I prefer the Oceans trilogy above the Pirates and especially above the Mission Impossible trilogy myself. Other than that I like the list.
Could I allso nominate Hellraiser and The Prophecy? I know there where more of them but to me they never went further than a trilogy and I'll allways deny the existence of anything after the third ones.

The Godfather Trilogy, even with the failings (minor, if you ask me) of the third entry, should be number one. No question, as far as I am concerned. That said, Jackson's acheivement with The Lord of the Rings is downright astonishing. It really is incredible.

My big problems with this list really end up being about the films you haven't seen, which really is more my issue than yours (a person can't see it all, after all). It still bothers me that the Three Colors trilogy isn't here. It's a magnificent collection. Even worse for me is the absence of The Apu Trilogy by the great Satyajit Ray. Fassbinder's The BRD Trilogy is also worthy, as would be the John Wayne/John Ford Calvary Trilogy of Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and the magnificent Rio Grande.

Other notables that could have been included:

• The Decline of Western Civilization Trilogy by Penelope Spheeris, absolutely essential rock documentary viewing
• Fritz Lang's monumental Doctor Mabuse Trilogy
• Deepa Mehta's sensational The Elements Trilogy
• Sam Raimi's highly influential The Evil Dead Trilogy
• Wes Cravens' fantastically entertaining (yes, even the third one) Scream Trilogy
• Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy (which Criterion have released in an amazing three picture set)
• The, "I'm almost ashamed to admit it's grown on me over the years as much as it has" Naked Gun Trilogy

Obviously you can't choose all of these, not for a top ten, but to my mind any of them would be far more worthy of inclusion than The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean or Mission: Impossible trilogies. Heck, even Spider-man and The X-Men deserve some love if you're including those (and both of their Part Three were pretty much inexcusably awful).

For me, though, the trilogy that hurts the most by not being here is The Mad Max Trilogy. I adore those films, especially the second one, and I think it is probably one of the very best action films ever made. George Miller's often imitated, never duplicated serious of post-apocalyptic adventures is as timeless as it is essential, and every time I watch it I am reminded why I became a film critic.

With that in mind, if I were to do this list, it would be as follows:

• The Godfather Trilogy
• The Apu Trilogy
• The Dollars Trilogy
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• The Jason Bourne Trilogy
• The Star Wars Trilogy
• The Mad Max Trilogy
• The Doctor Mabuse Trilogy
• The Back to the Future Trilogy

But, then, that's just me. :)

You know, I have only seen the first film in both of those franchises. The Prophecy was a disappointment for me, but I really dug Hellraiser. As for what is and isn't a trilogy, that is up to you, but if they start getting into direct-to-DVD realm it certainly is at your discretion.

SaraMichelle said: Obviously you can't choose all of these, not for a top ten, but to my mind any of them would be far more worthy of inclusion than The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean or Mission: Impossible trilogies. Heck, even Spider-man and The X-Men deserve some love if you're including those (and both of their Part Three were pretty much inexcusably awful).

Spider-Man? Yikes. X-Men? I like the second one, was never too much in love with the first and the third was just… it was just there. I knew Matrix, Pirates and Mission were the ones most people would have a problem with, but I had to remain honest to my opinion. :)

1) The Godfather
2) Bourne (I almost chose it first…Godfather III is a big DUD,and all the Bournes are all consistently good)
3) Star Wars
4) LOTR
5) Mad Max
6) Back to the Future
7) Die Hard
8) Indiana Jones
9) The Matrix
10) Evil Dead

There.

Pitty, that we can't vote for our favorite trilogies!
My best 11 are:
1. the Godfather,
2. Three Colors,
3. StarWars,
4. Dollar trilogy,
5. Pusher,
6. Matrix,
7. Infernal Affairs,
8. Terminator,
9. Bourne,
10. Mad Max,
11. Indiana Jones.
sorry, but there is no place for stupid Mission Impossible, Back to the Future, LoTR, Oceans or Pirates trilogies- it's time to grow up :)

Pitty, that we can't vote for our favorite trilogies!
My best 11 are:
1. the Godfather,
2. Three Colors,
3. StarWars,
4. Dollar trilogy,
5. Pusher,
6. Matrix,
7. Infernal Affairs,
8. Terminator,
9. Bourne,
10. Mad Max,
11. Indiana Jones.
sorry, but there is no place for stupid Mission Impossible, Back to the Future, LoTR, Oceans or Pirates trilogies- it's time to grow up :)

Next, I'm not a fan of Tolkien or LOTR trilogy (is the ONE book I read in HS under penalty of detention by the nuns-I thought the dude was crazy after reading 10 pages), but credit must be given where it is due. The movies are well made and the last one is truly entertaining. Besides, Legolas makes it all worth it. As far as back to the future, to me it was a sentimental choice because the first ones is EVER so good. Now, Mission Impossible is on its own. It was my mother's favorite TV show, and had she been alive, she would have been outraged by the choice of Tom Cruise for her beloved Ethan Hawke.

next said: sorry, but there is no place for stupid Mission Impossible, Back to the Future, LoTR, Oceans or Pirates trilogies- it's time to grow up :)

I refuse to grow up. If I ever stop liking some movies because they are mindless and fun I will stop running this site.

As much as I thought I was a movie fanatic, wow – these lists consist of some movies I've never seen, let alone heard of.

Well, I do love movies, so I'll throw in my kernals :popcorn:…
1. Lord Of The Rings (by far the best casting, vision, and effects)
2. Star Wars (the original, of course)
3. The Godfather
4. Bourne
5. Matrix
6. Terminator (I can't not rank this one, T1 and T2 are among my all time favorite movies)
7. Ocean (just watching the cast is exciting)
8. Pirates (Curse of the Black Pearl is so entertaining, it's the only reason I added it to my list)
9. Mad Max (Road Warrior rules the road)
10. Blade (There I go, showing my genre faves… I can't help it, vampires and Snipes – what a combo)

Well, not quite all "Oscar winners" but definitely entertaining for me [even some guilty pleasures].

:)Thanks bradbrevet for the spark.

Blade was on my list, but I am not a huge fan of the third one and I don't like the first one as much as most people do. I did, however, love the second one. Also, the Mad Max films just don't interest me. I didn't like Road Warrior and never even bothered with the other two. I know I am in the minority there, but gotta be honest right. :)

Wow… POTC sequals all sucked… Bourne above the Godfather and Star Wars? Nice way to spark discussion, but that's ludicrous! I love the omission of the Mexico Trilogy in favour of the Matrix, which was another in which the original was the only good one. For my top 3 I'd have to go:
1. Godfather
2. Star Wars
3. LOTR

lord of the rings….matrix :popcorn:

1. LORD OF THE RINGS
2. GODFATHER
3. MATRIX
4. PIRATES (I dont care what people say, I loved all of them, massive dumb fun)
5. MEXICO (Desperado, El Mariachi, Once Upon….in Mexico)
6. INDY
7. BOURNE
8. TERMINATOR
9. DOLLAR
10. ORGINAL STAR WARS

Godfather has to be number one. Why is Bourne above Star Wars, Dollars, and Godfather? Where is Indiana Jones? And I don't need to mention Mission Impossible for christ's sake…

@Beau: Calm down Beau, take a breath, this is my list and apparently you have a different one. I can respect that. What would be your top ten?

I love you so much for putting LotR at #1 (seriously, pure love), but I can't understand putting Towers before the others, and the Best Picture winner last. Of course, it's your opinion, so debating won't really get anywhere. The most I can do is state my own opinion. I know AFI has Fellowship on their official list, and not Return, but I'd personally put Rotk first, FotR second, and TTT last. Fellowship is a great start, but the epic grandeur and HUGE climax (aka Tolkien's eucatastrophe) of the story and the multiple narrative threads being wrapped up in RotK really do it for me.
Return of the King changed movie-viewing for me forever. (Probably just 'cause it was so long). I can't watch a movie nowadays without mentally noticing all the little technical details like foley and stuff. For that reason, I put it as the best movie I've ever seen. It's definitely the most influential as far as moviemaking goes. Star Wars, et al may be more formative and visceral, but nothing comes close to knowing I've just experienced history walking out of a theater.
BTW, if the original 3 Indiana Jones movies counted, they'd definitely make the list, probably around the middle.
Speaking of Peter Jackson: anybody else jumping out of their skin for Temeraire?

This list is pretty close to my own.

LOTR is the best trilogy ever made. All movies are great and what is very important for trilogies and franchises, sequels didn't lose quality in any aspect, actually they were even better. I can't say the same for Godfather or Matrix or any other trilogy on this list — except for Bourne, maybe.

@RaTTleR_NL:

what do you call it when there are 4 or more movies, is it a series? I still call it a trilogy even if there are 6 or 7 movies to the series, I don't care if tri means three.

1. The Lord of the Rings (By far the best- I have so much good to say about this
Trilogy, its better that I don't say anything, you don't
have the time, trust me)

2. Jurassic Park (no movie has ever blown me away like the 1st JP did when I was a
kid, not even any of the LOTR's movies, but together the LOTR's
trilogy blew JP series out the ballpark)
I didnt like the next 2 JP's nearly as much as the first, but
all 3 are on my top 30 list

3. Star Wars (I agree with most-Original 3 were far better than the new 3
but I still like the new 3 as well)

4. Tremors (The first Tremors is on my all time top 10 list, thats why I gave this
series such a great rating)

5. Rush Hour (Chris Rock is hilarious and Cowboy Chan is one of my favorite actors)

6. Rocky (I did not dislike the last one as much as everyone else, but I think they
could've done a little better job, the first 5 or so were great)

7. Bourne's (I have a nickname for movies like this one, "Business suit movies", great
series)

8. Xmen (I loved the XMEN series, I think they got better, I think some people
would agree that many trilogies get worse as they go, but this was
a great trilogy, I still fill like bumping it up a couple of spots)

9. Indiana Jones (I was crazy about the step of faith, ghosts coming out of the Ark,
escaping from Nazi castle, mine cart ride in the mine, and the
atom bomb test site scenes in the Jones Movies)

10. The Mummy (I was not very happy about the last one, it wasnt terrible, the
first one was great)

11. Pirates of the Carribean (I didnt really care for the creatures in these movies, still
to this day I don't know why)

12. Batman (I haven't actually seen all of them, but Batman Begins was by far my
favorite, and I know I'm going to get a lot of grief for this, but I
didnt really care for The Dark Knight, probably because it was the
same exact thing in this movie as the last 50 batman movies;
crime in Gotham, I think there should be more to
batman than just fighting crime in Gotham City, he
needs to get out of Gotham city like in Batman
Begins, that was an awesome movie, If he
didnt get out of town in BBegins, then I
would've said the same thing about
that movie)

13. Back to the future (I don't know why I'm ranking Mike and Chris so low I really
enjoyed all BTTF's, especially since Mike and his condition
and Christopher losing his home to the fires. I liked the
2nd one because the CUBS win the world series.
GO CUBBIES!!! (I think it was the 2nd one) )

14. Fast and Furious (Compared to supercars, these lawn-mower sounding cereal
box cars are nothing. They were worth watching, make an
F & F movie with supercars and you'll really make some
money of movie fans, Redline was better than all 3
To Fast To Furious movies.

14. Bonds (I like the Bonds movies when Pierce Brosnan came aboard)

15. Aliens (Alien movies with great acting, plot, story line, and a budget to work
with make great movies)

16. Terminators (If the director and writers etc etc can come up with something
more than just cars, motorcycles, and heavy equipment chases
then this would easily make it into the top 5 trilogies, the best
part of this series was the last 40 mins or so of part 3)

Mission Impossible (I don't really have anything bad to say about MI, but I wasn't crazy
about this series neither)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (uhhh, yes I liked these movies, not the new cartoon
one, that pissed me off, why wasnt it real? and no I
didnt watch it because it disgraced the real series,
same thing with Clone Wars, what a bunch of
crap, that pissed me off too!! Stop with
the fake cartoon crap, PLEASE! OH! and
Dark Fury of The Chronicles of Riddick,
What the CRAP???!!!

Spiderman (I'm sorry, the spidermans still haven't impressed me yet, but they are
still worth renting)

Oceans (I havent watched 11 or 12 all the way yet, and I just rented 13 tonight)

Karate Kid (these were the bomb when I was a kid, I still try to crane someone
when ocassion calls for it, HIYA!!)

There were many other Trilogies but these are what made my cut, I've never really cared for the Star Trek Series but It was proably next to make the cut

1. Lord of the Rings
2. Star Wars (originals only. can't stand the prequels)
3. Back to the Future
4. Bourne
5. Dollars
6. Oceans
7. Calvary
8. Mummy
9. Pirates of the Caribbean
10. Mission Impossible

yeah yeah, i know, theres no Godfather there…but this is our own opinions and as i still have not been able to sit thru a whole watching of any of the Godfathers, i couldn't list it. i just get so bored watching them i can't finish. and i also took into account my preference of watchability. like the Back to the Future set…anytime i happen upon them as i'm channel surfing i end up watching the movie. and i don't like to list a trilogy if one or two of them just didn't do it for me, such as Matrix (only liked the first). Mad Max, i never saw the 2nd and 3rd so can't say. would have loved to add in Die Hard, Indy, and Lethal Weapon, but too many for a trilogy.

@next: Time to grow up? The third movies in almost all your trilogys sucked. Lord of the Rings needs to be at the top to every top ten trilogy list. Every one of those movies were great. Excellent character development, story, and action sequences make it the greatest trilogy ever. The Matrix trilogy has no place in the top ten. The last two completely sucked compared to the first one.

wow no indiana jones and no Die hard they are both definatly way better than half those trilogies

I think the third Mission Impossible film did so poorly not just because of the "Tom is crazy" issue, but because he was overexposed. If you saw the news, there was some news story about him, and if you didn't see it you still ended up with the news commercials talking about him. You couldn't escape him and I, at least, was just plain tired of seeing his face. I watched it later though, and enjoyed it.

1) Lord of the Rings [ far the best, just legendary ]
2) Pirates of the Caribbean [ Loveee captain Jack Sparrow ]
3) Matrix

I need to see more, before i can judge. ;)

lotr

Quote-'wow no indiana jones and no Die hard they are both definatly way better than half those trilogies'

The two you mentioned aren't trilogies though, are they?

what about ghost busters ?