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Failure to Franchise: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Trev & Chris
A bi-weekly podcast devoted to infamous examples of failed film-franchise starters. In a Hollywood landscape dominated by giant tentpole movies, not all attempted franchises can succeed. Many intended first entries of a series fail to generate the planned sequels due to low box office, poor judgement, or, simply put... utter incompetence. This show is a celebration of (or perhaps a memorial for) those failures, as hosts Trev and Chris dissect what went wrong with these cinematic misfires.@F2Fpod on all the socials!Like us there, Like us everywhere!
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- 4 days ago1h 27m
Episode 147 - Doctor Detroit (1983)
They say there ain't no cure for the summertime blues, but we here at F2F disagree. So allow Trev & Chris to make a house-call, as we ring in a brand new series - "JUNE is What the Doctor Ordered," taking a look at three doctor-themed (sorta) movies. First up, the 1983 oddity Doctor Detroit, perhaps most remembered as SNL legend Dan Aykroyd's first (and last?) solo starring role in a movie. Aykroyd plays a nebbish college professor forced to pose as a tough-talking pimp in order to protect four beautiful sex workers from the wrath of an evil crime boss named "Mom." And if that premise already sounds pretty out-there to you, well, we haven't even said anything about the costuming, voice, and mannerism choices Aykroyd makes in regards to his "Doctor Detroit" persona. Why exactly did a movie starring a beloved comic icon, released so close to hits like Trading Places and Ghostbusters, not connect with audiences? We're here to diagnose what might have gone wrong. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- 2 weeks ago1h 47m
Episode 146 - Terminator Genisys (2015)
"No Fate But What We MAYke" concludes, with the TERMINATOR franchise under new ownership, and looking to forge a new path forward...by going all the way back to the beginning. That's right - perhaps appropriately for a series whose story has been built on a bootstrap paradox/causal loop time travel convention, TERMINATOR GENISYS looks to revisit and revisit and reinvent the events of the original TERMINATOR, creating a movie where even the makers seemed unsure whether to label it a "sequel," a "reboot," or an original "stand-alone entry." But despite the confusion, and despite obviously having to recast several of the key characters with new, younger actors, they did have at least one undeniable not-so-secret weapon: the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to a starring role in the franchise. Was Arnie's return enough to make the film's story feel worth telling? Did the new actors live up to the original performances of the previous actors? How responsible might TERMINATOR GENISYS be for the glut of "legacy sequels" that followed in its wake? And just what is this franchise's beef with John Connor?? We discuss all this and more, so come with us if you want to live! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- May 5, 20261h 47m
Episode 145 - Terminator Salvation (2009)
Did the Terminator franchise really need to live on past James Cameron's excellent T2: Judgment Day? Probably not! But Hollywood can't let a good (or moneymaking) franchise die. And so after the strong performance of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, not even franchise star Arnold Schwarzenegger leaving movies for the world of politics could kill the series. But what is a franchise to do when it's under new ownership and it's lost it's usual leading man? The makers of the fourth entry decided to use the opportunity to finally deliver a movie the franchise's fans had been clamoring for since the beginning - a film set entirely during the post Judgment Day future war. And they recruited two new powerhouse leading men to front it - Christian Bale, a newly minted Hollywood blockbuster star after the mega-success of The Dark Knight, and Sam Worthington, a name on the rise about to also star in the same year's most anticipated blockbuster, Avatar (from, yep...James Cameron). So what could possibly go wrong? Well, the pre-release leak of audio of Bale freaking out and yelling at a crewmember, which overshadowed much else of the film's release, might be the start of the answer...but what about the movie itself? Join us as we start out new theme month - "No Fate But What We MAYke" - as we discuss 2009's Terminator Salvation! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- Apr 21, 20261h 27m
Episode 144 - American Samurai (1992)
"Misfired Cannons" comes to a conclusion as a post Golan & Globus era Cannon limps to its final days amidst new ownership but continued, and growing, financial woes. In a blatant attempt to try to recapture some of their past glory, Cannon looked to start a new franchise that might capture the same fans as those of one of its most popular previous successful series, American Ninja. So, recruiting one of the stars of that franchise, and the director of the first installments, Cannon unleashed American Samurai. But even with the lowered expectations of a straight-to-video release, this film didn't enjoy the same financial or cult success of the American Ninja series. So, what went wrong? We discuss leading man (and another important Cannon figure) David Bradley, the onscreen debut of martial arts star Mark Dacascos, the movie's strange "love story," its similarities to American Ninja, and why its attempt to also copy the recent success of another martial arts movie, Bloodsport, may have been its downfall. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- Apr 7, 20261h 35m
Episode 143 - Cobra (1986)
It's the third installment of "Misfired Cannons," and time to look at what happens when Cannon Films decides to work with one of Hollywood's biggest megastars. Sylvester Stallone was riding high off the success of both the Rocky and Rambo franchises in the mid-80s, so deciding to launch a new action franchise with the notoriously frugal and not always successful Cannon might have seemed a strange, unexpected move. So what sort of deal did Cannon offer Stallone to make it hard to resist? What other surprising 80s hit was Stallone originally attached to and oddly led to the creation of this film? Why is there controversy regarding who really directed the movie? How effective is the movie's blend of action and horror? We discuss all this and more, as we look at 1986's Cobra, pig! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- Mar 24, 20261h 24m
Episode 142 - Avenging Force (1986)
So you've developed a sequel to one of your recent "successes," but the legendary action star of the previous film has decided he doesn't want to do a follow-up. Are you supposed to scrap the whole thing? Not if you're Cannon Films, who knew better than to throw out all the work they had already done on a potential Invasion USA sequel, and instead decided to rework it into a new potential franchise starter of its own. "Misfired Cannons" continues as we look at 1986's Avenging Force, which saw Chuck Norris replaced with Cannon's own pet-project up-and-coming star, Michael Dudikoff. Here, Dudikoff takes over the role of Matt Hunter (or is maybe a totally different Matt Hunter?), this time taking on an an underground society of crazed right-wing extremists that likes to hunt men for sport. We discuss Dudikoff's place in the Cannon legacy, the movie's surprising-for-the-time-and-genre politics, the perpetual underutilization of co-star Steve James, and much more. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
- Mar 10, 20261h 56m
Episode 141 - Invasion U.S.A. (1985) w/ Special Guest: Bryan Kristopowitz
For film fans of the '80s, one studio was synonymous with over-the-top action, wild premises, and low to mid-budget insanity. Cannon Films delivered a massive output of video store staples and cable classics, and today are looked back on nostalgically as an entertaining alternative to the "big" studio fare of the era. But Cannon certainly had at least one thing in common with the major studios - their fare share of failed franchise starters. So we're devoting two months to the studio's "Misfired Cannons." First up, a look at the 1985 Chuck Norris vehicle Invasion USA, which sees the denim-clad action icon single-handily take on an army of foreign terrorists invading the United States. It might not be the "best '80s action movie," but it is arguably the "most '80s action movie." But we couldn't discuss such a crazy cult-classic alone, so for this discussion we're joined by Bryan Kristopowitz, author of the "Gratuitous B-Movie Column" on the 411mania website, and the recently published book, Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s. So slip on your Chuck Norris Action Jeans, and join us for an in-depth discussion of one of the wildest action movies, and movie studios, of all time! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd Buy Bryan's book HERE, titled: Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s
- Feb 24, 20261h 36m
Episode 140 - The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
"The Girl with the Failed February Franchises" concludes with our look at 2018's The Girl in the Spider's Web. Even though the previous film hadn't made as much as Sony had hoped for, it still earned Rooney Mara an Oscar nomination, received critical acclaim, and the entire creative team was down to return for more. So, of course the thing to do is...ignore all that and instead hire a new director and cast to jump ahead to the fourth book (the first not written by series creator Stieg Larsson) and try to reboot the franchise with a much smaller budget. How did that work out for them? Well, we're covering it here, so, you know. Still, we're here to give it a fair shot, discussing whether horror director Fede Alvarez was the right choice to replace Fincher, if Claire Foy is a worthy Lisbeth Salander, and if the movie's global-stakes espionage thriller vibes truly feels appropriate for the overall franchise and character. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd
About Failure to Franchise
A bi-weekly podcast devoted to infamous examples of failed film-franchise starters. In a Hollywood landscape dominated by giant tentpole movies, not all attempted franchises can succeed. Many intended first entries of a series fail to generate the planned sequels due to low box office, poor judgement, or, simply put... utter incompetence. This show is a celebration of (or perhaps a memorial for) those failures, as hosts Trev and Chris dissect what went wrong with these cinematic misfires.@F2Fpod on all the socials!Like us there, Like us everywhere!
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