Avoiding the 3rd Movie Jinx

[Pauleysolo]

I was thinking about this today. I am looking forward to Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Hoping he avoids the "Third Movie Jinx" that has struck so many movie series. My question, why are the third films so hard to pull off?

In fact very, very few sequels really work. And a sequel's, sequel almost never works.

In my short list here are the series where all three films "worked" on a critcal level:

All three worked:

Lord of the Rings
Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 (They actually got better!)
Back to the future (barely)
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III

My list of movie series where the original and the sequel worked incredibly well, but the third film fell flat:

Star Wars, Empire, Return of the Jedi (disappointing)
Godfather , Godfather II, Godfather III (Awful)
Alien, Aliens, Alien III (weak)
Mad Max, Road Warrior, Mad Max Thunderdome (uneven at best)
Terminator, T2, T3 (oops)'
Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3 (fail)


And finally, the original worked but all sequels failed:

Jaws
The Matrix
Men in Black
Planet of the Apes (original film series- though i do kind of like Beneath and Conquest)
Ghostbusters
Airplane
The Mummy
Revenge of the Nerds
Caddyshack
Poltergeist
Karate Kid (original)
Porkys
Legally Blonde
The Sting
Speed
The Fly
Saturday Night Fever
Grease
Scream
Die Hard
The Exorcist
Jurassic Park
Robocop
Beverly Hills Cop

Your thoughts?

 

[Clutch]

I thought The Fly II was good. The Planet of the Apes series while not the best, did a good job to tie them all together.

 

[hankey01]

Spiderman 3. OUCH!

 

[Amish Trooper]

Porky's the next day was great it was the 3rd that sucked and I enjoyed all three Godfathers. The 2nd being my Favorite.

 

[Runner]

Jaws, The Fly and Jurassic Park sequels were all very good in my opinion.

I thought The Fly II was good. The Planet of the Apes series while not the best, did a good job to tie them all together.

 

[knightdriver2001]

To avoid the 3rd movie jinx, the first two would have had to been some what good.

I think Batman is safe.................:lol

 

[Wes R]

The problem with Airplane 2 was that it wasn't made by the original makers. I think if they'd agreed to do it the movie would have been alot better.
Knightdriver: i agree. THe only cool things about those were the new batsuit and new batmobile.

 

[MegaPrime33]

I liked Karate Kid 2. Anything after that was bad. You can also toss in the Ninja Turtles movies as well.

 

[Solochaser]

Rocky III did well. Mr. T was wicked cool. He had ridiculous lines like,"...Hey woman,...you want a real man?...." and...
Reporter: what is your prediction for the fight?
Mr. T: PAIN!"

 

[Solochaser]

I liked Karate Kid 2. Anything after that was bad. You can also toss in the Ninja Turtles movies as well.

Wait Part III had Daniel going against Karate's Bad Boy Iron Mike Barnes. I need your title!

 

[Alan Castillo]

I never for a moment consider The Godfather III a fail / awful. I think it really brings the trilogy to a fantastic wrap-up. And the acting is supreme imo.

As, imo, did The Matrix. Loved all 3 of them.

MIB II was good too.

The Mummy ? Sacrilege its on your list !! :lol

The Diehards weren't bad either I think.

 

[Pauleysolo]

Agreed- the first 3 Rocky films were pretty watchable...I'll add tot he good list

 

[DarkHelmet]

All three Indiana Jones' movies are good, even though TOD is the weakest out of the three. I love Last Crusade. It's neck and neck as my fav with Raiders.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Well... the most important thing is to get a story going that is worth something and isn't just a quick cop-out to get things done. Interesting characters and the consequences of actions and in-actions and something worth cheering for. To know where to prioritize the story and not get bogged down by wanting to show too much of the "cool" villains - having them steal the show. keep the mystery going as well as not force feeding the viewer with stupid explanations and gadgets that makes little sense, only devised for that one scene but otherwise seems like a stupid thing for the character to have.

I think they'll be all right.

 

[terryr]

Quite often they try to turn one movie into two, just for the bucks. Matrix 2 and 3 could have been one good movie. Instead 2 was full of junk and 3 was just leftovers.

Multiple villains that don't leave time for a real buildup. Superhero movies are bad for that.

Loss of focus. The movie is about the hero, not other things. Blade 3 focused on the vamp killer gang instead of Blade. I think a director wants to do a different movie, and just try to stuff it into the one they're doing.

Nothing to say. Death Wish 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Each exactly the same as the last.

Ham it up. For some reason they think comedy should be a big part of a serious concept. James Bond for example.

 

[darthgordon]

Not all sequels are terrible... and not all third movies are awful. A few sequels end up better than the first, while some fall very far from what came before.

It really depends. Sometimes, someone makes a great movie for a studio that makes a lot of money. The studio, in turn says they want to make another one and turn it into a franchise. In fact, many of the worst aspects of many movies (particularly sequels in a franchise) can be attributed to studio involvement. Producers really lack creativity and only make movies to make money. They go by market research and their own skewed ideas about what people want to see. They foul up scripts with a lot of notes based on these things… because they really are less concerned about turning out a great movie and more concerned with turning a profit. When they’re putting up their money, they obviously want a return on their investment… often times they want a big return.

Sometimes movies suffer from franchise fatigue… a sort of “We already did that! How do we top it?” kind of mentality. Or sometimes, “How do we keep this from becoming too much like what came before? Let’s change it completely so that these are barely the movies or characters we recognize.”

Because the producer of the current Batman movies has largely let Chris Nolan do what he wants, within budget, I think they are safe.

 

[micdavis]

I object to the Planet of the Apes films being included.

Those movies came out at breakneck speed and for continually decreasing budgets. Also with make-up requirements most movies could never handle.

A monumental job, well crafted, and all five very entertaining.

Probably the most consistent series of any.

 

[CTF]

JAWS 2 is the movie that JAWS was meant to be: a horror. But as luck with have it, the latter is a ****ing masterpiece, while the second is just a good piece of entertainment (the score surpasses the original, though).

 

[cpltony]

Two major reasons sequels and 3rd movies fail:

1. The studio realises they can make money just by using the name, not by making it good. This usually kills the franchise.

2. Fanboy directors want to get their shot at being part of the franchise and combined with #1 they get the funding.

Alien 3 was weak via its theatrical release...but the Directors Cut resurrects it.
Alien Resurection and AvP were cash cows and should not have been made, they really ruined put the franchise on a slope.
The prequels....we'll see but I'm confident!!

It all comes down to the studio's...they want to make money, not good movies.

 

[Wes R]

I object to the Planet of the Apes films being included.

Those movies came out at breakneck speed and for continually decreasing budgets. Also with make-up requirements most movies could never handle.

A monumental job, well crafted, and all five very entertaining.

Probably the most consistent series of any.

I agree with Mic on this one. I'm not fond of the last 2 movies but considering what they were given to work with I think they did very well. Better than the big budget stinker Burton made. I liked AvP and Alien resurrection was okay. Aliens 3 was just horrid. i agree that the studios like the mess things up compared to when hollywood started and the studios actually wanted to make good movies.