10 Longest Movie Trilogies Ever Made, Ranked by Runtime
There are few things in cinema as satisfying as a good movie trilogy. The sense of a well-rounded story with a set beginning, middle, and end is just rewarding to delve into. The expansive runtimes of such stories also typically present a greater opportunity for viewers to immerse themselves in the story and connect with the characters with an intensity that can’t be achieved in a single film.
While the idea that the longer the trilogy, the more resonant the story isn’t necessarily a bulletproof equation—as some of the entries on this list may illustrate—it is certainly no coincidence that some of the lengthiest trilogies are among cinema’s most powerful. Ranging from enchanting fantasy epics to grueling war dramas, consuming crime odysseys, and, naturally, some superhero sagas as well, these trilogies are the longest to have ever hit the big screen.
10
The Dollars Trilogy
6 hours, 32 minutes
While the duration of the trilogy can be longer depending on which versions of certain movies are watched, Sergio Leone’s iconic spaghetti Western Dollars trilogy comes in at just over six-and-a-half hours in total when judged by the runtime of the American theatrical releases of the films. This figure is clearly bolstered by the expansive 161-minute runtime of the trilogy’s climactic masterpiece, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which features an additional 16 minutes in the initial Italian release.
It is fascinating to see how the trilogy evolves in both story and scope, starting with the 99-minute A Fistful of Dollars, which is largely confined to a small-town squabble before expanding to For a Few Dollars More’s 132-minute tale of bounty hunting and revenge, and then on to the sweeping, sprawling enormity of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Each movie of the trilogy epitomizes the brilliance of spaghetti Western cinema, highlighting the subgenre’s appetite for grittier, more violent stories featuring immoral characters and a grimier aesthetic that is both engrossing and authentic. Also buoyed by Ennio Morricone’s outstanding score, the ‘Dollars’ trilogy is a defining triumph of Western cinema.
9
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy
6 hours, 51 minutes
While the “trilogies” within the MCU haven’t been considered for this list, given their narrative reliance on movies beyond their isolated trio of titles, Marvel as a whole is still well represented with Sam Raimi’s enduring Spider-Man trilogy from the 2000s. Starting in 2002, the trilogy was instrumental in establishing widespread interest in superhero cinema, mixing the warm allure of the comic books with the universal appeal of big-budget blockbuster filmmaking.
The trilogy started confidently, though cautiously, with Spider-Man’s 126-minute runtime an inviting duration for audiences that hovered right on the average length mark for the top-grossing releases of the time. Its two sequels ratcheted up the spectacle, with both films being over 140 minutes. While Spider-Man 3 was a bit of a weak end note to the story, Spider-Man 2 is still fondly remembered as being one of the best and most emotionally rewarding superhero films audiences have seen thus far. As it stands, the Spider-Man trilogy is one of the most beloved titles in the genre, and while its 411-minute runtime may pale in comparison to the expanses of entities like the MCU, the DCEU, or the X-Men saga, its influence and impact can’t be ignored.
8
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
6 hours, 58 minutes
There are more than a few signs of George Lucas bordering on indulgence with his long-awaited return to his beloved story world, with the runtime of the Star Wars prequels being one of the most apparent. Running 39 minutes longer than the original trilogy, the prequels explore the discovery of Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen), his development as a young Jedi under the guidance of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), his romance with Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), and his eventual turn to the dark side as he embraces the moniker Darth Vader.
Despite its damning flaws, the prequels tackle a bold and epic tragedy with a sense of vigor. It strives to balance the adventurous appeal of its preceding series with a renewed sense of political intrigue, all while accommodating what had become a fanbase of undefinable, all-encompassing enormity. It can’t be said that it was always graceful, but it is deserving of the admiration it has found retrospectively if only for its endeavor to offer something different from what came before it.
7
The Millennium Trilogy
7 hours, 9 minutes
The Millennium Trilogy, perhaps better known to most as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels, is an enrapturing adaptation of Steig Larsson’s Scandi crime mystery novels that immerses viewers into a modern world of noir intrigue and shocking depravity. The Swedish-Danish co-collaborations follow the bond between investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and antisocial hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), covering the cases they pry into as well as the legal troubles Lisbeth faces.
Launching with a 153-minute debut, the trilogy uses its grandiose runtime to establish a compelling atmospheric moodiness. Its lengthy expanses are measured and methodical, perfectly befitting the slow-burn allure of the crime-mystery genre. Filmed back-to-back, all three films were released in 2009, becoming a huge hit in Europe and a celebrated gem of international suspense. Its 7-hour and nine-minute runtime makes it the longest trilogy to have ever come from the continent, and the second longest in the history of foreign-language film.
6
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
7 hours, 10 minutes
Many would feel that the Star Wars sequel trilogy was expansively long to sit through. One reason for that, among others, is that it actually was. With a runtime of 7 hours and 10 minutes, Disney’s defining foray into a galaxy far, far away is by far the lengthiest of the three Star Wars trilogies, surpassing the duration of the original trilogy by almost an hour. The overarching story of the sequels transpires 30 years after Star Wars: Episode XI – Return of the Jedi, with heroes new and old uniting to fight alongside the Resistance in their stance against the tyranny of the First Order.
While the sequel trilogy is rife with major flaws, it is difficult to say if the extended runtime is one of them. It might be fair, however, to suggest that it is a byproduct of Disney’s uncertainty with the story, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi (152 minutes) implementing many new ideas that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (142 minutes) completely abandons. Still, it does stand as the longest trilogy, not only in Star Wars’s pantheon, but in sci-fi cinema at large… for whatever good that’s worth.
5
The Dark Knight Trilogy
7 hours, 37 minutes
A defining spearhead of the surge in superhero popularity that has engulfed Hollywood entertainment over the past 20 years, The Dark Knight trilogy still stands at the pinnacle of the genre, thriving as a masterful combination of comic book inspiration, immense blockbuster scale, and grounded suspense. It also stands as the longest trilogy the superhero genre has seen, with the three films accumulating a total span of over seven-and-a-half hours. In fact, Batman Begins is the series’ shortest installment with a runtime of 140 minutes.
The epic trilogy immerses viewers in Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) journey as Batman, starting with his training with the League of Shadows and covering his mission to clean up his crime-riddled home of Gotham City while defending it from villains like Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), the Joker (Heath Ledger), and Bane (Tom Hardy). The epic length of the three-movie arc combines with an arresting sense of scope, fiercely intelligent writing, outstanding performances, and pulsating action sequences. The result is a spectacle of dramatic intensity and awe-inspiring grandeur that marks one of the most defining titles of 21st-century cinema, Sir Christopher Nolan’s most iconic and groundbreaking masterpiece, and one of the finest film trilogies of all time.
4
The Hobbit Trilogy
7 hours, 54 minutes (8 hours, 52 minutes extended)
A return to Middle-earth that brought with it plenty of charm and joy (especially in the first two films) but also presented some damning pitfalls, The Hobbit trilogy was perhaps doomed to live in the shadow of its iconic predecessor from the moment the first film started production. While it had to strive to be different from The Lord of the Rings, it had to cling to the same integral DNA, a notion that perhaps contributed to a trilogy runtime that proved to be too expansive for the story.
Based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s beloved 310-page children’s novel, The Hobbit follows Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he departs The Shire to help a band of displaced dwarves retrieve their ancestral home from the dragon that plucked it from them 170 years prior. The first two films do rollick and rouse where they should, even if some additional plots are somewhat unwisely added to the fold. The climactic The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, however, does seriously strain as it converts no more than 80 pages of the book into 144 minutes of screentime. Interestingly, while the extended edition adds almost an entire hour to the trilogy’s runtime, it wouldn’t have been enough to see it rise any higher than the fourth place it already sits at.
3
The Godfather Trilogy
8 hours, 59 minutes
A true odyssey of crime and power in 20th century America, The Godfather films present the full journey of the Corleone family’s rise and fall starting—in the prequel segment of The Godfather Part II—with a young Vito Corleone’s (Robert De Niro) emergence in New York, the transition of power to his reluctant son Michael (Al Pacino), and then Michael’s tumultuous reign. The first two films are a masterpiece of mafia suspense and moral complexity that, combined, run for six hours and 17 minutes (just 15 minutes less than the entirety of the Dollars trilogy).
The Godfather Part III obviously has its flaws, with the sequel, 16 years in the making, suffering from a convoluted and overstuffed plot that is poorly paced, dragging out superfluous scenes while rushing important ones. It feels like Francis Ford Coppola wanted to conjure another crime flick of epic proportions—which, in terms of runtime alone, he certainly does—but its 162-minute tenure feels like it could have been better used. Still, it gives the trilogy a total runtime of just under nine hours, cementing it among the longest ever made as well as one of the most influential and esteemed titles in cinematic history.
2
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9 hours, 18 minutes
If it is any consolation to anyone who may be shocked that The Lord of the Rings trilogy has placed only second on this list, the extended edition of the trilogy (with a runtime of 11 hours and 34 minutes) would secure first place by almost two hours. While many may feel these extended editions are the best to watch, the 558-minute theatrical cut of the trilogy is still a divine treat of fantasy splendor and astonishing filmmaking craft. Sir Peter Jackson adapts Tolkien’s legendary novel with impeccable artistry, enchanting emotional stakes, and a sense of scale befitting of such a mighty runtime.
The daunting duration is used to perfection, allowing for all nine of the members of the fellowship to be fleshed out as memorable and meaningful characters, while the various realms that the characters venture to are all given ample time to be explored and defined in extravagant detail. Its length is paramount to conjuring such an immersive masterpiece, not only for how it gives the multiple narratives all the attention they need, but also for how it incorporates every department’s awe-inspiring work. It is therefore little wonder that so many do regard the extended editions as being their preferred versions of the films, as 9 hours and 18 minutes is hardly enough time to enjoy what is the best trilogy of all time, and the greatest fantasy adventure cinema is ever likely to see.
1
‘The Human Condition’ Trilogy
9 hours, 39 minutes
A harrowing trilogy of epic films from Japan that were released between 1959 and 1961, The Human Condition is an astonishing, devastating, and criminally underrated masterpiece of anti-war cinema from esteemed director Masaki Kobayashi. A bleak exploration of wartime morality, it follows conscientious objector Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai), with the first film seeing him work in a labor camp where his humanity towards Chinese POWs puts him at odds with those around him. Conscripted in the second film, the plot explores his time in the military, where he faces hostility even from his comrades due to his pacifism. The third film takes place as the Japanese army begins to break down, highlighting Kaji’s fight to survive in the closing stages of WWII as he is captured by the Red Army.
Every film in the trilogy surpasses three hours, but not a single second is wasted. Kobayashi’s commitment to using the sheer magnitude of the spectacle to realize an unflinching and morally complex story of war, violence, and moral conviction within a totalitarian regime results in an odyssey of devastating power. It sits comfortably among the greatest film trilogies of all time, is enshrined in the annals of war cinema, and stands triumphant after more than 60 years as a beacon of the brilliance of international film.
