck the landing very well.
    Lethal Weapon(1987-1998): All four of the original movies are the epitome of buddy-cop movies. They’re not big epic movies, but they’re all great genre movies, and there was no drop in quality throughout, IMO.
    Rocky(1976-1985): The first four Rocky movies are all very good films. The original is the greatest, artistically speaking, and I’ll admit Rocky II is the weakest of the bunch. But Rocky III and IV are both great. Rocky V is where it all crashed and burned. Luckily, Rocky IV was a great ending. The story needed nothing more.
    M. Night Shyamalan’s Eastrail 177 Trilogy(2000-1019): I love these three movies. Unbreakable was my favorite comic book movie until the MCU became a thing. Split and Glass were worthy successors to it. I thought Glass, which I know has its critics, was a great ending to a the story. It wasn’t trying to start a franchise or lead to bigger things. It was meant to tie things up from the previous two movies, and I thought it did that very well.

    Here are the trilogies/sagas that I’m hopeful for, but their stories have not been completed yet:
    Jumanji(2017-):  Yes, I know there are three films already, but I’m talking about the Dwayne Johnson ones. The first two are both great, and I am fairly confident in the next one. The 1995 Robin Williams one is a national treasure, but the story is clearly incomplete, so I don’t think we can say they stuck the landing, yet.
    Ghostbusters(1984-): The first two are fantastic, and if the upcoming one is as good as the trailer hints, I think this trilogy will be fantastic. Hopefully they can tie it up as a finish of the first two movies, but with a door open for more. The 2016 Ghostbusters doesn’t count. That’s a remake, not a sequel.
    John Wick(2014-): All three films so far have been great. Now, it’s not a complete story, so I don’t think we can say that it’s stuck the landing, yet. But I’ll be first in line to see John Wick 4.
    Happy Death Day(2017-): I know, the second movie didn’t do so hot at the box office, but I thought it was still a great movie. Its flaw, IMO, was pulling a bit of a genre switch from Horror to Sci-fi. But I admire what they did with it to keep it fresh and interesting. And if they get another movie in this series to tie it all up, and that movie matches the quality of the first two, I’d be willing to go to bat for this series.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by ICU812.
    #161867
    Anonymous

      Possible contenders:

      • Bourne Trilogy (I’m pretending the rest never happened…my personal library includes only the original trilogy).
      • Austin Powers Trilogy
      #161935

      Besides the ones already named, I’ll say

      How to train your dragon

       

      #161939

      If you wanted to stop the Rocky movies at number 3. Certainly up there for the best 4 movies in a row. We won’t talk about what came after

      #161955
      Anonymous

        Alien and Aliens.  The others do not exist!

        #161990

        Strongly disagree on the OG Star Wars trilogy.

        While I certainly do respect A New Hope, and can look past the poorly aged special effects, its pacing, fight choreography, acting of support characters as well as the ”climax” are simply horrible. The overall story is very small-scale and uninspired, and it was very hard to rewatch imo.

        Episode 5 & 6 were great.

        #162355

        Totally forgot about the Bourne trilogy!  That’s a solid pick.  Also love Austin Powers.  All three are consistently funny.

        #162356

        I unfortunately haven’t seen any of those :(  I’ve heard they’re great.

        #162371

        Gonna go out on a limb and say the Godfather trilogy.  I know part 3 gets maligned (I mean what do you expect when stacked up against the first two) and rightfully so just because there is quite bit of nonsensical moments in it.  But overall it’s not that bad/horrible of a movie and despite its flaws it does provide the proper closing arc for Michael’s character at the end.

        #226851

        The Boris Karloff Frankenstein trilogy.

        Frankenstein
        Bride of Frankenstein
        Son of Frankenstein

        #226854
        Anonymous

          John Wick ALMOST stuck the landing. 3 just wasn’t as good as the previous 2. And really, 4 needs to be the last one.

          #226862

          The Conjuring

          #226875

          Captain America was a near miss. I think Winter Soldier was the best Marvel movie, but the third one, Civil War, was kind of a let down. Those first two Captain America movies were gold and an example of audiences being spoiled by good modern day movies. Few out there.

          #226891
          DigiCat
          Moderator

            For me, based on my favorite trilogies:

            Star Wars OT and PT

            Back To The Future

            Lord Of The Rings (haven’t seen them in ages, but i know i enjoyed them)

            Out of the MCU trilogies:

            Captain America

            Thor (i know most people didn’t really like Dark World, but i enjoyed it)

            The… i was going to say The Avengers, but that’s 4 movies, so doesn’t count

            I would’ve included Iron Man too, but it took me 5 watches to remember any plot of Iron Man 2

            Trilogies that might end up on this list but i haven’t completed yet:

            How To Train Your Dragon

            Austin Powers

            Planet Of The Apes original and reboot

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