9 Most Consistent Movie Trilogies, Ranked
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated.
Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point.
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It's one thing for a movie trilogy to be great. Who could possibly deny that Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy, for instance—containing two of the most universally acclaimed movies in history—is one of the greatest trilogies of all time? It's a whole other thing, however, for a trilogy to be truly consistent. We're talking about movie trilogies that don't see any noteworthy dips in quality at any point, whose three installments are all, at the very least, great.
People looking for an exceptional new movie trilogy to watch but who'd rather not get into one that has at least one less-than-remarkable installment, these incredibly consistent series are proof that it's perfectly possible to make a trilogy and never miss a beat. From arthouse classics like the Three Colours trilogy to blockbuster franchises like the Planet of the Apes reboot series, we're exclusively talking about films that are absolutely exceptional from start to finish.
9 The Three Colours Trilogy
Krzysztof Kieślowski was arguably the greatest Polish filmmaker to have ever lived, a brilliant auteur behind some of the greatest European arthouse movies of the 20th century. Case in point: his Three Colours trilogy, a series of psychological dramas each focusing on one of the French Revolutionary ideas. Blue is about liberty, White is about equality, and Red is about fraternity.
Thematically, narratively, and stylistically, the Three Colours series is one of the most perfectly-structured movie trilogies in history. Though Red is almost universally agreed to be the best of the bunch and White is typically deemed to be the weakest, the difference isn't dramatic whatsoever.Kieślowski's perfectly unified creative vision makes for three of the most artistically gorgeous films of the '90s.
8 The Star Wars Original Trilogy
By this point, seeing as it's arguably the single biggest multimedia franchise in history, Star Wars needs pretty much no introduction. Back in 1977, however, expectations were quite low for A New Hope, which would end up taking the world by storm by becoming the highest-grossing film ever. Though neither The Empire Strikes Back nor Return of the Jedi were quite as successful, history has been nothing but kind to this trilogy, which is widely remembered as one of the most beloved in Hollywood history.
All three of the original Star Wars trilogy movies are masterpieces, and though The Empire Strikes Back may be the closest to true flawlessness of the three, they're all among the greatest science fantasy movies the big screen has ever seen. Despite all three films having been directed by different people, the artistic and creative consistency between each installment is remarkable, and the overarching Hero's Journey story of the defeat of the Galactic Empire is one of cinema's most iconic.
7 The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy
It was his sophomore feature effort, Shaun of the Dead, that put him on the map as one of the most exciting comedy filmmakers of his generation. He followed that up with Hot Fuzz, and during that movie's press tour, a journalist pointed out that a Cornetto ice cream cone had appeared in both movies, and asked if Wright was planning to make a trilogy. The joke stuck, and by the time he made The World's End, Wright made sure to include a Cornetto cone to cap off the self-parodying trilogy.
The three films don't share many similarities beyond their cast, crew, and Wright's creative style, but what they do share in common is that they're all among the most fun movies of the 21st century so far. Shaun of the Dead is one of the funniest and most subversive horror movies of the last few decades, Hot Fuzz is a police procedural unlike any other the world has ever seen, and The World's End is one of the most idiosyncratic alien invasion movies in history.
6 The Evil Dead Trilogy
When principal photography for The Evil Dead began back in 1979, Sam Raimi was only 20 years old. The film became an instant cult classic that even the critics lauded, making expectations for any sequels pretty much sky-high. With Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, Raimi not only further cemented himself as one of the most special horror auteurs of his generation, but he also proved that his trilogy was in no way a one-hit wonder.
We are, after all, talking about three of the most fun horror movies of all time, absolute masterpieces that prove how much artistry there can be in low-budget gore and subversive scares. In terms of genre, tone, and continuity, this is actually one of the most inconsistent movie trilogies out there—but that's precisely where the consistency of its quality comes from. From start to finish, Raimi and his team created three of the most creative horror films the world had (or has) ever seen.
5 The Planet of the Apes Reboot Trilogy
Back in 1968, studio executives were somewhat skeptical of the level of success Planet of the Apes would be able to have. Thankfully, the film was a major critical and commercial hit immediately upon release; however, the franchise that followed it never quite achieved the same level of success. And while Tim Burton's attempt at a reboot was an absolute disaster, Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was able to replicate the success that the original had had a whopping 43 years prior.
Followed by the riveting Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the even-better War for the Planet of the Apes (both directed by Matt Reeves), the epic tale of Caesar (played by Andy Serkis at the top of his motion-capture game) and his ape brethren remained one of those rare trilogies that only keep getting better as they go on. Indeed, it's one of those precious movie trilogies that peak with their final chapter.
4 The Dollars Trilogy
Even after the conclusion of Hollywood's Golden Age, the Western genre was still all the rage around the 1960s, but had become somewhat creatively stagnant. As such, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars came as a breath of fresh air in 1964, introducing the world to Spaghetti Westerns and breathing new life into the Western genre. The rest is nothing but history.
Born as a low-budget and low-key Italian production, the film was praised as one of the most fun Westerns of all time, as were both its iconic sequels: For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This trilogy was mostly the product of marketing, since Leone actually intended for these three stories to be standalones; but watching and re-watching them together has become one of Western fans' favorite cinephilic activities. From the acting to the scope to the playful deconstruction of Western tropes, it's easily the most consistent Western film series in history.
3 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Before the turn of the 21st century, no one would have blamed any fan of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for assuming that the Professor's Legendarium was simply impossible to craft a film adaptation worthy of its tremendous legacy. It would take a filmmaker of the stature of Peter Jackson to prove them wrong. The director assembled one of the most talented teams ever to have worked on a movie trilogy and crafted the most universally acclaimed fantasy film franchise in history.
From The Fellowship of the Ring to The Two Towers to The Return of the King (the latter arguably the greatest fantasy movie in history), the trilogy garnered a jaw-dropping total of 475 major film awards—including the 17 Oscars that make it the most Oscar-winning film franchise of all time. It really is an absolutely legendary franchise with some of the most interesting characters, the strongest production values, and the most epic battle scenes in movie history.
Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz
Which Lord of the Rings
Character Are You?
One Quiz · Ten Questions · Your Fate Revealed
The road goes ever on. From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly — the One Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide.
💍Frodo
🌿Samwise
👑Aragorn
🔥Gandalf
🏹Legolas
⚒️Gimli
👁️Sauron
🪨Gollum
01
You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do? The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders.
02
Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You: True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis.
03
Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is: Power corrupts — but only those who reach for it.
04
What does "home" mean to you? Where we long to return reveals who we truly are.
05
When a battle is upon you, your approach is: War reveals what we are made of — whether we like it or not.
06
Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You: Wisdom is not knowing all the answers — it's knowing which questions to ask.
07
How do you see yourself, honestly? Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind.
08
Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world? Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen.
09
You encounter a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You: How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character.
10
When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you? In the end, we are all just stories.
The Fellowship Has Spoken Your Place in Middle-earth
The scores below reveal your true character. Your highest number is your match. Even a tie tells a story — the Fellowship was never made of simple people.
💍 Frodo
🌿 Samwise
👑 Aragorn
🔥 Gandalf
🏹 Legolas
⚒️ Gimli
👁️ Sauron
🪨 Gollum
You carry something heavy — and you carry it alone, even when you don't have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind; it is quiet, stubborn, and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is.
You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated — but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait; it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you'd do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one.
You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when no one is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts. Because it was always waiting for you.
You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know — which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst: you do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible. A wizard is never late.
Graceful, perceptive, and almost preternaturally calm under pressure — you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable; your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them.
You are loud, proud, and absolutely formidable — and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You don't do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control — not because you are cruel by nature, but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you're not entirely wrong — just entirely too far gone to course-correct.
You are a study in contradiction — pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough, and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes — but also a mirror. We are all a little Gollum, given the right ring and enough time.
2 The Before Trilogy
Inspired by a real-life chance encounter that writer-director Richard Linklater had with a woman in Philadelphia in 1989, the Before trilogy was never actually meant to be a trilogy from the start. Before Sunrise was born organically and become one of the most beloved indie romance dramas the world had ever seen. Nine years later, Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy felt they still had a story to tell, and along came Before Sunset, nowadays often recognized as the best of the trilogy. And nine years after that, the story came to a natural conclusion with Before Midnight.
Far and away one of the best movie trilogies released since 1990, this is perhaps the greatest film series ever made about concepts like romance, love, marriage, and growing old with someone. This is one of the gold standards of trilogy consistency, with each new installment adding something vital to the conversation while still feeling both perfectly in tune with the other films and yet delectably unique as well.
1 The Human Condition Trilogy
When it comes to stylistic, tonal, and quality consistency in regard to movie trilogies, it doesn't get any better than Masaki Kobayashi's Human Condition trilogy, one of the best epic movie trilogies of all time. These war dramas are based on the book of the same name by Junpei Gomikawa, a partly autobiographical six-part novel. Composed of No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, and A Soldier's Prayer, it's the highest-rated film trilogy of all time on Letterboxd, and for good reason.
This 10-hour epic is one of the most towering achievements in the history of the Seventh Art, a meditation on how art erodes individuality and morality that's creatively and narratively seamless in every way imaginable. It's a trilogy so consistent that it's perhaps best watched in a single sitting, but even those who don't have 10 hours straight to spare over the weekend should nevertheless find it to be one of the greatest film trilogies they have ever seen or will ever see.
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
- Release Date
- December 14, 1959
- Runtime
- 208 Minutes
- Director
- Masaki Kobayashi
- Writers
- Zenzô Matsuyama, Masaki Kobayashi, Jumpei Gomikawa
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