Failure to Franchise

"He takes off the helmet?!" This became the go-to, angry exclamation of JUDGE DREDD fans around the world when the cult favorite British comic book series was adapted into a 1995 Hollywood summer blockbuster. For these "Dredd-heads," this betrayal of an iconic visual tradition was indicative of a larger sense that the film didn't understand the spirit of their beloved character. But IS the movie r...

In the wake the financial success of 2009's FRIDAY THE 13th reboot, New Line and Platinum Dunes were eager to revive the other slasher icon of the '80s. But this time, they faced different significant challenges...is it possible to recast Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger? Could a music video director making his feature debut bring the same class and style as horror master Wes Craven? And what woul...

After dominating the slasher sub-genre throughout the '80s, and heading to space and then doing battle with his biggest box-office rival Freddy in the early 2000's, what else was left for everyone's favorite hockey-masked, homicidal mama's boy to do? Why, take part in the horror remake craze of the mid-'00s, of course! This episode, we take a look at Platinum Dunes' 2009 reboot of FRIDAY THE 13th,...

"Video game movie." This three-word phrase has sent a shudder down the spine of gamers and movie fans alike for almost three decades. To say this particular sub-genre has a spotty track record is an understatement. And it all started with a failed attempt to begin a new cinematic series featuring the most popular video game franchise of them all. In terms of pop culture in 1993, it didn't get much...

After a wave of independent and foreign MAD MAX rip-off films dominated video store shelves throughout the 1980s, Hollywood finally took its own shot, in a big way, at the post-apocalyptic wasteland action genre in the mid-90s. Swapping vast desert for a flooded earth, and starring mega-star (at the time) Kevin Costner, WATERWORLD arrived in theaters amidst bad behind-the-scenes buzz and a reputat...

How could the reboot of a beloved '80s comedy classic, coming from the filmmaker behind one of the 2010's most successful comedies and starring a number of popular performers, end up one of the most controversial films in recent memory? The hysteria and heated debates surrounding 2016's GHOSTBUSTERS might be one of the elements it is ultimately best remembered for...but are they really the only re...

An iconic character that influenced 100 years of storytelling. An award-winning, critically-acclaimed filmmaker. A rising star in the lead role. All in the hands of the biggest movie studio in the world. When Disney's JOHN CARTER arrived in 2012, it seemed to have a lot going for it. And yet, it ended up arguably the most infamous bomb in recent cinematic history. So what happened? In our first ep...

Before embarking on a bi-weekly quest to chronicle some of Hollywood's most infamous failures, we take a moment to introduce ourselves, and explain what lies ahead. How will we go about discussing the movies we cover? What do we think constitutes a franchise non-starter in the first place? And how do we feel about the modern day dependence on franchise film-making in general? All these questions a...