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Author Topic: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies  (Read 4540 times)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #30 on: August 28, 2017, 08:24:19 AM »
The thing about the Rocky series is that it has more than just three movies. The Back movies are only three, so that fits neatly into the trilogy definition. To extract a trilogy from the rocky films though, you have to pick three of them and give justification to why they should be bundled together at the exclusion of the others. Belonging to an inter-movie arc would be one way to justify it (ex: the Daniel Craig James Bond Tetralogy) but that's not a one size fits all rule and was specifically about SW. If they were directed by the same guy and not the others you could call it the Director McDirectorface Rocky Trilogy (ex: the Sam Mendes James Bond Duology). Otherwise they are all just individual entries in an exalogy or whatever the actual number is.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2017, 08:26:07 AM by DarkeningHumour »
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MartinTeller

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #31 on: August 28, 2017, 08:48:06 AM »
How do you justify including the "Man With No Name Trilogy" (an MGM marketing ploy) on your list?

1SO

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #32 on: August 28, 2017, 08:50:28 AM »
Great post DH. I consider myself the fertilizer that fed your beautiful argument.

And I get and agree with what you're saying in general, but when you get into specifics, there are moments in these movies that stick pins in your argument. For example, the first 3 Rocky movies do have connections across the trilogy, in relation to Apollo Creed and the contrast of his rise to fame (and fall) with Rocky. The relationship between Apollo and Rocky is a story told across the three films, as is the relationship Rocky has with his beloved city of Philadelphia. All of this is processed into franchise and a forced continuation in future chapters, much like there is no need for a Toy Story 4 because TS3 ends the Trilogy perfectly. So the mere presence of TS4 does not exclude Toy Story from consideration.

You seem to favor a trilogy having a single guiding vision or cast member, yet I would say the first 3 Harry Potter films form a more cohesive because they are the first three in the series, and naturally connected. I could also argue that David Yates has a Harry Potter trilogy in Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows 1 and DH2. Three film from the same creative team and same director that tell a cohesive story. (Did I mention my pins are tiny?)

Let's try this, considering Blockbusters didn't come around until Star Wars and Jaws, can you provide a definitive list of Blockbuster Trilogies that inarguably qualify for this Top 5? I have to think there can't be more than two dozen, and that's estimating high.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #33 on: August 28, 2017, 09:55:15 AM »
How do you justify separating Order of the Phoenix from the other Yates movies? Why not be content with the David Yates Harry Potter Tetralogy Box Set?

I yield to your superior knowledge of the Rocky franchise. I also agree that there is no narrative imperative for the existence of an additional Toy Story movie and I would rather they leave the series be, not to mention how much of its time Pixar is dedicating to sequels nowadays.

I went back to 1980 in BoxOffice Mojo to look at the highest grossing movies that were part of trilogies and here are the series I would consider, in chronological order:

Star Wars (3 trilogies)
Indiana Jones (of which only three movies were ever made)
Rocky I-III (as per your case)
The Mel Gibson Mad Max Trilogy
Back to the Future
The Godfather Trilogy (did not know they had made that much money)
The Original Robocop Trilogy
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Original Trilogy
The Dumb and Dumber Trilogy (I never said these had to be good)
Toy Story
The Matrix
Men in Black
Austin Powers
The Mummy Brendan Fraser Trilogy
The Original X-Men Trilogy
Lord of the Rings
Ocean's Trilogy
Bridget Jones Trilogy
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy
The Original Matt Damon Bourne Movies
Blade
Stuart Little
Gore Verbinsky's Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
The Dark Knight
Rebooted Timeline X-Men Trilogy
The Santa Clause
Rush Hour
Kung-Fu Panda
The Apes Trilogy
The Wolverine Trilogy (I think these work as standalones but I am not going to spend any amount of time trying to remember the first two.)
Night at the Museum
Cars Trilogy
Despicable Me
Taken

You can disagree about where to draw the line for blockbusters. Adding more series would require me possessing the kind of knowledge 1SO has of Rocky about all the other series. Also, these are the domestic grosses, I may be ignoring some Gozdilla trilogy that was massively popular in Japan or something.

Other things that occurred to me:

Only the first Aladdin is widely known, but there is technically a trilogy of those.

How do you justify including the "Man With No Name Trilogy" (an MGM marketing ploy) on your list?

Totally forgot about replying to this. I just checked their box office returns and I honestly thought they had had more mass appeal than that. I will have to amend the list and translate the trilogy into the auteur trilogy list.
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oldkid

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #34 on: August 28, 2017, 01:00:25 PM »
I'm not sure that Aladdin would count, since the sequels weren't theatrically released, and because Robin Williams, one of the major creative factors in the first and third Aladdins, wasn't on the second one.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #35 on: August 28, 2017, 01:13:09 PM »
What about all the other Disney trilogies? I know there are two more Lion King movies, and I think The Little Mermaid has two sequels too.
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oldkid

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #36 on: August 28, 2017, 01:37:14 PM »
I really think that theatrical release is a standard if you call a film "blockbuster".  Direct to DVD (or video) seems to be the opposite of "blockbuster".

Also, is Lion King 1 1/2 really the third in a trilogy?  It's a horrible reboot of the first film.

At least High School Musical has two television films and a theatrical release.  They were very popular.  Although it's the third one that got released in theatres.  Weird.
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1SO

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #37 on: August 28, 2017, 01:56:38 PM »
I went back to 1980 in BoxOffice Mojo to look at the highest grossing movies that were part of trilogies and here are the series I would consider, in chronological order:

Going strictly by your list, here is my ranked list.
1. Toy Story
2. Star Wars Original Trilogy
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Indiana Jones
5. The Godfather Trilogy
6. Gore Verbinsky's Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
7. Rocky I-III (as per your case)
8. The Apes Trilogy
9. The Original X-Men Trilogy
10. The Dark Knight
11. The Original Matt Damon Bourne Movies
12. Rebooted Timeline X-Men Trilogy
13. Blade
14. Back to the Future
15. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy


DarkeningHumour

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #38 on: September 06, 2017, 12:08:38 PM »
Revised Top 15:

Star Wars Original Trilogy
Lord of the Rings
The Dark Knight
The Godfather

The Apes Trilogy

Toy Story
The Matrix
The Cornetto Trilogy
Original X-Men Trilogy
Gore Verbinsky's Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy

Kung-Fu Panda
Ocean's Three
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy
Blade

X-Men Prequel Trilogy


I wanted to make a better job sorting them out but it is too hard.
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 5 Blockbuster Trilogies
« Reply #39 on: May 04, 2021, 03:56:17 PM »
Is there a thread for blockbuster films, full stop, as opposed to trilogies? If not, I’m going to make one. Interested to know which ones you feel are the cream of the crop.

On this:
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Star Wars IV-VI
3. Planet of the Apes (Love Rise & Dawn; not big on War)

Hard after those...

4. Star Wars VII-IX (I like these better than most people I know, but they’re not great on the whole.)
5. Bourne/Damon (Not sure how they hold up)
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