Almost every fiber of your being is telling you to get excited for The Dark Knight Rises… almost. See, there is one small factor that might make you a bit uneasy about the upcoming conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman series: It’s a threequel. Threequels (aka the third movie of a franchise) get a pretty bad rap, incurring accusations of abandoning their predecessors’ quality, and retroactively ruining their series. (See: Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Terminator 3… the list goes on.) But this is a gross generalization. Some threequels, dare it be said, are actually great.
Yes, despite negative connotations, there are a slew of threequels that actually live up to, and sometimes outshine, the movies from which they sprung. After taking a look at this community, from George Lucas classics to Pixar contemporaries, Hollywood.com has compiled a gallery celebrating the idea of the successful threequel. We don’t yet know for sure whether or not TDKR will be among this pack, but Vegas has put the odds in favor of this notion. Catch the Batman finale in theaters on Friday, July 20, and check out this gallery of the 11 Threequels That Didn’t Let Us Down.
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