10 Best Fourth Movies In Franchises

Who doesn't love a good trilogy?

Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, the original Star Wars, Kung Fu Panda, all the great franchises stop at three... that is, until they don't.

For some unknown reason (money, it's always money) film studios love to push their luck and push their series beyond the magic number. Anything beyond the third picture is always a tough one to crack, as audiences' attention spans have usually fizzled out by this point.

However, that's not to say that pulling off the four-peat is impossible.

The ten franchises we're about get into all had fourth movies that bucked the trend when it came to quality. They were all surprisingly good; some were even better than what had come before them and actually managed to save the entire series from the trash.

We're not calling all of these movies the best of their respective bunches by any means - we're merely saying that they're all better than Jaws: The Revenge.

Although, they could have been four hours of footage of a dog throwing up and they'd have still been better than Jaws: The Revenge.

Some of you might be surprised to learn that the Pink Panther is not just a cartoon.

Spanning back to the early 1960s, the Pink Panther series is actually a collection of comedy films about a famous diamond. The animated big cat is, in the world of the movies, what people see when they look into the gem at the right angle.

The films are famously helmed by Inspector Clouseau, a bumbling French detective who is often tasked with protecting the jewel, but ultimately ends up making things worse.

Peter Sellers played the Inspector in six of the first seven Panther films, including its fourth movie The Return of the Pink Panther from 1975. The diamond is stolen yet again, and Clouseau must recover from being demoted by an unhinged superior to recover it.

The film was universally beloved upon its release, with many fans and critics praising the series' return to its slapstick roots. Sellers was also commended for bringing the clumsy Frenchman back to the screen in all his glory.

The actor sadly passed away in 1980, but at least he never lived to see the god-awful reboot series with Steve Martin.

Sacré bleu!