Consistency is very hard to achieve for a franchise, as finding success multiple times is not an easy task. While there’s more painstaking effort and creative upheaval needed to make just one great film than anyone outside of the industry would imagine, those stress factors are even more challenging for a franchise that spans three entries.
There are simply not that many great movie trilogies because many are ruined by one bad film; the Star Wars sequel trilogy collapsed thanks to The Rise of Skywalker, and Spider-Man 3 did the same thing for Sam Raimi’s superhero trilogy. There are also franchises like Indiana Jones, Bourne, Toy Story, and the modern Planet of the Apes reboot that ceased to become trilogies when they were followed by more entries. Here are ten movie trilogies in which every single entry is a great and worthwhile film.
10
The Apu Trilogy
Pather Panchali was the first film in series loosely named “The Apu Trilogy” that was directed by Satyajit Ray, one of the most important filmmakers in the history of world cinema. Ray followed a single protagonist throughout his childhood to adolescence, where he became a writer and cultural observer. While Pather Panchali is perhaps the best film in the trilogy because of how well it understands the complexities of childhood, both Aparajito and Apur Sansur are equally strong.
The Apu trilogy is unique because it is not a work of spectacle, but rather an observation on how one man came to define his ideals and discover his interests as an artist. Those that have not previously shown a strong interest in international cinema owe it to themselves to check out Ray’s films because of how universal and accessible they are.
9
The Knives Out Trilogy
Knives Out may or may not end up being a trilogy, as it doesn’t seem like Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig have decided as to whether or not they’d want to make another Benoit Blanc adventure. While it’s understandable that Johnson has other original projects that he wants to make, and Craig is in the midst of starring in a new Damien Chazelle film and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia reboot, it would be a shame for them to stop making these delightfully clever adventures.
Each film in the trilogy has a different thematic subject, even if they share a sense of quirky humor. Knives Out examined the wealthy disparity within a dysfunctional and privileged family, Glass Onion examined the tech boom and rise of influencer culture, and Wake Up Dead Man offered an oddly sobering assessment of faith and featured a standout performance by Josh O’Connor.
8
The Back to the Future Trilogy
Back to the Future is among the most culturally influential film franchises of all-time, and will thankfully stay pure thanks to Robert Zemeckis’ contract. Zemeckis’ holding of the series rights means that there will never be a fourth film made without his content, which is a good thing considering how easily a legacy sequel could mess up his perfect trilogy.
Back to the Future is simply one of the greatest films ever made, and one of the few that would be described as completely flawless. Back to the Future: Part II is still a really fun, albeit much darker sequel that gets even knottier with its implications about time travel, and Back to the Future: Part III is a crowdpleasing wrap-up that ended up finding a great conclusion for the future of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) as he learns to accept the responsibilities that come with his future.
7
The Evil Dead Trilogy
The Evil Dead is a very consistent movie franchise that does expand beyond three films thanks to the remake Evil Dead, the sequel Evil Dead Rise, and the upcoming installment Evil Dead Burn. However, the first three entries in the series are considered to be a standalone trilogy because they were all directed by Sam Raimi, and follow the story of Ash (Bruce Campbell).
It is a trilogy where each film takes a wildly different direction tonally. The Evil Dead is a terrifying, upsetting film that showed just how grotesque and disturbing body horror could get when done with a minimal budget. Evil Dead II retained the premise, but amped up the dark comedy and made Ash into a smartmouth character. The third film, Army of Darkness, is a hilarious spoof of medieval fantasy epics and easily the funniest entry in the trilogy.
6
The Man With No Name Trilogy
Sergio Leone helped to essentially create the “spaghetti western” genre with his groundbreaking classic A Fistful of Dollars, which starred Clint Eastwood as an enigmatic drifter who wanders through the American frontier as a bounty hunter. The sequel, For A Few Dollars More, took an even more dynamic approach by pairing Eastwood’s muted anti-her off with the dastardly Lee Van Cleef.
Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy was concluded by The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, a film that is often cited as being one of the best ever made (and not just within the western genre). It’s an impressive epic that promises fear, adventure, and danger at every moment, but it’s even more entertaining for those that have already caught up with A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More, and can see how Leone got more ambitious with each entry.
5
The Godfather Trilogy
The Godfather is an interesting franchise to consider because of the sharp drop-off in quality by its last entry. It goes without saying that The Godfather is one of the greatest films ever made and will be cited by any respectable critic’s poll as an all-time masterpiece, and that The Godfather: Part II is an immersive second chapter that deepens the Corleone story by examining both its past and present with a younger Vito (Robert De Niro) and an older, jaded Michael (Al Pacino).
The Godfather: Part III is a flawed film with some real mistakes, particularly in its inability to get Robert Duvall back to reprise his role. However, those that have the opportunity to watch Francis Ford Coppola’s director’s cut, subtitled The Death of Michael Corleone, might find it to be a more satisfying conclusion that is more consistent with its predecessors.
4
The Dark Knight Trilogy
The Dark Knight is easily the greatest comic book film of all-time, but every installment in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy is a masterpiece in its own right. Batman Begins was the film that finally took the mythology of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his training under the League of Shadows seriously, and managed to erase the goofy version of the character created in Batman & Robin from the public consciousness.
The Dark Knight is an obvious classic that features one of the greatest contemporary screen performances in the later great Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning portrayal of the Joker, but The Dark Knight Rises is somewhat underrated as a superhero film that provided a satisfying and definitive conclusion to its story, which now feels all the more rare after Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Hugh Jackman have returned to their Marvel franchises after claiming that they were done.
3
The Before Trilogy
Richard Linklater is willing to make the type of commitments that most other filmmakers would shy away from, as he created a trilogy set over the course of nearly 20 years. Before Sunrise is a perfect romantic dramedy that featured irreplaceable chemistry between Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, but Linklater dared to continue his masterpiece by making two sequels that followed up with the characters, each of which took place nine years later.
Before Sunset is as perfect of a film ever made about rediscovering love at an unexpected moment and deciding to declare dedication, and Before Midnight is a sobering examination of mid-life crisis that features tough, yet mature observations about the way that long-term relationships work and whether it is ever truly possible to recapture the same sense of wondrous excitement that was present when two people met for the first time.
2
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Lord of the Rings was one of the most daunting productions of all-time considering that J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy of novels are considered to be one of the greatest works of fantasy literature ever written. Since Tolkien wrote all three books at once and later divided them into three entries, Peter Jackson started an ambitious simultaneous shoot of three films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, each of which became masterpieces.
There is a legitimate argument to make that any of the films in the trilogy is the best; The Fellowship of the Ring is a perfect fantasy film that explores the heartbreaking shattering of Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) allies, The Two Towers is an epic war drama about the devastation of the world, and The Return of the King is a powerful conclusion that delivers the emotional resolutations to arcs that were set up throughout the entire trilogy.
1
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
Star Wars is the single most iconic film franchise in cinematic history, and it will continue running for many years to come if Disney has its way. Although there are great films within every era of the series, the original trilogy both created a world and mythology that redefined cinema, and told a definitive and satisfying story through the eyes of three great filmmakers who understood the versatility of the universe that they were creating.
A New Hope is the perfect unification of sci-fi, western, adventure, coming-of-age, and fantasy tropes into a sprawling hero’s journey, The Empire Strikes Back redefined how sequels could become darker and more emotionally complex, and Return of the Jedi is an absolute delight of a crowdpleaser that provided emotional catharsis for all the characters and identified redemption as the core theme of the entire saga.
- Release Date
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May 25, 1977
- Runtime
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121 minutes
- Director
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George Lucas
