George Lucas may be the only one who set out with a trilogy in mind and to be honest I think he wasn't counting on it until Star Wars took off far bigger than anyone had imagined.

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

George Lucas may be the only one who set out with a trilogy in mind and to be honest I think he wasn't counting on it until Star Wars took off far bigger than anyone had imagined.

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Maybe add the Godfather trilogy to that, although it wasn't as preplanned as Star Wars. Still, two examples of fantastic trilogies!

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There's daggers in mens' smiles

Godfather was not planned as two movies, let alone three. The book encompassed the first movie and the Robert DeNiro section of the second. The Al Pacino part of the second was added in later when they decided to make a sequel and needed to fill it out.

The movies were certainly never planned as a trilogy in the way Chud is talking about, it just worked out that way.

Lord of the Rings is the only truly planned as a trilogy that I can think of and that was because the books were a trilogy. Even then Peter Jackson pitched it as two movies and some fellow in the pitch meeting thought three would be better (hope that guy got a raise).

It is this lack of planning that causes most sequels to be somewhat inferior, in my humble opinion.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I saw an interview with the Wachowski brothers a few years ago and they said they had actually drawn up the world of the matrix and decided to create a three part film out of it. They said if the first were to sell that they would pitch the next two films. Probably just a bunch of bull like Lucas saying he originally intended to go back and shoot the prequels when he thought technology finally caught up to his vision of Star Wars. Plus he said for the original trilogy he actually only had enough material for 2 1/2 movies so he needed filler scenes. Sorry for rambling, they're my favorite movies!

I remember Lukas saying, back in 1977, that he had plans for 6 movies. Not trilogies but a serial like Flash Gordon. That he wanted to start it running rather than at episode one to further give the feel of an ongoing serial. Then when Jedi rolled around he was fed up with things and talking a trilogy.

Personally I think he should have stuck to the original plan. A new one every three years. Replace Han with Lando and keep going.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

Godfather was not planned as two movies, let alone three. The book encompassed the first movie and the Robert DeNiro section of the second. The Al Pacino part of the second was added in later when they decided to make a sequel and needed to fill it out.

The movies were certainly never planned as a trilogy in the way Chud is talking about, it just worked out that way.

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However, I wanted to give an example of a highly successful 3 parter film. Granted that the films were not planned overtly to be a trilogy, but the material was certainly there for serialisation from the beginning(the life of the family Corleone).

The Godfather trilogy is perhaps the foremost set of films that explores the evolution of one set of characters (and one in particular). In this way it's a good example of highly successful character development over a number of films.

If the ideas good and will last you a trilogy- go for it!

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There's daggers in mens' smiles

Hey, is it just me or do trilogies seem to make some of the best films around? i.e. Star Wars(the originals, although the technicality of the new ones is pretty cool), The Godfather, Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones, even though they weren't pre-planned to be a trilogy. Oh, and Pirates of the Caribbean can't forget them!

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Originally posted by chud

Hey, is it just me or do trilogies seem to make some of the best films around?

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Uh, no. The popular films get sequels.

I don't know, but I'd be interested in finding out if the Ocean's trilogy was planned as a trilogy. Also, Indiana Jones isn't a trilogy, as there's a fourth one in preproduction now, to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

Star Wars and LOTR were planned originally as trilogies, it's not just based on the fact that the first film was popular so they decided to make more. Also I realize they are making a 4th Indiana Jones, I already said it wasn't planned as a trilogy but that they were 3 good films. And to answer your question about the Oceans films, no they were not supposed to be a trilogy. Clooney and Pitt went back to make a third because they missed the mark so much with number 2.

Although LOTR was planned as a trilogy of movies based on a trilogy of books, Tolkien actually wrote it as a single, long book. It was later broken into 3 books by the publisher or what not.

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Originally posted by chud

Star Wars and LOTR were planned originally as trilogies, it's not just based on the fact that the first film was popular so they decided to make more.

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Lord of the Rings had to be a trilogy. Star Wars got lucky.

Lucas may have had some vague idea of making a Star Wars trilogy when he was shooting the first movie, but it was funded and shot as a standalone movie and would never have have any sequels if it hadn't been massively successful; many of the executives involved expected it to be a disaster.

Even Lucas expected it to be a disaster after he saw the first rough cut in spring of '76. It was a similar situation like the Matrix, three scripts were written but only the first film would be made as a test. If it worked then they could go right into production on the 2nd and 3rd films.

A trilogy could be the way to go. its what im looking into myself.

My reckoning is, if you have certain ideas for your characters, and you can keep expanding them into different directions, then it may help to work as a trilogy. It can always be shortened in the preproduction.

Also partly depends on the type of film.
There has been comedies done too. Crocodile dundee for instance.
and others that may have started as one but then had a few sequels.
You see where im coming from. sometimes there is that much material/hidden depths to a certain character that it may be too cunfusing to the audience to broach in one film.

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