10 Fourth Movies That Ruined A Great Trilogy

There's a reason why three is the magic number.

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Johnny Depp Penelope Cruz
Disney

Lots of good things come in fours.

There are four seasons, four Beatles, and the ancient Romans thought that the body was controlled by four humours. Well guess what? The Romans were morons and four is the worst number of all time! In film, at least.

The suffix "4" or "IV" or that thing films do when they try and make a 4 look like an A is usually the kiss of death for any movie. Four is just such an awkward number, especially as three is so perfect. Introduce the characters in the first one, put them in peril in the second, resolve everything in the third.

Easy peasy.

Because Hollywood is controlled by aliens who eat money, so many excellent film trilogies have been ruined by having a fourth film needlessly tacked on. Sometimes the fourth film is only the beginning, with even more tripe to follow. However, today, we're just looking at the fours.

Some were unnecessary, some contradicted what came before them, and some were just plain awful. However, the one thing that unifies then ten films is that we all wish they'd never been made.

10. Alien: Resurrection

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Johnny Depp Penelope Cruz
20th Century Fox

Alien 3 was not the greatest film ever made.

It was a decent little sci-fi movie, but it didn't quite hold up against the two previous Alien films. That being said, it at least tied a nice little bow around the saga.

Upon finding that she is carrying the embryo of an alien queen, Ellen Ripley kills herself to destroy the unborn extra-terrestrial. Hero and villain of the series die together in a sacrifice play from Ripley. Whatever you make of the rest of the movie, there's no denying that's poetry right there.

Unfortunately, the producers just would not let sleeping Xenomorphs lie, and a fourth Alien picture was released five years later.

Instead of starting the story again with new characters, Alien: Resurrection decided to dump all over the ending of the third film by bringing Ripley back to life. Well, technically they brought a clone of her back to life, but the point still stands.

The story of Alien was done. Over, finished, finito. There was absolutely no need for an addendum to the tale, let alone one that opened the door for future terrible sequels and spin-offs.

Alien vs Predator, ew.

 
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Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.