Perhaps the hardest thing to accomplish in Hollywood is producing a story that will be told in three parts. Trilogies and franchises already have enough trouble to live up to the expectations set by the original movie, which is the one that started the whole thing. Having to live up to what first hooked the audience when making a sequel is hard enough, and it is even more so when you have to follow the original movie and its first sequel. Few live to tell it positively, and many trilogies are remembered for having a third part that was a complete disappointment.
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If the sequel is good or can’t make or break the expectations set for the third party, those same expectations can play a big role in how it’s received by the general public. If the first sequel was good, then there is great pressure on the creators of the trilogy to keep up with the previous films since making a top third is much more complex and rare to find. On the other hand, if the first sequel was bad, then there is even more pressure for the trilogy because it has to find a way to bring back fans who lost trust in the franchise thanks to its lackluster predecessor.
Either way, filmmakers who work behind the scenes on a third party tend to have a lot against it. Doing it well is not impossible, but in Hollywood it is more common to find trilogies that had a closure that disappointed people and frustrated critics. Even due to experience, many expect the third movie in a trilogy to be the worst because it is what they are most used to seeing. One of the most popular examples in recent years is that of the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi: the first was liked by the public, the second is considered by many as the best superhero adaptation and the third … well, nobody wants talk about it.
However, as most of us know, when a trilogy is bad, frankly it can be terrible. Terrible enough to destroy a franchise, in fact. Some movies on this list are that bad, and even if some of these movies aren’t, there are aspects of these movies that deeply disappointed die-hard fans of the original movie or the first two. Without further ado, here are the films that closed their trilogies in a disappointing way.
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Alien
Of Alien we can say that the first two films are absolute masterpieces, while the third is a huge difference, and that is even a generous way of saying it. Alien³ – 44% turned out to be David Fincher’s film, and it was clearly a rookie effort compared to everything he did afterward. To be fair, it’s more than likely that studio meddling is what marred his debut. Even so, Alien 3 is clearly a mediocre attempt to follow Alien – The Eighth Passenger – 97% y Aliens – 
98%, and it disappointed viewers due to the fact that it looks like a departure from the original film and the sequel. He’s so against what came before that he starts killing all the main characters except Ripley. The Assembly Cut was best received by fans.
Blade
Blade: Trinity – 26% was a challenge that killed the Blade franchise, and it’s easy to see why. Despite sharing the same R rating, Blade: Trinity it feels more like it’s aimed at a PG-13 audience. The additions of new faces like Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel give the film a feel for a product intended for a teenage audience. Plus, for a franchise that prides itself on being a spunky and somewhat realistic portrayal of vampires, the addition of Dracula feels out of place at all times. In fact, putting Dracula as the antagonist is one reason this movie feels so incoherent. What has no substance, it has a corny movie.
The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan’s arrival in the DC universe with The Dark Knight trilogy was a reinvention of the genre with a dark and realistic version of the vigilante from the comics. After How Amazing Batman: The Dark Knight Was – 94%, arguably the greatest superhero movie of all time, was always going to be a near impossible task, and to be fair to Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises – 87% is still a great movie, but because it set the bar so high with the sequel and expectations after the previous two movies, it felt like a small step back for the director.
Spider Man
Ironically, much of the criticism of Spider-Man 3 – 63% were referring to its cheesy character, which is consistent in previous films in the franchise. Spider Man – 89% and Spider-Man 2 – 93% were just as cheesy, but maybe the third movie got the issue out of hand so audiences can’t stand it. While the third installment is also action-packed, this one was criticized for its story, which was said to not match the quality of the above. She feels crammed with her three antagonists, none of whom match Alfred Molina’s surprisingly complex portrayal of Doctor Octopus. In general, it seems that Spider-Man 3 chose to grow in scale compared to the last entries, and ended up being too big; so big that it ended up falling apart in the end. Interestingly, it was a box office hit, but it didn’t make it happen. Sam Raimi can make a fourth movie.
The Godfather
Few films are as revered as the first two Godfather films and the second part is considered the best sequel in the history of cinema. Following her would never be an easy task, and The Godfather: Part III – 67% did not meet expectations. It was a moderate success but it did not achieve the same acclaim as its predecessors and there were criticisms pointing to poor editing and a complicated plot, but the main criticism was the performance of Sofia Coppola, especially since her on-screen romance with Andy Garcia was not. credible and lacked chemistry.
Iron Man 3
Tony Stark was the perfect modern hero to lead the Marvel Cinematic Universe through its first three phases, and it’s fair to say that he has become a movie legend thanks to his work on the Marvel Studios movies. Following a near-perfect origin story is a tall order and Marvel didn’t do a horrible job, but the later films were far more forgettable than the first. They explored Tony Stark’s state of mind incredibly well, and who can forget the end of Iron Man 3 – 79%, but sadly it did not live up to what their first movie had created. In addition, the reveal of The Mandarin is something that still takes many points every time fans talk about the films belonging to the franchise.
Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded Sequel – 73% didn’t have much to highlight, but in its own right it was an entertaining movie with a heavy dose of action, and the end of the trilogy could only start from there. However, Matrix: Revolutions – 36% chose to go downhill. Sadly, everything in Revolutions stalled towards the final showdown between Smith and Neo at the climax, and as entertaining as the fight scene was, it wasn’t satisfying enough to make the previous two hours seem like time well spent. . The trilogy deserved to end with a bang, but it didn’t.
Star Wars – The Aftermath
The illusion of many Star Wars fans returned when it was confirmed that JJ Abrams would direct the third installment of the sequel trilogy. This illusion was shattered when the film hit theaters and from that moment there were even people who decided to pretend that the last trilogy does not exist within their imaginary canon. The truth is that Abrams could not reconcile the parts that had been divided after the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi – 91% and, last but not least, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 61% was quickly ranked as one of the worst movies in the entire franchise.
Unbreakable
M. Night Shyamalan became one of the most promising directors in the late 1990s after his film The Sixth Sense – 85%. He then continued with his superhero movie El Protegido – 68%, starring Bruce Willis. Almost 20 years later, he followed up with his film Fragmented – 75%, this time focused on the character of James McAvoy, who struggles with a dissociative identity disorder. When Shyamalan tried to combine both worlds in Glass – 45%, it fell short of the previous two films and suffered from too many plot twists and a messy plot.
X-Men
After two hits, Bryan Singer left the franchise and Brett Ratner took over. When X-Men: The Final Battle – 58% arrived, it was nothing like its predecessors. The division created between humans and mutants (and even between themselves) that drove the first two films played a supporting role. The willingness to kill the main characters for the fun of it didn’t like fans and both Professor X and Jean Gray didn’t make it to the end of the movie, technically, but that doesn’t compare to the pathetic story arc in the movie. that Cyclops is trapped as a depressed boyfriend, before he is killed in the middle of the movie.
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