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It ’s often allege that the third movie in a series is always the worst , though this does n’t always hold unfeigned . Sometimes , a film director has a plan from the start that unfolds over three essential entries , other time , the financial pressures of studios lead to the egress of take after - up entryway that are text edition examples of the law of belittle comeback .
Whether the recently - announcedTronsequel will shape the series into an abortiveSkywalker Sagaor a laudedLord of The Ringstrilogy is yet to be insure , but the success or unsuccessful person of a series third entry depends on how well the filmmakers build upon what come before . Below , we list five great threequels and five that missed the mark .
Fans Loved: Day of the Dead (1985)
A radical of researcher and military personnel residing in a sand trap at the southernmost peak of the United States seat head as zombie hordes ravage the Earth . Dr. Logan ( Richard Liberty ) believes that zombies can be train to serve man , much to the horror of the reactionary Captain Rhodes ( Joseph Pilato ) and his cohort , leading to a confrontation that will put both groups of subsister at risk .
After setting the template for themodern flesh - muncherwithNight of the Living Dead(1968 ) and conveniently clear his own bar withDawn of the Dead(1978 ) , George A. Romero firmly cemented his reputation as the king of the zombies with this once under - appreciated , deliriously tense skewering of the Cold War epoch ’s ism of reciprocally - assured death , the height of which has only get in the decade since .
Unnecessary: Alien 3 (1992)
Iconic screen badass Ellen Ripley ( Sigourney Weaver ) detect herself in yet another nightmare when she crash lands on Fiorina 161 , a maximum - security correctional facility and labor summer camp . unbeknown to the men who convalesce her , the seedpod also express a Facehugger primed and quick to tincture the first living matter it encounters on the exterior …
Ridley Scott’sAlien(1979 ) did n’t need a sequel , butJames Cameronbeat the odds by upping the ante and giving audiences an action - spectacle to match the first film ’s more moderate , spine - tingling pleasures withAliens(1986 ) . The third time , was not so much a charm . The production was beset with trouble , and David Fincher ( in his feature directorial first appearance ) , and although it has style to part with and expands the Xenomorph mythology in challenging agency , Alien 3emerged as the series ' red - headed stepchild . That is , until , Alien : Resurrection(1997)came along a few twelvemonth later .
Fans Loved: Toy Story 3 (2010)
The darling toys of Andy , lead by Buzz ( Tim Allen ) and Woody ( Tom Hanks ) , get hold themselves in an experiential scare as their human pal preps for college . Though bar to the dome , things take a number for the defective when they by chance terminate up at a day care center . Desperate to get back home , the toys will have to ring together to escape the center and avoid being pull out to pieces by drooling toddlers .
Pixar’strack book with sequel is n’t great , but theToy Storyseries is an exception to the pattern . Toy Story ’s condition as the first - ever characteristic - duration computer - animated cinema was enough to mark it as an important masterpiece , butToy Story 2bested it in every way , adding a strong emotional sum to the cutting - border visuals . Toy Story 3builds upon this still and is the arrant , pensive send - off to the character and the young person of a genesis of small fry who came of age with the films . 2019’sToy Story 4couldn’t hit the same high water line and looked more like a bid to reinvest a new generation in Disney ’s intellectual belongings than continue the story in a meaningful elbow room .
Unnecessary: Shrek the Third (2007)
inimical ogre , Shrek ( Mike Myers ) regain himself task with leading the realm of Far , Far out when his father - in - police force dies suddenly . Reluctant to govern , Shrek strikes out to find a suited permutation successor with his pals in adventuring , Donkey ( Eddie Murphy ) and Puss in Boots ( Antonio Banderas ) .
The fact thatShrek(2001 ) competed at the Cannes Film Festival and deliver the goods the first - ever Academy Award for well Animated Feature film will be a shock to anyone familiar with the film ’s severely diminished cultural cachet in 2020 . Though its achiever warrant a second film in 2004 , by the timeShrek the Thirdcame around , the tide was already deform against the cranky ogre , his obnoxious buddy , and their quickly dating , pop - cultural character reference heavy , lampooning of fairytales for " matured " audiences . Shrek the Thirdstill turned a profits , but critical fatigue had set in , and though the serial amble on with a stage melodious and purport fifth movie that ’s presently on pause , the desire for studio to carry on beating this long - dead green monstrosity seems largely nonexistent .
Fans Loved: Goldfinger (1964)
Charismatic MI6 Agent James Bond ( Sean Connery ) cope with his most deadly foe yet in Auric Goldfinger ( Gert Fröbe ): a prehensile aureate magnate with a plan to irradiate Fort Knox in a bid to make his stockpile the most precious on the satellite .
The James Bond movie were patently successful early on on , but they would n’t have ballooned into a decades - long serial with 24 prescribed entry had everything not coalesce as it does here . Goldfingerbetters its predecessor in every regard , solidify it asa bonafide classic in a series chock full of them .
Unnecessary: Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
Debonair flimflam - artist Danny Ocean ( George Clooney ) again assembles his pack of misfit crook to demand revenge against Willy Bank ( Al Pacino ) , a gambling casino owner who ’s burn Reuben Tishkoff ( Elliot Gould ) , Danny ’s dear friend and mentor in crime .
Ocean ’s Twelve(2004 ) was see with a collective shrug by critics , and thoughThirteenfared well , it ’s still humankind away from the guilt - gratuitous Zea mays everta thrill of Soderbergh ’s 2001 reboot .
Fans Loved: Before Midnight (2003)
As their Hellenic vacation comes to a close , longtime couple Jesse ( Ethan Hawke ) and Celine ( Julie Delpy ) start to reminisce and examine their lives together , find fault at old wound and opening some newfangled I .
Hangout motion-picture show maestro Richard Linklater ’s wonderful pairing of Hawke and Delpy inBefore Sunrise(1995 ) sparked one of the sharp and most naturalistic explorations of modern kinship in picture when the triplet had the wild idea to inflict the fictitious character again , nine years later inBefore Sunset(2004 ) . A further nine years later , Before Midnight(2013 ) mark in with Jesse and Celine once more for the darkest , yet somehow most romance - affirming and compelling of the three . Time will only tell if Linklater gives us another entry in 2022 but , as it stands , TheBeforeTrilogy is one of the great .
Unnecessary: The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
As the denizens of Zion , the last bastion of man , nerve themselves for an apocalyptic battle against their machine lord , Neo ( Keanu Reeves ) , must dislodge himself from entrapment between worlds to squeeze his destiny as the " one " who will close down The Matrix for good .
Though the entire trilogy has , of late , been re - assessed , it ’s intemperate to get around the fact thatThe Matrix Revolutionsis a timeworn and dour sequel to a movie that became an immediate and influential sci - fi action classic the moment it split onto the scenery .
Fans Loved: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Dashing explorer and archaeologist Indiana Jones ( Harrison Ford ) embarks on a journeying to save his forefather ( Sean Connery ) who has blend missing on an adventure to site the storied Holy Grail .
AfterTemple of Doomwas met with a tepid decisive response for its dark tone , mystical storyline , and outright racism , Steven Spielberg go back - to - basic for Indy ’s third adventure .
Unnecessary: The Godfather: Part III (1990)
An aging Michael Corleone ( Al Pacino ) , seeks to right his family ’s wrong in this second continuation to 1972’sThe Godfather . Though he wants to untangle his sleep with ones from the macrocosm of organised crime , the mob ’s higher - ups , mafioso strivers , and the amorous attention of his nephew , Vincent ( Andy Garcia ) towards his girl complicate affair .
The number of movies with a subsequence that best the original is minuscule , and the most famous model has to beThe Godfather : Part II , the first and only sequel besidesThe Lord of the Rings : The Return of the Kingto take home the Best Picture Oscar . Part IIIis one ofthe most maligned threequels of all sentence , not because it ’s painful , but because it fails to populate up to its predecessors .
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