6 Greatest Epic Trilogies of All Time, Ranked

As for trilogies that aren’t just epic because they're the length of three movies, that’s what you're going to see below. Some of these trilogies are made up of three genuine epic movies that are all about three hours or more on their own, while others have movies made up of slightly more digestible runtimes (say, between two and two-and-a-half hours each), but those movies still feel epic in scope and ambition. Also, they really have to be trilogies, not three-parters that ended up being extended, like the most recent run of Planet of the Apes movies. And the movies have to generally be good throughout on top of feeling epic, which disqualifies something like The Hobbit trilogy (which is three epic movies, sure, but the quality’s a bit shaky there, as is the whole notion of that story becoming a film trilogy in the first place).

6 'Avatar' (2009–2024)

A trilogy for now, though perhaps not for good, Avatar is perhaps the most epic sci-fi trilogy of the century so far (though there is another fantasy trilogy, released post-2000, that’s more iconic). The first movie tells a familiar story in a unique setting, taking place on an alien moon and involving a conflict between humans and the Na'vi, complicated by the fact that human beings can inhabit genetically created Na'vi bodies, which the protagonist does, and then becomes sympathetic to the Na'vi cause. He – and a few others – make a choice to fight back against humanity, and there’s your central conflict.

It’s sustained three lengthy movies so far, though Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) did have a little more by way of unique things to say than Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), even with both movies being similarly long (at over three hours). Avatar (2009) is comparatively shorter, but 162 minutes is still a pretty sizable runtime. There are some missteps throughout the trilogy, yet also so much that impresses that it feels worth considering Avatar to be one of the best epic movie trilogies. They've made quite a bit of money so far, to say the least, which does mean at least a fourth movie is likely, but at least for now, it’s a trilogy.

5 'The Dark Knight' (2005–2012)

There are two more-than-solid superhero movies on either side of The Dark Knight (2008), with that middle film being easily the best. It’s not the Batman Begins trilogy, you know? Okay, well, “the Batman Begins trilogy” sounds a lot clunkier than “The Dark Knight trilogy,” but it’s still potentially worth noting, because most trilogies are easier to name after the first of the three movies, by default. The Dark Knight (2008) does admittedly work on its own, and is also potentially definable as an epic in isolation, since the story gets rather grand in scope here (a little like a spin on 1995’s Heat, but with Batman), and the runtime is about 2.5 hours.

The Dark Knight Rises is even longer, and feels like more of an epic in the traditional sense, though it is also probably the most flawed of the three movies. There are some real highs there alongside a handful of baffling lows, or otherwise lesser moments. With Batman Begins, it’s the most straightforward (and also the shortest) of the three, but it establishes a great deal in a mostly effective way, which allows the next two movies to get bigger and feel more like epics. So, it’s a necessary piece of the overall trilogy, and said overall trilogy is just sweeping enough to feel like a superhero/comic book epic, in the end.

4 'The Human Condition' (1959–1961)

A good many epic trilogies are also going to be blockbusters, or mass-appeal in some kind of way, which can be seen already, especially with Avatar, and to some extent with The Dark Knight trilogy. The Human Condition, on the other hand, is an epic trilogy that really doesn’t feel anywhere close to blockbuster territory, just because it’s a lengthy and consistently deeply upsetting epic about World War II. More specifically, it’s about a pacifist named Kaji, with The Human Condition I: No Greater Love showcasing the increasing struggle he faces to remain out of World War II, even with Japan’s government at the time really emphasizing participation in the military.

While there’s a lot of tension in the first movie, the second film, The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity, is grueling and violent in an even more in-your-face way, as it sees Kaji being forced into full-on military service, eventually being on the frontline. But then the war ends in The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer, following Japan’s surrender, and Kaji’s kind of stranded and desperate to survive, with that final film depicting that struggle and the difficulties of getting home. Taking the trilogy as a whole, you get an almost pre-war epic, a more conventional war epic, and then a post-war/survival epic, with the entire journey being immensely stressful and downbeat. None of these movies are fun, and all of them are over three hours each, but the trilogy as a whole does remain essential viewing, even with how challenging it is to get through approximately 10 hours of unapologetically anti-war cinema.

3 'Star Wars' (1977–1983)

While there are three Star Wars trilogies, the original trilogy is certainly the best of them, and that’s hopefully not a controversial thing to say (but with Star Wars, you never know for sure). For what it’s worth, there are parts of both the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy that are good, but not really a consistency from film to film (to film) that the original trilogy has… for the most part. No, Return of the Jedi is not as good as either Star Wars (1977) or The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s still a good conclusion, and most of it feels satisfying, not to mention too drastic a downgrade from its two predecessors.

The first Star Wars is quite wonderful, of course, starting out incredibly from the very first shot, and then also having a remarkably strong climax, too. The Empire Strikes Back still manages to improve on the first movie in almost every way, and is justifiably considered among the absolute greatest film sequels of all time. Taking the three movies together, it ends up being quite the saga, and certainly epic in scale, thanks to being perhaps the definitive space opera trilogy.

2 'The Godfather' (1972–1990)

It’s easy to mention The Godfather trilogy right after mentioning the Star Wars original trilogy, since there’s a progression here from a groundbreaking first movie, to a potentially even better sequel, and then to a third movie that’s a step-down in quality from the first two, but still not awful. Well, The Godfather Part III might be a little worse than Return of the Jedi, but there are highs throughout, with a strong final act and some good performances. It recycles quite a lot of what came before, though, and spins its wheels a bit narratively and thematically, compared to the first two movies.

You can’t help but notice when The Godfather Part II does so much that’s meaningful, as a sequel, elaborating on Vito’s story further by having a series of flashbacks, and then continuing Michael’s story in the film’s present, which ultimately sees more and more things fall apart for him, as he becomes more morally questionable. And for The Godfather Part II to be a worthy and substantive follow-up to something as great as The Godfather (1972) is still an almost mind-bendingly great achievement, and it’s really just a slightly disappointing and less important (though, again, still not terrible) third movie that stops The Godfather from feeling like the best epic trilogy ever made.

1 'The Lord of the Rings' (2001–2003)

To the surprise of probably nobody, The Lord of the Rings takes the #1 spot here, as all three movies are epics in their own right, and then they add up to one massive whole if you find yourself with time to digest them all in one sitting. The source material was technically one giant novel, and The Lord of the Rings also functions as one massive movie, running for about nine hours if you watch the theatrical editions, and more like 11 hours if you're into the extended versions (those ones are pretty great, if you want an even more expansive story).

The Fellowship of the Ring feels like the coziest and most straightforward as a fantasy/adventure movie, while The Two Towers splits up the core group of main characters and begins depicting a much wider conflict being fought throughout Middle-earth. And then The Return of the King gets bigger still, getting monumental in terms of spectacle before effectively winding down to make things feel more intimate/emotional once more. Epic films really don’t get a whole lot better than The Lord of the Rings, and perhaps neither do movie trilogies in general, in all honesty.