Failure to Franchise

"Summer Surprise" rolls along, and this time around our online randomizer has chosen a film from perhaps our most dreaded cinematic genre - a "supernatural romance" YA adaptation! That's right, 2013's Beautiful Creatures was another studio attempt to cash-in on and replicate the success of Twilight , and upon its release it was roundly dismissed as such by both critics and audiences. But could thi...

"Summer Surprise," our annual event where an online randomizer picks our slate of summer movies, kicks off with 1988's attempt to turn the iconic TV horror hostess Elvira into an iconic big screen star...which, obviously, didn't quite work out. But why? With Elvira-mania in full swing in the 80s, what kept the spooky and goofy comedy of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from connecting with movie audie...

"Fighting VideoLAMES" concludes, with a look at the adaptation at one of the most popular, financially successful fighting game franchises in the world. But even that pedigree wasn't enough to save the movie from a lengthy struggle to even get released. Disregarded by many fans upset over changes to the source material, and equally disavowed by the game's creators, the  Tekken  movie is arguably o...

"Fighting VideoLAMES" continues with a look at the adaptation of Tecmo's  Dead or Alive  video game franchise. The games, about an international martial arts tournament put on by a mysterious, potentially sinister corporation, are known not only for their fast-paced hand-to-hand combat and colorful roster of characters, but also for their focus on beautiful, badass female characters and, controver...

For the latest installment of "Fighting VideoLAMES," we're looking at Capcom's second attempt to bring their beloved Street Fighter II to the big screen. Far from the silly, colorful spectacle of the JCVD/Raul Julia version, this time around Capcom opted for a more grounded, dramatic take, focusing primarily one single Street Fighter character in hopes of kicking off an MCU-like string of sequels...

We're kicking off "Fighting VideoLAMES," a four-episode series covering cinematic adaptions of fighting video-games, with the first of two movies based on one of the most iconic, popular fighting games of all time: 1994's Street Fighter . With an all-star cast including Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia (in his final onscreen appearance), produced by the very company that made the video game, a...

"Mark WahlTURD & the Yucky Bunch" concludes, as the singer-turned-actor-turned-business-mogul and his frequent collaborator, director Peter Berg, leave behind the growing unpredictability of theatrical box office for the apparent comfort and safety (and big paydays) of the streaming world. But even there, you're not entirely safe from the perils of a failed franchise starter, as you'll hear when w...

The third installment of "Mark WahlTURD & the Yucky Bunch" jumps ahead 15 years to 2018, where Mark Wahlberg, now very much a movie star, is looking to team up with director Peter Berg, his recent favorite collaborator, for a new espionage action thriller. But it's a rocky road to get there, as the movie in question was originally developed as a potential star vehicle for a totally different perfo...

"Mark WahlTURD & the Yucky Bunch" rolls along into 2003, when a much-in-need-of-a-comeback Mark Wahlberg decided to hop on the then popular trend of remaking classic '60s heist movies, with a modern update of the beloved Michael Caine crime caper The Italian Job . Here, Wahlberg and a crew of fellow eccentric thieves (a "funky bunch," if you will) seek to pull off a heist as revenge against a form...

Here at Failure to Franchise , we don't like making fun of actors. So trust us when we say our new theme, " Mark WalhTURD and the Yucky Bunch ," dedicated to four failed franchise starters from Boston rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg, is, uh, a tribute. First up, 2001's Planet of the Apes remake, which was meant to be Wahlberg's first foray into mega-blockbuster leading man territory. Helmed by b...

"FebruaRYAN" concludes with a look at 2014's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit . Twelve years after The Sum of All Fears failed to reignite the Jack Ryan franchise, Paramount tried once again to tell a new Ryan origin story, with a new "hot young star of the moment" leading man in the role. But this particular Ryan movie arrived in a post-MCU world, when the importance of "IP" had become even more evident...

It's out with January, and in with "FebruaRYAN." That's right, this month we're taking a look at Tom Clancy's beloved CIA analyst turned reluctant hero, Jack Ryan. After the successes of The Hunt for Red October , with Alec Baldwin as Ryan, and Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger , which saw Harrison Ford take over the role, Paramount Pictures were sure they had a long-running, bulletproof...

"The Mutant GENEuary" wraps up with a movie that is very much not a YA adaptation. In fact, Mutant Chronicles is the long-awaited cinematic adaptation of a popular table-top RPG and video game franchise. After several abandoned attempts to make a big budget studio version of the property, starting in the 90s, fans were finally delivered an independent film adaptation in 2008 that adopted the green...

It's a new year, and a new theme! We're transforming - or should we say "mutating" - the month of January into "The Mutant Gene-uary!" That's right, a month dedicated to mutants, and we're kicking it off with 2020's The New Mutants , the last film released from the original regime of the 20th Century Fox X-Men franchise. Based on a popular X-Men spin-off comic, The New Mutants was meant not only t...

"It's Poddin' Time! We're closing out "Failure to Franchise presents Trev & Chris-tmas" with Trev's gift to Chris - a chance to revisit 2017's big-screen blockbuster reboot of  Power Rangers.  With a team of up-and-coming young actors as the titular heroes, and a couple Hollywood heavy hitters backing them up in supporting roles - including one with an interesting prior connection to the franchise...

It's once again the most holly, jolly time of the year - "Failure to Franchise presents Trev and Chris-tmas," when we gift each other movies off our long F2F list that we might otherwise not be getting to anytime soon. First up, Chris gifts Trev a notorious box-office and critical flop that Trev has nonetheless always wanted to see ever since it first half-heartedly sputtered into theaters. But......

In the return of our "Success to Series" spin-off show, we're taking a look at one of the most popular and unique horror franchises of the 2000s, Final Destination . What is it about the series' pitch-black humor and overly-elaborate death scenes that we find so amusing? We try to get to the bottom of this question, while also exploring the original film's surprising TV origins, sharing our favori...

"Noyce-vember," our month-long tribute to journeyman director Phillip Noyce, concludes! So how did Noyce follow up the disappointment of 1997's The Saint (which we looked at last time), you ask? Simple - by recruiting one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Denzel Washington, teaming him with a young starlet on the brink of mega-stardom named Angelina Jolie, and putting them together in an adaptation of...

Here at Failure to Franchise, we love a dependable journeyman. And that's why we're kicking off "Noyce-vember," a one month tribute to one of Hollywood's (well, technically, Australia's) most unsung journeymen directors, Phillip Noyce. First up, his 1997 adaptation of The Saint, a popular vigilante character who had already graced the world of literature, radio, film, and - most notably - a belove...

An iconic character, beloved around the world. A fairly successful box-office haul. And a creative team including Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Kathleen Kennedy, Peter Jackson, and Steven freakin' Spielberg!! What the hell is this movie doing on our show?! That's what we're here to figure out, as "Animation (3D)evastation" concludes with a look at The Adventures of Tintin . Sought afte...

It's a long held belief in Hollywood that, with only a few exceptions, cinematic adaptations of video games just don't work. So perhaps it's not surprising that the makers of the first big-screen Final Fantasy movie in 2001 thought it would be more beneficial to concentrate on at least creating a groundbreaking technological achievement, rather than worry about sticking to the story elements and t...

Our "Animation (2D)evastation" month concludes with The Road to El Dorado, Dreamworks Animation's 2000 attempt not only to pay tribute to the classic Bob Hope & Bing Crosby Road To... movies of the past, but also - more importantly - try to beat Disney at their own game with a rollicking, animated musical adventure. And they even went the distance of recruiting Lion King music collaborators Tim Ri...

"Animation (2D)evastation," a month dedicated to two 2D animated failed franchise starters, kicks off with a look at 1999's Doug's 1st Movie . Based on Doug , the hit series that started as one of the original "Nicktoons" on Nickelodeon, before being bought by Disney and moving to Disney for its later seasons, Doug's 1st Movie was an attempt to see if the series could make the jump to feature leng...

We're wrapping up our "Summer Surprise" series with an unexpectedly timely episode. With  Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice  coming soon, we're taking a look at one of director Tim Burton's lesser remembered films, one that certainly didn't get a sequel (duh). This YA lit adaptation ( shudder ) is essentially Burton's riff on the X-Men, as Eva Green does her best Professor Xavier impression as the headmist...

"Summer Surprise" continues, with our look at the 2019 reboot of the popular, long-running Child's Play/Chucky franchise. But unlike most reboots, this one had an interesting wrinkle; it was done at a time when the filmmakers behind the original Chucky franchise still had every intention of keeping their series going, as well. So how did this attempt at a separate, parallel Chucky continuity come...