The Summer of the Threequel: The 5 Best Ever

With Men in Black 3 already in theaters, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted hitting theaters today and The Dark Knight Rises set to open next month, the summer of 2012 has quickly become the Summer of the Threequel. Forget sequels — can studios squeeze one more hit out their franchises?

The critical success of the threequel is often a mixed bag. Yes, additionally sequels often more studios a lot of money, but how often does a threequel either uphold the quality of the franchise or even improve upon it? The Bill Kuchman Chronicle turned to Rotten Tomatoes' ratings system to figure out which five threequels stand as the worst ever ... and which five threequels earned the critics' praise.

A quick note: Franchises that pumped out movies on a yearly basis (Saw, Halloween) or that have built massive franchises without continuity (James Bond) aren't included in this project.

Check out the Top 5 Best Threequels Ever after the jump. Don't forget to check out the Top 5 Worst Threequels Ever too.

5. Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 80 percent

Previous installments' ratings: Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (57 percent), Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (67 percent)

I know I'm going to get some flack for including Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith on this list, but just like with D3: The Mighty Ducks on the 5 Worst Threequels Ever list, I gotta play by the rules I set up. Revenge of the Sith not only has the best Rotten Tomatoes score of any of the Star Wars prequels, but it also beats Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi by one percent point. 

Let's move away from the prequel hatred for a second and look at what Revenge of the Sith was tasked with. The film had to wrap up a story that had started almost thirty years before its release and complete the story of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in a way that not only satisfied fans but also still surprised them. So what if some random magazine during the 1970s said that Anakin Skywalker fell into a volcano and suffered the burns that would turn him into Vader? Did fans really want George Lucas to just go along with some accepted idea of how Vader was born? Personally, I'm glad Lucas find a way to still surprise us all with Revenge of the Sith.

The Jedi Purge couldn't have been done more perfectly too. Accompanied by no dialogue and haunting music, we watched as the Jedi were hunted down by the clone troopers they had once called allies. Revenge of the Sith deserves its place on this list.

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4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89 percent

Previous installments' ratings: Raiders of the Lost Ark (94 percent), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (85 percent)

While not the best of the first three Indiana Jones films (and let's not talk about that fourth installment), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade brought the franchise back from the horror movie-wannabe Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and returned Dr. Jones to his relic-hunting, Nazi-fighting ways. We also got Sean Connery as Indy's father, a casting move that was completely obvious after seeing it on on film.

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3. The Bourne Ultimatum

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94 percent

Previous installments' ratings: The Bourne Identity (83 percent), The Bourne Supremacy (81 percent)

The Bourne Ultimatum took the Matt Damon franchise to a new level, elevating the story, the acting and action sequences. This threequel found itself on many critics' top ten lists for 2007, but of course, it was snubbed at the Oscars. 

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2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94 percent

Previous installments' ratings: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (92 percent), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (94 percent)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the capstone to Peter Jackson's ambitious trilogy. The directer weathered studio changes and financial questioning to not only deliver one of the greatest trilogies ever put to film, but to shoot all three films at the same time. The Oscars saw fit to give The Return of the King its Best Picture award as its way of honoring the trilogy as a whole.

The Return of the King isn't even the highest rated Lord of the Rings installment — The Two Towers holds that distinction. When you're the film tasked with closing out a trilogy that carried with it the greatest of expectations, it's understandable why The Return of the Kings would get some extra credit.

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1. Toy Story 3

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 99 percent

Previous installments' ratings: Toy Story (100 percent), Toy Story 2 (100 percent)

Toy Story 3 is a film that doesn't require any qualifiers to describe its greatest. It's not just one of the greatest threequels. It's not just one of the greatest animated films. It's just one of the greatest films in movie history, period. 

Look at the picture above this entry. Those are toys, pieces of plastic, that have banded together to face their awaiting death. You find me another movie about toys that struck such an emotional cord with audiences. Toy Story 3 is a masterpiece.

It's odd to look at the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the Toy Story franchise as a whole. The first two films got perfect scores, but Toy Story 3 somehow only managed a 99 percent. Bizarre.