TOP THREE: PART FOURS

 Def Rec: Trilogy-Destroying Fourth Franchise Films (Rerelease)

Originally published on 5/4/2026

Update: Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) achieved an oddly unique milestone and it wasn’t the staggering amount of box office cash. Peter Parker’s latest MCU adventure was going to be a surefire hit no matter what, so that wasn’t ever in question. The Webhead’s most recent blockbuster has earned loads of praise, press, and overall fan acclaim. It definitely got attention even if some moviegoers didn’t care for it. The superhero hype isn’t the special achievement that I’m talking about, though.

This is the fourth live action Spidey flick. Tobey Maguire (in)famously only got three in his series. Andrew Garfield spun out only two films in his run. Love it or hate it, but Tom Holland finally got the Wall-Crawler to a quadrilogy. This isn’t even counting the ancillary appearances from all three actors portraying their specific roles in other tie-ins and crossovers. As monumentally popular as the Web-Slinger is, it took until 2026 for Spider-Man to finally get that fourth franchise entry. There’s no signs of stopping but for now, this is one of the biggest post-trilogy sequels of all time. I won’t spoil, but critics have dinged Brand New Day for undermining the high stakes of the previous movie’s ending and how it affected reality itself. Was this enough to “ruin” the Home trilogy? My review of the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed Spider-Man is available now so you can read (and watch) my thoughts on that. But as far as how it strengthens or taints the first trio of films, well, I think after some time, we’ll all have more clarified viewpoints. In the meantime, let’s revisit some other classic Part Fours.

Movie trilogies are beloved by fans across the world for their time-honored traditional form of storytelling. Sagas with a beginning, middle, and end are the truest, most basic style of entertainment utilized by countless scribes, performers, orators, and just about anyone who has ever spun a yarn. From The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, most cinematic three-part tales all have one major thing in common: they made a lot of money! So much box office revenue is made that studios do the only thing they can do in a situation where a finished-off franchise still has earning potential - make yet another sequel that essentially says, “So, we’re really still doing this, aren’t we?”

For the super serious scientific criteria of this Top Three Fourth Franchise Films ranking, I had to filter through a flurry of extra additions to movie favorites. In this list, a solid post-trilogy entry shouldn’t end the series - in fact, a qualifying “part four” should come after a well established tentpole trio. So, a perquisite for this highly sophisticated rating system is that the fourth offering not be what ended the series whether or not it was intentional. This means even some classics and all time faves didn’t make the cut, such as 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4 and 2024’s Beverly Hills Cop Axel F (though the belated Eddie Murphy Netflix flick did shatter a longstanding trilogy which is in itself what I deem worthy of this list). Some franchise chapters are included in an anticipated/planned line of films, as is the case with Harry Potter, Twilight, and the James Bond series, so to me, they don’t count.

Some motion picture placements get a little confusing. The inaugural Star Wars is famously known as “Episode IV” but the fourth theatrically released epic sci-fi film was Episode I in 1999. But where does that 1985 Ewoks movie fit in? Alien is easy enough but the Predator movies got crazy with the Cheez Whiz when they did those “versus” crossovers, so I’ll exclude them for now.

A fourth movie (technically the third sequel) can oddly feel like the middle child of a film series. That isn’t to say there haven’t been some fantastic fourths. 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is widely regarded by Trekkies as one of, if not the best of the Enterprise crew’s silver screen adventures. The time-traveling Trek tale is, however, very much a part of the trilogy of stories started in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Like I said, it’s a very complex and, like, totally smart ranking system.

Alternatively, there have been fourth movies that simply weren’t the strongest in their series. As much as it pains me to say, 2011’s Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and 2009’s The Final Destination simply aren’t up to snuff compared to their franchise family. I love, love, love 2000’s Highlander: Endgame but I won’t pretend it’s the best of the immortal epics (but far from the worst). The Hobbit trilogy of films only serves to further muddy the considerations. Then there’s 2009’s Fast and Furious which is the fourth one but also a prequel, I think? It gets confusing.

Honorable mentions:

John Wick: Chapter 4, The Matrix Resurrections, Alien: Resurrection, Batman and Robin, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Psycho IV: The Beginning, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Jurassic World, Live Free Or Die Hard, The Bourne Legacy, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Terminator Salvation, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Mad Max: Fury Road, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and The Next Karate Kid

Top Three: Part Fours

1996 introduced moviegoers to Wes Craven’s Scream, a scarily satirical stab at the slasher genre. Writer Kevin Williamson scripted a terrifying story depicting the killer entity known as Ghostface on a vengeful hunt that challenged the notion of scary movies themselves. Naturally, the following year debuted a sequel, Scream 2, then the saga was rounded out by 2000’s Scream 3. The first batch of what are essentially Whodunit horror stories closed the casket after the seemingly final flick’s release. Like any masked mutilator worth their salt, evil never truly dies so, of course, another Scream was eventually produced. A little over a decade passed until the fourth movie resurrected Ghostface, and it fit right in with a slew of revived franchises coming out around this era (revisiting famed movie series hasn’t really stopped being a thing). Despite how expected another Scream may have been, eleven years is still a wide gap between entries. One would think that after the series had been resuscitated, the studio would be off to the races and churning out even more chapters. A television show was made in 2015, but the filmic resurfacing of the franchise wouldn’t appear until 2022’s Scream. This leaves Scream 4 as an island of terror, alone in an abyss of lengthy waiting periods between theatrical releases. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Ghostface voice actor Roger L. Jackson were all back in Woodsboro but the tone had changed by 2011. The original three features were a throwback to the mid-to-late nineties and the dawn of the new millennium but after ten years, cinematic styles had shifted. This film wouldn’t make it to any Best Of list if it wasn’t any good, and again, horror sequels are par for the course, but to me, the initial “Screams” were meant to be a singular set. Scream 4 broke a trilogy that was never going to survive on its own, but the memory is unkillable.

Oh, 2008, what a year of film you were. Perhaps the most notable sequel to come out that year was The Dark Knight, but another, more belated franchise offering exploded onto the scene like a fridge blasting off from a nuclear detonation. Years after 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford whipped out his trusty whip to go on yet another big screen adventure. Much has been discussed and debated about this bizarre showcase of inter-dimensional beings and CGI monkeys, so I’ll spare you any further redundant reflections about this particular Indy outing. What I will say is that a few years ago I rewatched this movie for the first time since enduring it in the theater and it wasn’t as bad as I recalled. Yes, it’s littered with oddball creative choices, but compared to 2023’s Dial of Destiny, it is immensely more enjoyable. Kingdom presented Dr. Jones as a still believable adventurer and not quite as enfeebled, and Ford perfectly maintained his signature “perpetually kind of annoyed” face. Contributing to the grumbling was the addition of Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt character who thankfully didn’t take over the main hero role. Indiana’s son wasn’t entirely a waste of an idea, it was simply executed extremely poorly. So much so that he was (spoiler) given a proper off-screen death in Dial. Was Kingdom’s mere existence worth destroying the trilogy status that was first kicked off way back when with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark? Well, the fourth Indy’s only real crime was being a product of its time. There was simply no realistic way to recapture the moment in history, the cultural landscape, the state of the art, and the world itself. The cosmic ingredients that led to the creation of the first three blockbusters had come and gone. The previous movie had “Last” right there in the title, so it isn’t a stretch as to why many fans assumed there would be no more escapades for the aging archeologist. Heck, a lot of folks might’ve thought Indy himself belongs in a museum. People, though, especially actors and other famous filmmakers, for the most part have this tendency to stick around long after the “ending.” After so many decades, perhaps the fact that these icons are still above ground is enough of a reason to dust off the trademark fedora.

Toy Story 4 might be the most prolific “part four” in cinema history because 2010’s Toy Story 3 seemed crazy enough. Nine years after the film that cemented this series as an official trilogy, the fourth animated movie came out to play, making it feel like an even bigger risk. With the fifth having premiered this year, it makes it seem as if the Disney/Pixar tandem is run by thrill-seekers who live to push a franchise to its limits. Why do I associate these tales of sentient toys with white-knuckling rides on the edge of a knife? This is due to the fact that not only do these cartoon flicks take a significant amount of time to produce, but each new venture in toy land appears as if there couldn’t possibly be any more to do. But these are theoretically immortal beings, so maybe Woody and Buzz et al can indeed outlive all of their human counterparts and owners.

I guess I’m shocked by each new Story because every movie feels like such a fitting sendoff. The third film shows the main toys nearly escaping what could’ve actually been an end to their plastic lives only to exist another day. After escaping a harrowing deathtrap, as well as coming to terms with the humans that they’re tethered to are growing up, well, it really did seem like the toys would be placed on the shelf.

New owners/characters have since entered the fray, and a new generation of fans has joined in on the everlasting fun. The way the newcomer Forky’s life was created introduced deeper questions about the toys’ existentialism - basically, magic and/or the power of love can animate an otherwise ordinary object. Since these concepts are getting brought up throughout the franchise, at some point I think that even in a fun family movie, some of these puzzling issues ought to be further explored. Heck, Woody straight up talked to the sadistic toy-torturer Sid in the first one in 1995, so maybe we see more of that. A toy takeover could ensue, where the sometimes-inanimate lifeforms demand to take the world they feel is rightfully theirs. They aren’t playing around anymore!

Okay, I’m overthinking things but I don’t assume I’m alone is considering the original three Toy Story films a solid trilogy. Any new sequel is a gamble, but I’m willing to give the creators their due in agreeing that they somehow pull it off each time. That being said, with this newest movie expressing how “aged” Woody is, just how much longer can the articulation hold up? That paint is going to completely chip away and be rubbed off eventually. Maybe they’ll make it to a sixth Story and there will technically be a second trilogy, bringing balance to the Force.

Out of the films I’ve listed, I definitely recommend Toy Story 4. Why place this animated motion picture above the others? If for no other reason, after seeing Toy Story 5, I have a renewed appreciation for the fourth toy tale. The fifth film, centering on cowgirl Jessie, ranks fifth out of five features. The Bo Peep-focused fourth has been dethroned as the worst Toy Story.

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Books by Jon McBrine

The Eric Icarus Series

Unable to hide his flying abilities, a shy high school student’s plan to hide in plain sight as just another superhero backfires after an attack leaves him as the only hope to stop a diabolical villain.

Recruited by tech mogul Baron Maddox, Eric Boxworth becomes Eric Icarus, a maskless member of the Super Society, tech-based defenders of New St. Cloud City. Eric’s miraculous, natural flight power is disguised by a decoy anti-gravity backpack to avoid getting dissected in a lab. Eric and his bubbly, good-natured classmate Jaycee - the armored hero Powerhouse - must stop a madman from creating an empire built on stolen powers. Fans of young superheroes, found family tropes, and high-stakes action will love this YA sci-fi adventure series.

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