6 Movie Trilogies That Everyone Loves From Start To Finish

It's rare to find a perfect movie trilogy, but these cinematic trios are beloved from start to finish. Ongoing movie series are the bread and butter of Hollywood in the 21st century, but studios rarely repeat their successes with any regularity. Sequels are almost never as good as their predecessors, and the longer a series goes on, the worse it typically gets.

That's why trilogies are exceptionally hard to pull off, because they require filmmakers to repeat the magic trick three times in a row. It's very difficult to achieve, but not impossible. The best movie trilogies often follow the traditional three-act structure, with each installment representing one act in a much larger narrative. This isn't always the case though, and some trilogies are disjointed.

A large issue that trilogies face is the crushing weight of expectation. If one installment outshines the others, it can make the trilogy seem lackluster. Furthermore, if one of the movies isn't as good as the rest, it looks like a stinker because of the high level of quality that audiences expect. Audiences are pretty fickle, but there are some trilogies that universally pass muster.

The beloved movie trilogies aren't just collections of great films in succession, they offer a unified vision that's just as enticing as the individual parts. Making one universally beloved film is quite hard, because it's nearly impossible to cater to everyone. However, this selection of trilogies is adored by everyone who sees them, regardless of what part of movie fandom they come from.

6 The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)

Christopher Nolan took the superhero movie to new heights with his Dark Knight Trilogy. The trio of Batman flicks released just as Marvel's MCU was getting off the ground, but offered a more adult approach to masked vigilantes. The Caped Crusader was no stranger to cinemas by 2005, but Batman Begins was the first time the character was really taken seriously outside the pages of comics.

The trilogy peaked with 2008's The Dark Knight, which is generally considered the greatest superhero film ever produced. It built upon the ideas presented in Batman Begins, but was even more sure-handed with its action and drama. The performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker began a new chapter for the Clown Prince of Crime that is still being written today in other parts of the Batman franchise.

The final installment, The Dark Knight Rises, very nearly bumps the series off the list. However, the trilogy-capper is still an excellent movie with all things considered. The first and third films are overshadowed by The Dark Knight, but that doesn't mean they aren't also universally beloved movies in their own right. When taken together, no other superhero series is as strong.

5 The Before Trilogy (1995-2013)

Unlike every other series on this list, Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy isn't genre cinema. It wasn't produced to appeal to a mass audience, and it certainly wasn't sold as the next great romance film of the modern age. Instead, the thoughtful and understated trio is a lesson in patience that continues to grab audiences more than 30 years after the first film. Essentially, the Before Trilogy is a love story told across three decades.

1995's Before Sunrise is the passionate beginning of the main pair's lifelong bond, complete with plenty of '90s meet-cute energy. It flows with very little effort, and invites the viewer into the magical night in Vienna. Before Sunset is the complicated second act, with the characters coming back together after years apart. Finally, Before Midnight is the cathartic denouement, showing how much the lovers have matured (or not) over the decades.

Each part shines on its own, especially in the acting and writing department, but the Before Trilogy really works best when taken together. Given more time to breathe, it presents a fully fleshed-out love story that isn't really possible in a single 90-minute movie. Though the Before Trilogy is probably the most obscure on this list, it is no less beloved by those who have seen it.

4 The Original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983)

There was a time when there was just "The Star Wars Trilogy", but those days are long gone. Now there are three distinct Star Wars trilogies as well as a handful of other movies set in a galaxy far far away. However, only the original can claim the distinction of being universally beloved. Combining space opera tropes with dashes of other cinematic influences, George Lucas created a bona fide cultural institution back in 1977.

Now known as Episode IV — A New Hope, the first Star Wars film still holds up as a classic space adventure with plenty of unique quirks. However, the series really hit its stride with The Empire Strikes Back, arguably the greatest science fiction sequel ever made. The Return of the Jedi couldn't live up to its predecessor, but is still a stone-cold classic that sent audiences home happy with the knowledge that the galaxy was saved.

What is there to say about the original trilogy that hasn't already been said? It's the perfect mix of filmmaking magic and calculated Hollywood gloss, and there's a reason the franchise is still a top seller to this day. Perhaps the biggest reason that Star Wars is such an effective trilogy is that it introduces a compelling fictional universe. Though it's a complete trilogy in a way, there were clearly more stories to be told in the Star Wars universe.

3 The Dollars Trilogy (1964-1966)

Sequels in westerns are exceedingly rare, but Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy is a noteworthy exception. The spaghetti western trio is only loosely connected by its nameless main character, and recurring themes of greed and deception in the Old West. The films helped make Clint Eastwood a star, and really put Hollywood's westerns to shame with its exciting camera work and shocking (for the time) violence.

Opening with A Fistful of Dollars, the trilogy starts small but powerful. The first installment sets the tone for the remaining two, but is just as enjoyable as its successors. The middle entry, For a Few Dollars More, is more energetic and humorous, letting the supporting cast shine. The trilogy crescendos with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the pinnacle of the western genre in the 1960s.

Eastwood's stony demeanor mixes perfectly with Leone's active camera, and it's all capped by a stellar score by Ennio Morricone. Putting the Dollars Trilogy in historical context, the movies came at a low point for the genre in general. With that in mind, the trilogy breathed new life into one of cinema's oldest genres, while pointing the way for its future. Even people who don't like westerns enjoy the classic three-parter.

2 How To Train Your Dragon (2010-2019)

DreamWorks was no stranger to massive hit franchises by the time they produced How to Train Your Dragon in 2010. However, the blockbuster smash was nothing like the studio's other projects, and completely recontextualized the medium of animation in the West. The fantasy epic was aimed at a younger audience, but told a captivating story that could appeal to just about anyone else too. Magically, DreamWorks repeated the trick two other times.

How to Train Your Dragon is the perfect origin story for Hiccup and his dragon friend, Toothless. How to Train Your Dragon 2 raises the stakes, while allowing the story to mature a bit. In the end, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World leaves the Isle of Berk behind after one last adventure. Each piece is distinguishable, but absolutely necessary to the whole.

Kids who saw the first movie back in 2010 were young adults by the 2019 finale, and the movies grew up right alongside them. The stunning visuals are just icing on the cake of a trio of perfectly-written masterpieces, and it's so rare for popular cinema to feel like a work of art and not a cynical cash grab. There's no denying that How to Train Your Dragon is the most universally beloved animated trilogy.

1 The Lord Of The Rings (2001-2003)

Considering how far cinema has come in the last 25 years, it's easy to overlook how much of a massive undertaking the Lord of the Rings trilogy truly was. Peter Jackson tackled the most popular fantasy books of all time in live-action for the first time, and he did it on a scale that was otherwise unheard of since the first fall of Hollywood decades prior. If there were any doubts about the trilogy, they were immediately put to bed when The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters in 2001.

Using Tolkien's epic world as a skeleton for the trilogy's storytelling, The Fellowship of the Ring pulls out the best bits for a somewhat condensed version of the opening act. Similarly, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, expertly synthesize the trio of books into the great cinematic epics of the modern age. Middle-earth was made real, especially through the fleshing-out of the heroes and villains.

The Lord of the Rings is a perfect trilogy, no matter which version is being consumed. The extended cuts are somehow even better, but the theatrical releases lose nothing. There's a cozy rewatchability to the lengthy trilogy, and fans continue to return to the series with regularity. Beloved isn't even a strong enough word to explain moviegoers' obsession with The Lord of the Rings, and as a whole, the trilogy transcends anything else in genre cinema history.