A good, consistent trilogy is nice. Many movies have three-act structures, and so to have an overall story released over numerous years, itself with three long acts… it just feels right. Sometimes, all three movies will be conceived as one large project, like with The Lord of the Rings and The Human Condition, while at other times, a one-off movie will eventually get two sequels produced separately, like with Before Sunrise being followed by Before Sunset and Before Midnight.

And then you’ve got trilogies that maybe aren’t great all the way through, but did at least conclude with a third film without dragging things on exceedingly too long (see The Godfather). Also, some trilogies have been extended and built upon with some success, and not everything should be restricted to three movies, by any means… but with the following examples, they were probably better as trilogies. Put another way: if a movie series had its three best, or most appreciated, movies be its first three, then it may get included in the ranking below.

10

‘The Matrix’ Trilogy (1999-2003)

Image via Warner Bros.

Some might go a step further and say The Matrix should’ve just been the one film, and not even a trilogy, but that’s a little unfair. Sure, the 1999 original is easily the best of the bunch, but The Matrix Reloaded delivers when it comes to action and certainly has interesting ideas, plus some world-building… and then The Matrix Revolutions is… well, it is an ending. It does end things. It has that going for it.

Then, almost 20 years later, there was a fourth movie, The Matrix Resurrections, which has value as a very expensive joke, if intended to be a feature-length middle finger, but is harder to enjoy as a sci-fi/action movie. It reckons with the legacy of The Matrix, and can be admired for some of its more subversive and confounding moments, but if you’re after something that feels like a proper continuation, you won’t get it here at all.

9

‘The Exorcist’ Series (1973-1990)

Image via Warner Bros.

And in terms of maybe being best if it were just the one movie, like The Matrix, here’s The Exorcist. The original is untouchable, as one of the best horror movies ever made, and it was followed by a divisive second movie that might stand as a bit over-hated, and then the third movie is justifiably seen as surprisingly good, even if it’s harder to link it narratively to the other two movies. But it’s more worthy of being a part of the series than what came later.

To cut a long story short, there was one really bad Exorcist movie in the 2000s, and then it was re-edited and re-released as a different movie around the same time, and that one wasn’t much better. But then The Exorcist: Believer came out in 2023, and was a new nadir for the overall series, which was particularly saddening, since it brought back some characters and ideas from the classic original, squandering them in one of the worst legacy sequels ever made. It was a pretty sorry way to, in essence, commemorate 50 years of The Exorcist.

8

‘Thor’ (2011-2017)

Image via Marvel Studios

Even before Thor: Love and Thunder, the Thor series (one of many smaller series in the overall franchise that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe) was flawed, but the first three movies made up a not-terrible trilogy. 2011’s Thor was big and messy, but honestly a pretty good introduction to the titular character and his world. Thor: The Dark World… eh. Not much to remember about that one. It was a movie that was just sort of there.

But then Thor: Ragnarok was fun, and a high point of the Thor series up until that point, having some recognizably Guardians of the Galaxy sort of energy while leading up to the then-upcoming Avengers: Infinity War quite well. Taika Waititi returned to the director’s chair for the fourth movie, the aforementioned Thor: Love and Thunder, and what resulted was an absolutely miserable film. There’s nothing good about it. Actors were wasted, the comedy always missed, and everything looked cheap and/or garish. It’s largely the reason that few people seem to be itching for a potential fifth Thor movie.

7

‘Die Hard’ Series (1988-1995)

Image via 20th Century Studios

The action movie to which so many others are compared, Die Hard is an undeniable classic, and even its good sequels didn’t really stand a chance at equaling its greatness. But up until 1995, with the release of the third movie, it had a pretty good run, with the second movie going a bit bigger (and maybe a little too samey), but then that third movie was a neat way to mix things up, albeit with some familiar elements, like a villain related to the first movie’s bad guy, and John McTiernan returning as director.

Actually, you know, if Die Hard had finished as a quadrilogy, with the release of 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard, then that would’ve been fine. But the fourth movie allowed a fifth movie to then be made, and 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard was awful. If the fourth movie could be sacrificed to ensure the fifth movie never happened… you know, it might be worthwhile. Sorry, Live Free or Die Hard.

6

The Christopher Reeve ‘Superman’ Movies (1978-1983)

Image via Warner Bros.

Though he wasn’t in the most consistent run of Superman movies, Christopher Reeve could well be the most iconic of all the actors to have played him on the big screen to date, as it’s hard to separate Reeve from the character. For sure, 1978’s Superman was about as good as superhero movies got for a while there, and Superman II, though a slightly inferior movie with a troubled production, is a more than worthy sequel.

Superman III is divisive, but not the worst thing in the world if you’re okay with watching a rather silly buddy comedy that also happens to be a Superman movie. If it had been a trilogy capper for Reeve and his time playing the character, that would’ve been fine, but then along came the genuinely abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which is one of the worst superhero movies ever made, and a really unfortunate note for the Christopher Reeve run to end on. It’s best to just pretend, as much as you can, that it doesn’t exist.

5

‘Captain America’ Trilogy (2011-2016)

Image via Marvel Studios

This is a bit of a borderline example, since the Chris Evans Captain America movies feel like they make up their own trilogy, and his Captain America seemingly retired (though perhaps not for good, what with the multiverse being there and all) in Avengers: Endgame. But the fourth Captain America movie, Brave New World, is linked with the other three, and does try to continue the whole espionage thing that some of the earlier movies had going on.

Various characters return, some with more prominent roles, but it was all a bit of a mess. The Captain America films peaked with the second one, The Winter Soldier, though The First Avenger and Civil War were also very compelling. It was a nice, all-around solid trilogy that also had some pretty neat ties to the other MCU movies (especially Civil War), but it’s now harder to argue that it’s its own consistent trilogy, since Brave New World bravely went ahead and ruined it.

4

‘Planet of the Apes’ Reboot Trilogy (2011-2017)

Image via 20th Century Fox

So, in the 20th century, there were lots of Planet of the Apes movies, but then in the 2010s, the series was rebooted, or revitalized, or re-whateverized. And those three movies that came out during that decade were surprisingly good, and they remain satisfying to watch from front to back, owing to how the apes themselves get smarter, and humanity increasingly crumbles, showing how, you know, Earth became the planet of the apes.

Connected to these movies, though, is 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and this one just didn’t feel as vital. It could turn around, though, if it ends up getting sequels that make the jump ahead numerous generations feel necessary, but as it stands, this rebooted run of Planet of the Apes movies really soars and builds in intensity for three films, and then has a slight shrug of a fourth entry that just lacks a certain something the other three had.

3

The ‘Bourne’ Trilogy (2002-2007)

Image via Universal Studios

The closest thing Jason Bourne (2016) has to a legacy is the fact that it spawned the “Jesus Christ, that’s Jason Bourne” meme. And that’s more than can be said about 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, which, ironically, has no legacy, as it was one of the most forgettable wide-release movies of the early 2010s, and one where the series tested whether it could go on without a focus on Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne. Turns out it couldn’t!

He did indeed return for that aforementioned 2016 film, as did Paul Greengrass, who’d directed two previous Bourne movies, but the fire wasn’t reignited, and the film came and went. At least the original three Bourne movies remain, things we’ll always have, just like how the two main characters in Casablanca have Paris. The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum all hold up well, and tell an exceptionally satisfying – and self-contained – three-part story.

2

‘Indiana Jones’ Trilogy (1981-1989)

Not everyone agrees on how to rank the first three Indiana Jones movies, but you’ll probably struggle to find many people who don’t think the first three are the best three. Steven Spielberg was at the top of his game as a director here, and the three original movies all fit neatly into the one decade. Also, The Last Crusade does feel like a very fitting “last” chapter.

Spielberg did return to direct the much more divisive The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which tainted the legacy of the series a little, but then 2023’s The Dial of Destiny (not directed by Spielberg) tainted that same legacy a lot. It was such a dull and disappointing slog of a blockbuster, with everyone involved feeling tired, and the film itself inspiring agonizing tiredness for anyone unfortunate enough to sit through it all. This series got what felt like a final film on three different occasions, and neither of the final two of the “final” films was anywhere near as good as The Last Crusade.

1

‘Toy Story’ Trilogy (1995-2010)

Image via Pixar Animation Studios

If you’re after legendary animated movies from the past few decades, the original three Toy Story films are typically seen as right up there among the very greatest. Toy Story (1995) was groundbreaking on a technical front, Toy Story 2 was arguably even better (and more emotional), and then Toy Story 3 was a real gut-punch of an animated film, and felt essentially perfect as a conclusion to the whole story about toys.

But then in 2019, people wanted money, and they made Toy Story 4. And it made a lot of money. And it was not the worst thing in the world. But it was certainly inferior – and felt so much less necessary – than the borderline-perfect trilogy it aimed to expand upon, and now there’s a Toy Story 5 on the horizon, and it’s just all a bit sad now. It can’t take away from the first three being great, but Toy Story does now branch out and include at least one entry that wasn’t itself great, which is a bummer. Some things should just be left alone.

Toy Story

Release Date

October 30, 1995

Runtime

81 minutes

Director

John Lasseter

Writers

John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen, Joe Ranft, Pete Docter

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  Tim Allen

  Buzz Lightyear (voice)