Why does it ALWAYS have to be a triogy?

[TheTygerfire]

I've heard news of Ghostbusters III being on the horizon and I just have to ask, why?

Shrek 3
Pirates 3
Spiderman 3

All made simply to cash in on the names and rushed out to the theater. Now people are PLANNING to make three movies regardless of how well the first one does.

Why can't it end at 2, or hell, even plan for four movies if you're going to tell a good story.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

Cos' fat hollywood producers love money?

Also, all of the films you mentioned are about to get a 4th sequel.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Because there's a nice, commonly known word for a trilogy?

 

[Inverse Skies]

If you're worried about Hollywood movies coming in trilogies, try some book series instead. Some of them are able to stretch out over something like 13 books.

Getting back more to the topic though, I guess producers automatically assume their film will be succesful and hence start planning out the next few in order to keep the money ticking over.

 

[oliveira8]

"Shrek 3
Pirates 3
Spiderman 3"

Theres going to be a fourth one for all those...

Just ask yourself, do you own a video game past the 2nd installment in the series? Thats your answer right there.

Warcraft 3, Europa Universalis 3, Fallout 3 and prolly others but to bored to check right now.

 

[Undeed]

Spiderman has a contract for a fourth film, maybe a fifth. Starwars was six films, but many insist that it's two trilogys. I've heard rumors of a Shrek 4. In any case,

All made simply to cash in on the names and rushed out to the theater. Now people are PLANNING to make three movies regardless of how well the first one does.

Doesn't seem to hold up, especially as the ghostbusters movie you want to gripe about was made ages ago.

 

[Sindre1]

With an L!
Llllllllllllllllllll...

 

[TheTygerfire]

I know trilogy is just a term but people have been saying "this movie will complete the trilogy". There's nothing to complete! It's just a third movie.

I'm not saying that trilogies are terrible, I'm just saying stop digging up past movies to add a third edition and stop ruining the integrity of current movies by rushing out the third movie.

 

[CosmicJester21]

Money just money

very few times is a 3rd actually needed

 

[Quistnix]

Ever since the Lord of the Rings books and the first three Star Wars movies, people associate "trilogy" with "Grand" and "Epic". That's the classic meaning for "Epic", not the bastardised internet meaning.

Movie producers just want some of the succes by association.

 

[Skeleon]

Because you can sell the movies individually first and later as a box-set.

 

[teisjm]

LOTR + the opcoming hobbit + the between hobbit&LOTR - quintology
X-men wolverine origins + 3 X-men - quadrology
Harry Potter - septimology
They're making a forth pirates movie as far as i've heard.
Wouldn't suprise me if they made a 4'th spiderman tbh.

Theres also a lot of stuff with only 1 or 2 installments.

You mention 3 movie fanchises and generalize it for every movie... if you took every movie franchise i think 1 installment would be the most dominant by far.

Also when mentioning trilogies mention Matrix as well or you fail

 

[chronobreak]

Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. It is just a natural progression.

 

[Undeed]

Some times, people do write trilogies. I know it's hard to believe. I can't think of many cases where an old movie was dredged up to write a sequel expressley to make it a trilogy. Usually it's a "reinvention" or "reimagining" of the old film. Ghostbusters seems to be a special case, and it seems to have much of the original talent on board which validates the claim somewhat.

 

[Melancholy_Ocelot]

If you're worried about Hollywood movies coming in trilogies, try some book series instead. Some of them are able to stretch out over something like 13 books.
over.

Case and point, Star Wars New Jedi Order. I get fed up by book 4 and Wikipediaed the ending.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

None can ever top the "trilogy of five" that began with the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
(The book, not the movie)

 

[Rocksa]

It's the arc.

There's the first movie, it's the beginning, it's the backstory, and usually it's all the boring crap. It's the origin story, before the hero usually becomes a hero and we get to sit through them just being some normal guy.

Second movie is the buildup. We see the hero being what he is, we see the main villian taking really taking center stage, and we see their motives for everything. Everything builds up, and we usually end this film on a cliffhanger moment, or with an ending that's very sad or that leaves many things left unanswered.

Third movie is the resolution. This is where you get to see everything worked out. Hero gets the girl, or loses her forever in some teary moment. Bad guy is done away with. Loose threads are tied up.

It's a simple way of doing things. Granted, they could try to do this in one movie, or they could try it in two, but really, ever since the Greeks, three's been the magic number here. And it's always been following that same formula. Origin, conflict, resolution.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Case and point, Star Wars New Jedi Order. I get fed up by book 4 and Wikipediaed the ending.

Wait... are you trying to say you didn't like this one book series so others shouldn't be stretched out over those sorts of lengths?

 

[Inarticulate_Underachiever]

3's a nice number I guess. There's also the money to consider.

I'm also amazed you didn't use The Matrix as an example.

 

[Grampy_bone]

Typically with Hollywood it's purely a numbers game. Sequels make at least 60% of what the original made; crunch the numbers and if 60% of the first movie minus production costs equals profit, then a sequel WILL be made. Usually its a single successful movie that gets turned into a trilogy or longer if they can. Sure everyone wants their movie to be a hit and make more of them but usually a development company is formed and built for only one movie at a time. The only purposeful trilogies I can think of in recent memory are Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars prequels.

Games are different though. They used to follow a similar model of hit -> do sequels, and still do to a large extent, but the planned sequel/trilogy/DLC followup is becoming very widespread, and it's really starting to bug me.