Creating a movie that will eventually become a classic and will be talked about for decades after it leaves the theaters does not happen by accident. It requires a great script, talented actors, a director with a vision, and a lot of dedication from all concerned.
Creating three great movies around the same characters and/or concepts is even harder, almost inconceivable – but, as it turns out, not impossible. (In fact, these are some movie sequels that were better than the original.)
To determine the 25 best movie trilogies of all time, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of July 2022, weighting all ratings equally. Values were averaged across all films within a trilogy using number of votes or reviews as weighting. Only film franchises with three installments were considered.
Click here to see the greatest movie trilogies of all time
Some of the installments of these trilogies have been criticized, albeit usually for minor issues such as the design of an animated character or the divergence of a storyline from the source material. (These are the 25 worst sequels of all time.)
Nonetheless, all the three-film groupings on this list have scored highly with both audiences and critics, and all are well worth watching.
25. Cloverfield trilogy (2008-2018)
> IMDb score: 6.9/10 (788,155 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 69% (490,047 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 71% (682 votes)
> Highest-rated film: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
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24. Kingsman trilogy (2014-2021)
> IMDb score: 7.2/10 (1,037,016 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79% (172,601 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 57% (749 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
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23. SpongeBob SquarePants trilogy (2004-2020)
> IMDb score: 6.6/10 (152,386 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 74% (298,024 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 72% (305 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)
22. Bill & Ted trilogy (1989-2020)
> IMDb score: 6.6/10 (238,059 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 68% (609,811 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 78% (367 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
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21. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life (1971-1974)
> IMDb score: 6.8/10 (26,551 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 73% (4,500 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 75% (35 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The Decameron (1971)
20. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007)
> IMDb score: 7.0/10 (1,824,842 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 66% (37,714,283 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 82% (780 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Spider-Man 2 (2004)
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19. Star Wars Sequel trilogy (2015-2019)
> IMDb score: 7.3/10 (1,877,100 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 68% (558,365 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 77% (1,432 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
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18. Whit Stillman’s Doomed Bourgeois in Love trilogy (1990-1998)
> IMDb score: 7.0/10 (29,450 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 76% (15,337 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 82% (136 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Metropolitan (1990)
17. The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014)
> IMDb score: 7.7/10 (1,896,743 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (963,758 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 65% (820 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
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16. Kung Fu Panda trilogy (2008-2016)
> IMDb score: 7.4/10 (848,661 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (831,111 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 85% (551 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Kung Fu Panda (2008)
15. John Ford’s cavalry trilogy (1948-1950)
> IMDb score: 7.3/10 (49,321 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 78% (25,586 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (60 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Fort Apache (1948)
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14. Terry Gilliam’s Trilogy of Americana (1991-1998)
> IMDb score: 7.8/10 (947,099 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (716,546 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 74% (203 votes)
> Highest-rated film: 12 Monkeys (1995)
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13. Planet of the Apes trilogy (2011-2017)
> IMDb score: 7.5/10 (1,170,620 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (711,307 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (946 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
12. Mr. Tibbs trilogy (1967-1971)
> IMDb score: 7.8/10 (76,169 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (25,964 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (65 votes)
> Highest-rated film: In the Heat of the Night (1967)
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11. Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990)
> IMDb score: 8.1/10 (2,036,728 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (2,541,066 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (189 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Back to the Future (1985)
10. Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy (1986-1993)
> IMDb score: 7.9/10 (510,860 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (299,416 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 86% (117 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Platoon (1986)
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9. The Orphic trilogy (1932-1960)
> IMDb score: 7.6/10 (22,337 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (6,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (57 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Orphée (1950)
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8. How to Train Your Dragon trilogy (2010-2019)
> IMDb score: 8.0/10 (1,125,724 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (558,274 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (671 votes)
> Highest-rated film: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
7. Three Colors trilogy (1993-1994)
> IMDb score: 7.9/10 (275,870 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (60,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (147 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Three Colors: Red (1994)
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6. Before trilogy (1995-2013)
> IMDb score: 8.1/10 (683,781 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (182,397 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (429 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Before Sunrise (1995)
5. The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012)
> IMDb score: 8.6/10 (5,358,681 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (4,160,289 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (1,005 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The Dark Knight (2008)
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4. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003)
> IMDb score: 8.8/10 (4,987,951 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (37,376,952 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (765 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
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3. Original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983)
> IMDb score: 8.5/10 (3,468,982 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (2,935,951 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (333 votes)
> Highest-rated film: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
2. The Apu trilogy (1955-1959)
> IMDb score: 8.3/10 (60,986 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (10,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (126 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The World of Apu (1959)
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1. The Godfather trilogy (1972-1990)
> IMDb score: 8.9/10 (3,263,523 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (1,407,746 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (310 votes)
> Highest-rated film: The Godfather (1972)
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