The Two Best Movie Trilogies Of All Time Have One Thing In Common

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Creating a truly great movie trilogy is incredibly challenging, and when a series manages to be excellent across all three films, it’s something special. When people discuss the best movie trilogies ever made, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and Back to the Future consistently stand out as three-film achievements of the highest quality.

It might not be obvious, but the Back to the Future movies and The Lord of the Rings trilogy actually have a lot in common structurally. While the connection seems strange, and is partly due to actor Elijah Wood appearing in both franchises, both series are built on a similar three-part framework, which is a key reason why they’re both so consistently well-received.

The Lord Of The Rings & Back To The Future Are Both Single Stories, Not Trilogies

J.R.R. Tolkien originally planned The Lord of the Rings as one massive story divided into six sections. It was published as three books—The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King—but it’s important to remember that Frodo’s journey is a complete, single narrative, from the beginning in the Shire to its conclusion at the Grey Havens.

As a huge fan, I’ve always felt Peter Jackson’s films really captured the epic feel of the source material. When I watch The Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back, it’s almost seamless – you barely notice where one film ends and the next begins, and that’s a huge part of why the trilogy works so well, both as books and as films. It doesn’t feel like a story that’s chopped into three parts; it’s more like one long, continuous story. It’s not like Frodo destroys the Ring at the end of the first movie and then the second one just starts with a new problem – it all flows together beautifully, like a complete symphony.

Like The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future didn’t start with plans for a trilogy. While The Lord of the Rings was always intended as a three-part story, Back to the Future became a huge success in 1985, which then led to the creation of Back to the Future Part II.

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale cleverly connected the sequel to the first film. Instead of simply creating a new time-travel adventure, they set the sequel at the same time as the original, allowing the audience to see a different side of the events that happened during the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.

Because of this, the film strongly resembles Back to the Future Part II – it feels like a direct continuation of that story, rather than simply being called Back to the Future 2. The third movie would take the action to the Wild West, but it’s worth remembering that both Back to the Future sequels were filmed one right after the other. This creates a strong sense of connection, not necessarily in how they look, but in how the stories of Marty McFly and Doc Brown continue, ultimately working to prevent the car crash that sets everything in motion.

Are “Single Story” Trilogies The Route To Success?

As a total movie buff, I’ve noticed something interesting when looking back at film history: trilogies that feel like one long story, broken up into three parts, almost always work better than those where each movie is its own self-contained adventure. There’s just something more satisfying about a continuing narrative, I think.

Most superhero films tend to stumble after a couple of installments, and even the most popular franchises like Marvel and DC often struggle to make a third movie as good as the first two. For example, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man, and X-Men all disappointed with their third films, as it’s hard to keep the simple “hero defeats villain” storyline fresh and exciting repeatedly. This pattern isn’t limited to superhero movies either – franchises like Terminator, Alien, Blade, and The Mummy have also faced similar challenges with their third releases.

Compared to that, the original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) remains a classic, and the series started receiving negative feedback when later films moved away from that core storyline. Similarly, the first three Bourne movies – often considered the best action trilogy ever made – tell a complete story of David Webb regaining his memory and discovering his past. This consistent storyline was key to the Bourne series’ success over three films.

While this idea often holds true, it’s not a guaranteed rule. For example, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions were filmed back-to-back like Back to the Future, but they weren’t as good as the first Matrix film. On the other hand, the Toy Story movies each tell their own story. Even without a connected plot, Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 are all excellent films.

For a movie trilogy to truly last, it should be built like The Lord of the Rings or Back to the Future – as one continuous story broken into three seamlessly connected parts. Ignoring any exceptions, this approach gives a trilogy the best chance of becoming a classic.

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2026-02-07 00:20