How to make a satisfying movie franchise finale—and how to screw one up
Here are the rules every film series, no matter how big or small, should remember when it's time to say goodbye
Film Reviews toy story
Making movies is hard. Now try making a movie that neatly wraps up stories threaded across two, three, or heck, eight other films. Given the expectations that come with concluding a decades-long, multi-chapter saga as well as the rigors of production and, well, it’s a miracle filmmakers don’t just run off to the mountains to become monks. Who can take all that pressure?
Serials, of course, have been a Hollywood staple since the silent era, but finale films are a more recent breed, borne of the IP-driven tentpole. From Star Wars to The Lord Of The Rings to, at some point, Fast & Furious, the right combination of ingredients can result in a memorable final act or a forgettable lost opportunity. With Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny being the last crack of the whip for Harrison Ford’s archaeologist adventurer, this is a good time to look back at other franchise-enders to see what went right—and what went wrong.
Defining our parameters—especially in an age when, for instance, the series finale Toy Story 3 unexpectedly led to the series finale Toy Story 4 which unexpectedly will lead to another series finale in Toy Story 5—requires some tap dancing. For our purposes, we’re looking at films specifically designed to end stories, not movies that ended a franchise because they were a dud. We’re also playing it fast and loose with Marvel, which often ends a story while its cinematic universe spins seemingly forever.
Rule 1: Finish the main character’s story
The most obvious rule for a series conclusion is the one that’s most often taken for granted: bring the main character’s story to a definitive end. No matter how large an ensemble becomes or how impossibly dire the stakes, the critical thing is how the protagonist gets to the finish line. Even when the movie is messy, like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, it was clearly the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale).
And death doesn’t need to loom for things to feel real. It’s a fun coincidence but not an accident that the defining fantasy sagas of the 2000s—The Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter—succeeded because of the storytelling surrounding their main characters. This is why their respective final films enjoy immortality even when audiences knew the endings from the books. Maybe no one ever feared that Frodo would die. But when he stands on the precipice of Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring and hesitates, the climax is pregnant with tension and anticipation. What Frodo does next makes the previous nine hours spent in Middle-earth so worthwhile.
Some sagas lose sight of whose story they’ve been telling; this is among the many problems that plagued both Revenge Of The Sith and The Rise Of Skywalker. Some franchises that never had a real main character only adopted one based on audience reaction (The Hangover Part III) or seemed to choose one arbitrarily (Dark Phoenix). And then there’s Halloween Ends, which accomplished all it should have with 2018’s Halloween, thus leaving everything after to feel strangely episodic, even the final confrontation between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Basically, filmmakers should know whose story they’re telling before cameras roll on even the first movie. When they get to the final installment, they’ll always have that as a north star.
Movies that did it right: John Wick: Chapter 4, Toy Story 3 and 4, Star Wars: Episode VI—Return Of The Jedi, The Dark Knight Rises, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Logan, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Resurrections
Movies that did it wrong: X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise Of Skywalker, Halloween Ends, The Hangover Part III
Rule 2: Be spectacular
Another obvious point, but one that still bears mentioning: Give the filmmakers the chance to go big. By the time the series finale rolls around, the stage is primed for stories to conclude in spectacular fashion, and the directors ought to go out with a bang. This isn’t a matter of budgets or scale; rather, it’s about making sure sagas end with the appropriate sense of both emotional and storytelling weight. This could be large-scale battles (Return Of The King) or a one-on-one showdown (John Wick: Chapter 4) or something in between (The Dark Knight Rises). Whatever it is, filmmakers need to know how to approach their finales with clarity, vigor, and most of all, the know-how to inspire awe.
Consider Rocky V and the unexpected sequel Rocky Balboa. Rocky V was meant to be the end of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). But it ends with an underwhelming street fight, a dramatic fall from grace for a former champion and an unsatisfying send-off for the character. Thankfully there’s 2006’s Rocky Balboa, which replicated the uncanny feeling of a bonafide pay-per-view main event.
Movies that did it right: John Wick: Chapter 4, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Wars: Episode VI—Return Of The Jedi, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, Logan, The Matrix Revolutions, Avengers: Endgame
Movies that did it wrong: Rocky V, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2, The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies, Avengers: Endgame (yes really)
Rule 3: Close the door on additional sequels
Say what you will about Twilight and Hunger Games—those franchises knew what it meant to end a story. As the theatrical IP era of Hollywood begins suffering through an existential crisis, anyone who gives a damn about movies should consider that familiar exhaustion when movies set out to end a story only to tease more sequels anyway.
This tends to be a Marvel issue, but let’s not forget when The Dark Knight Rises ended with Bruce Wayne, alive and well (with Catwoman!) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s rookie cop John “Robin” Blake inheriting everything in the Batcave. Nolan’s final Batman movie opened just after The Avengers, when Hollywood seismically changed into a shared universe mindset. Nolan’s artistic intentions make clear that Robin “becoming” Batman is more about the symbolism of the never-ending story of superheroes, and how their legends rise, fall, and repeat. But that didn’t stop fellow moviegoers in 2012 from immediately asking if Joseph Gordon-Levitt is now playing Nightwing in the next movie.
While there are a number of reasons why the worldwide box office is cooling, consider how movies like Thor: Love And Thunder failed to entertain audiences despite so much of its promotional material advertising the end of Thor’s story. And while Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 earned slightly higher marks from critics and audiences, its wildly open sense of “closure” is still kind of a cop-out.
Movies that did it right: The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2, Back To The Future Part III, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4, Ip Man 4: The Finale
Movies that did it wrong: Avengers: Endgame, The Dark Knight Rises, Thor: Love And Thunder, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
Rule 4: Avoid two-part bloat
It maybe worked for a select few and it may work with Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Part 2. But it takes unbelievable goodwill and absolute domination of the culture to convince audiences to commit to seeing both parts of a finale, and making us all forget the painfully obvious goal to double box office revenue.
Other than Harry Potter and The Avengers—and maybe Mission: Impossible— no finale should end in a two-parter. It reeks of a story and characters that are too bloated. People want to be reminded that movies work because we care about the stories they tell, not because they’re products. If you’re a franchise trying to end things, you get one movie. Make every minute count.
In this continuing age of corporate IP, where a movie franchise has to support a horizontally integrated army of theme park rides, toys, books, spin-off TV shows, video game tie-ins, and the occasional toaster, saying goodbye to any beloved movie series means leaving money on the table, which is one sure way for a studio chief to get fired. But for those brave enough to realize that a series has no more story left to tell, filmmakers have a responsibility to send their characters into the franchise afterlife with some dignity.
Movies that did it wrong: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2, Fast X and Fast 11
21 Comments
It’s weird that you listed both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 as good examples of closing the doors on sequels, when at least one of those did not do so, and apparently, neither did the other one. In contrast, Endgame absolutely closed the door on sequels, seeing as how whenever the question of “Why aren’t the Avengers getting involved in this new problem?” gets asked, it’s almost immediately followed by “Who even are the Avengers, now?”. Every MCU movie is not a sequel to the last one, and the movies since the Infinity Saga ended continue a narrative, but not the story, which ended for several principal characters. I wouldn’t specifically argue with Thor 4 or GotG 3 not closing things off for potential sequels on their own individual stories, but even if we get more Avengers movies (I don’t imagine they’ll change the titles of future productions, but who knows), they won’t be sequels in any meaningful sense to the previous Avengers titles. Casino Royale is not really a sequel to Die Another Day, after all.
Somewhat disagree that Return of the Jedi did it right. It was largely a toy commercial with the three memorable bits (Jabba’s palace, speederbikes, and Emperor’s throne room) surrounded by an hour of pure bloat and wasted potential, with barely anything for Han, Leia, Chewbacca, or the droids to do
Add in the best space battle of the original trilogy and I definitely agree.
Counterpoint: It featured the most spectacular space battle (i.e. Star War) and the entire second/final hour was a superbly-edited countdown threading the grand conclusions of all of the characters, capping arcs that spanned the trilogy, masterfully.(‘Twas no more a “toy commercial” than the precious 2.)
You cannot put Avengers: Endgame as examples of both the right way and the wrong way to “be spectacular” without a more specific explanation. Come on.
Has there ever been a finale more spectacular than in Endgame? It definitely doesn’t deserve to be in the “movies that did it wrong” list (no, really).
I mean, one of the main problems with Endgame is that they tipped their hand regarding basically everything that was going to happen in the Finale in the previous one. It was a thoroughly unsurprising movie, which I think hurt it in the “spectacular” department.
The whole article is an empty hand wave.
Some sagas lose sight of whose story they’ve been telling; this is among the many problems that plagued both Revenge Of The Sith and The Rise Of Skywalker.I mean, care to elaborate? We’re just supposed to know which characters are being referred to?
I don’t think Harry Potter really needed a 2 part ending, wasn’t one of the Deathly Hollows movies mostly the kids camping?I’ll admit I only saw them once and it was a while ago but I remember thinking there was a lot of bloat there.
So much bloat. And yeah, DH1 feels like it was pretty much just a camping trip, with a Spider-Man 3-esque painfully awkward dance sequence. And yet…not that I would ever voluntarily watch DH1 again, but I think there’s a solid argument to be made that it was necessary. Yeah, it could have been condensed, but to fit in everything you need to the finale, it would have needed to be probably a four-hour movie, and that just wasn’t done at that point. So, indulge the story, let it breathe, fine. DH2 was pretty much solid all the way through. (Along those lines, this isn’t a hill I’m willing to make a huge stand on, but didn’t the HP series deserve some kind of critical/Oscar love for crossing the finish line so masterfully? If LOTR can win every Oscar for making three movies, shouldn’t the HP series at least get some major nominations for making an eight-movie coherent narrative?)
Yeah, I get why people would be dissatisfied by all the “hurry up and wait” aspects of DH1, but I think that you need that time to convey the atmosphere and tension of the war. That dance sequence is actually much more crucial character work than the Spider-Man 3 one. I think they probably could have gotten it down to one RotK length feature, but optimally you wouldn’t want to cut too close to the bone.
I don’t know that I would reward the series as a total endeavor for crossing the finish line, though. I don’t even particularly like that they did it for LotR. But none of the Harry Potter movies was ever really masterful, and I think there’s a difference between making it a coherent narrative and a good one. I’m not even being snobbish here, as I mostly like all of the Harry Potter movies. It didn’t operate with a single vision though, and the inconsistent qualities of all of the films individually doesn’t do the whole series any favors. Maybe it could have done with a BP nom, but even looking back at the other 2011 nominees I’m not seeing how it should win.
Fully disagree on the dance sequence. Wonderful excuse for Nick Cave, at the least.
Yeah, they were ostensibly hunting for horcruxes, but spent most of the movie hiding and accomplishing very little.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s Avengers: Infinity War in the first photo montage.There should be a Rule 5: There are exceptions to each of the preceding rules, but it’s really really hard to pull one off. I haven’t watched the Rocky series, and have trouble believing that Stallone would have meant this, but an anticlimactic street fight would work as an ending to the series if it was meant to show how pursuit of boxing fame winds up destroying almost everyone who chases that dream.Also, no, the climax of The Matrix Revolutions wasn’t spectacular, it was disappointingly mundane. It was like ending an extravagant wuxia film with the hero and the villain killing each other in a 19th century style pistol duel.
Honestly, I think this analysis is just fundamentally wrong.Mainly because it doesn’t really understand the new structure of narrative explored by the MCU and why that worked so well.The thing that made Avengers work is that it understood that you can and should conclude an arc without closing out the world or the people in it. Because that’s not how the world works, right? Things happen. Big, important things. But even after that big important thing is wrapped up, the world keeps going. People move on. Other new things will come up. Stories have a bad habit of going for a “Happy Ever After” and just wrapping stuff up with a big spectacle. And that’s basically what your analysis is saying is the way to do it.But we don’t have to. And, more importantly, it’s not really the best way to tell narratives. It’s better to think about “ok, so what happens next?” What happens after the Big Bad is defeated? How do the remaining heroes keep going? What new heroes emerge to fill their shoes? Was it actually worth it, with the benefit of hindsight?It’s that kind of in depth storytelling that creates expansive worlds that feel like real, living breathing places.Also, I just gotta suspect any list that says the Matrix sequels “did it right.”
Wait a second: SW: Revenge of the Sith does indeed remember who the main character is and “Finishes the Main Character’s Story”. You also explain and distinguish why Nolan’s “Robin coda” is NOT “opening the door to sequels”, even tho some audience members were idiots. Yet you go on to mis-qualify both those pics under “Did It Wrong”.I know it’s par for the AVC course these days, but maybe try to have a little pride in your work.
This is such a goddamned weird article. It sets up some arbitrary rules, tosses out examples, yet with rare exceptions fails to explain what made any given example a hit or miss. Also, Battle of the Five Armies (featuring not only the aforementioned battle, but Smaug’s attack on Lake Town) doesn’t have spectacle? Revenge of the Sith and The Rise of Skywalker don’t finish the stories of their main characters (Anakin and Rey, respectively)? In what sense? You don’t have to like how they got there, but both of them ended their main characters’ arcs (for their respective trilogies) definitively.
I stopped reading at “Star Wars: Episode IV—Return Of The Jedi”. I mean, come on, really? Do you not know Roman numerals or do you not know where ROTJ falls in the saga?
What’s this? An article that makes several points in succession that isn’t a slide-show? I thought such a thing impossible at the modern day AV Club.
Honestly I can’t believe this isn’t a slideshow. Someone’s going to get fired for this.
After seeing Back to the Future 3 featured in the feature image I was disappointed that franchise wasn’t included in the analysis since it kind of seems to beckon the discussion. The first movie as we all know was meant as a one and done, with the sequel kind of forcing its way through the door after using the foot of the first movie as a jamb. And the finale upended the world building presented in part 2 and merely mimicked what came before it in a wildly different setting, while also closing the door quite violently on any additional entries in the series, and also allowing Marty to grow and avoid the tendencies that lead to his ruin. Or Major League: Back to the Minors..