Movie franchises where the last film wasn't the worst

[bob]

I thought this would be a fun topic. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Toy Story 3
Back to the Future Part 3
Jurassic World
The Dark Knight Rises
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Furious 7
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Spectre
Mad Max: Fury Road

[Ted C]

Austin Powers.

Goldmember wasn't as bad as The Spy Who Shagged Me.

[SynapticBoomstick]

Starship Troopers: Invasion - better than the other sequels even though it's animated. It has its share of weak plot points like every other entry but at least it doesn't have musical numbers, miss the point of why the interludes from the first film worked, or try for outright comedy.

[Chainsawmidget]

Godzilla. 

I'll leave it up to you to decide which one was worse, but it certainly wasn't the most recent one. 

[messedup]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
As much as I like the crazy mess that is M:I 2 it is not better than Rogue Nation.

[Rev. Powell]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
As much as I like the crazy mess that is M:I 2 it is not better than Rogue Nation.

Yeah, I agree, the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series comes to mind. It's the only franchise I can think of where the 4th and 5th films are better than the first 3.

[Trevor]

The Gods Must Be Crazy 2 wasn't bad at all. 

[Trevor]

Death Wish V The Face of Death (1995) was way better IMO than Death Wish 2 or Death Wish IV The Crackdown. 

[voltron]

I'm not a massive fan of the August Underground series but I think Penance was the last and the best of those movies.

[lester1/2jr]

I liked Weekend at Bernies two better than the original. thats right I said it... come at me

[RCMerchant]

the Universal Frankenstein series-may favorite being BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935),and the first one (1931) and SON OF-(1939) being tied-ABOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN was defintely better than HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) and HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945)-in which the monster spends most of his time on an operating table.
The Bond series of films-though far from being over-Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery-the Roger Moore films were turning into comedy with  MOONRAKER (1979) and OCTOp***y (1983)-and Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan were bad casting-and forget George Lazenby!
the original series of Godzilla films-the last being TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975) -far from being high art-was a vast improvement over GODZILLA'S REVENGE (1969),with its little yammering bastard lead. (I really dont consider GODZILLA 1985 part of the original series.)

http://youtu.be/OTd0HAMA50U

[Jim H]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
As much as I like the crazy mess that is M:I 2 it is not better than Rogue Nation.

Yeah, I agree, the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series comes to mind. It's the only franchise I can think of where the 4th and 5th films are better than the first 3.

You seen the Fast and Furious films?  Entries 5 and 6 are better than the first four, and the fourth is also better than the first three.  It was a smart choice to move to heist films rather than car-crime movies.

One other one that springs to mind is the Zatoichi series, if that counts.  26 films, and they vary in quality...  All are at least decent, but I'd say parts, 3, 10, 13 and 18 stand out.  24 is probably the worst, and 26 (made much later, with an older Shintaro Katsu) is in the middle of the pack in quality.

[AoTFan]

The Bond series of films-though far from being over-Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery-the Roger Moore films were turning into comedy with  MOONRAKER (1979) and OCTOp***y (1983)-and Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan were bad casting-and forget George Lazenby!

Giggles at the auto forum censorship. 

:)

[Rev. Powell]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
As much as I like the crazy mess that is M:I 2 it is not better than Rogue Nation.

Yeah, I agree, the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series comes to mind. It's the only franchise I can think of where the 4th and 5th films are better than the first 3.

You seen the Fast and Furious films?  Entries 5 and 6 are better than the first four, and the fourth is also better than the first three.  It was a smart choice to move to heist films rather than car-crime movies.

One other one that springs to mind is the Zatoichi series, if that counts.  26 films, and they vary in quality...  All are at least decent, but I'd say parts, 3, 10, 13 and 18 stand out.  24 is probably the worst, and 26 (made much later, with an older Shintaro Katsu) is in the middle of the pack in quality.

I have been blessed not to see any of the FAST AND FURIOUS movies. I did hear the last one was good.

ZATOICHI's good thinking---with 26 films in the series, it's unlikely the last would be the worst.

[Jim H]

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
As much as I like the crazy mess that is M:I 2 it is not better than Rogue Nation.

Yeah, I agree, the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series comes to mind. It's the only franchise I can think of where the 4th and 5th films are better than the first 3.

You seen the Fast and Furious films?  Entries 5 and 6 are better than the first four, and the fourth is also better than the first three.  It was a smart choice to move to heist films rather than car-crime movies.

One other one that springs to mind is the Zatoichi series, if that counts.  26 films, and they vary in quality...  All are at least decent, but I'd say parts, 3, 10, 13 and 18 stand out.  24 is probably the worst, and 26 (made much later, with an older Shintaro Katsu) is in the middle of the pack in quality.

I have been blessed not to see any of the FAST AND FURIOUS movies. I did hear the last one was good.

ZATOICHI's good thinking---with 26 films in the series, it's unlikely the last would be the worst.

It's a hard series to recommend, as I think Fast Five and on are quite solid films with quite likable ensemble casts, entertaining action, plenty of humor and even a little heart.  But 1-4 are kind of meh, watchable but not great. 

Also thought of a couple more entries:

Friday the 13th -Jason X or Freddy VS Jason or the remake, whatever, none of the "last" films is the worst.  Hard to say which that is for me...  Probably entries 5 or 8.  Nightmare on Elm Street is similar.  I'd say #2 is the worst in the series, and both Freddy's Dead and New Nightmare are superior.  However...  The remake is worse than all of them.