Next Batman Film Could be Historic

[phantom stranger]

Well, at least for comic book historians that is. 

You see, no comic book franchise has ever ever made it past two "good" films:

Batman and Batman Returns

Superman and Superman II

Spider-Man 1 & 2

X-Men and X2


All four franchizes fizzled out upon their third installments.

(And then of course we have the franchises which never took off the ground to begin with, some of which were rebooted immediately.)

Of course this isn't endemic to only comic book films. Even Nolan has mentioned that there really aren't any good "third" films.

So if another one does happen anytime soon, here's hoping it will break the curse.

[johnnygobbs]

Well, at least for comic book historians that is. 

You see, no comic book franchise has ever ever made it past two "good" films:

Batman and Batman Returns

Superman and Superman II

Spider-Man 1 & 2

X-Men and X2


All four franchizes fizzled out upon their third installments.

(And then of course we have the franchises which never took off the ground to begin with, some of which were rebooted immediately.)

Of course this isn't endemic to only comic book films. Even Nolan has mentioned that there really aren't any good "third" films.

So if another one does happen anytime soon, here's hoping it will break the curse.

True...although I think none of the aforementioned films' various threequels were bad (I even rather like X-Men 3 which I thought contained better action than its predecessors) these franchises did seem to take a turn for the worst by their respective third films.  What worries me, and I've heard something along these lines in a Nolan interview, is that Nolan et al may be put off by the 'curse of the threequel' and decide to stop at two films.  See one of the previous threads for rumours that Nolan may not do a third film.

[DarkVengeance]

To be honest when it comes down to it, I cant think of many good third films at all.

[zDBZ]

Return of the Jedi. Good third film right there. And I'm not always supported in this one, but I thought Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End was the best of the three.

I wouldn't put it past Nolan to deliver a good third film to match The Dark Knight. If they end up with a different director, I wouldn't put it past someone like Alfonso Cuaron or Michael Mann to deliver a good third act. It just depends on the filmmakers and the attitude of the studio; more often than not, it's the latter of those that kills a series.

[DarkVengeance]

I always thought that Return of the Jedi was the best third film ever made.

[johnnygobbs]

I always thought that Return of the Jedi was the best third film ever made.

I love Return of the Jedi, even those damned Ewoks.     It's a sorely underrated Star Wars film, and the final battle is one of the best edited and choreographed action sequences I've seen.

I'd also add Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to any list of great sequels (it's my personal favourite of the Indy series), and maybe, Back to the Future Part 3.

I haven't seen Pirates of the Caribbean:  At World's End yet, but if it's anything near as good as the second (underrated) sequel, I expect to enjoy it immensely.

Still, none of these are comic book movies...

[DarkVengeance]

The Back to the Future series is one of my fav's but three falls very short for me, I just dont get the same vibe that I do the other two films. As for the Indiana Jones series I completly forgot about that, for me that whole series is pretty solid, well lol except for the fourth film, though I still enjoyed it for what it was.

[The Joker]

Off the top of my head, Return of the Jedi and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors have to be my favourite third entries.

But I agree that we definately seem to have more lackluster third films, than good.

[Batmoney]

Despite it's flaws and how easy it is to criticize (neon lights, too many one-liners etc), I personally consider Forever to be a "good" (not great, not special etc.) third installment. It made decent coin at the box office, had a solid cast, and genuinely entertained me.

In the sense that there aren't many good third films, aside from the obvious such as Star Wars, Indiana etc. You could say that Forever is at the top of the bottom. Since the bottom (crappy) makes up like 95% of third movie titles, I would have to consider Forever to be a "good" third installment, in my opinion that is.

[The Dark Knight]

The Bourne Ultimatum was a solid film. But all of the three were.