Franchisography

Disney began the 2010s at the start of a very different era than the one it found itself in just eight years prior. Marvel was in its clutches, a deal with LucasFilm was on the horizon and its seminal PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise was launching the first of hopefully many sequels in the wake of Gore Verbinski’s expensive, polarizing trilogy. Disney wanted a cheaper budget, a simpler story, and even bigger grosses. In the end, they would get two out of three. This is 2011’s ON STRANGER TIDES.

Replacing Verbinski as director would be Academy Award-winner Rob Marshall, who quickly filled the film’s supporting cast with big names like Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane and Stephen Graham (as fan-favorite character Scrum).

Guest Phil Dragash had a dream for a very different fourth Pirates adventure, but as with many of the plans laid by Disney and company, destiny had other fates in mind.

FRANCHISOGRAPHY’S chronicle of one slow-moving boat ride’s journey to box office immortality takes a turn for the strange in this week’s epic episode.

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If you thought Dead Man’s Chest was too long, too weird, and too convoluted, we have terrible news about PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END.

Director Gore Verbinski ends his gonzo pirate trilogy in typical maximalist fashion: Gigantic sets, full-size ships, and a three-hour runtime all lead to Nick and Scott pondering a single, possibly depressing question: Did movies ever get bigger than this?

FRANCHISOGRAPHY continues its sprawling chronicle of the Jester of Tortuga, and this week that journey takes us all the way past the edge of the world.

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In the wake of The Curse of the Black Pearl’s unexpected success, Disney was finally in the live-action blockbuster game. Two sequels were commissioned to shoot back-to-back, and director Gore Verbinski and Oscar-nominated star Johnny Depp were given carte balance to get bigger and weirder with their swashbuckling saga. Journey back to the world of 2006, of actual sets, shot on location, and digital effects that put today’s franchise fare to shame. Journey back to the world of DEAD MAN’S CHEST.

Part 2 doubles up on the dizzying plot, significantly expanding the world of sea myths and capitalism at bloody war with one another. Does more complex equal more entertaining?

Scott and Nick are joined by true Pirates fan Cass Fredrickson to travel the pristine seas of the Caribbean as FRANCHISOGRAPHY chronicles one slow-moving boat ride’s journey to box office history.

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Set sail for adventure on the high seas as the latest series of FRANCHISOGRAPHY begins. It’s 2003’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK OF PEARL.

In the early 2000’s, Walt Disney Pictures was in a very different place than it is today. Desperate to get into the live action blockbuster game, the House of Mouse took its biggest gamble in years on a big budget pirate movie, a genre thought to be as cursed as Aztec gold.

How did director Gore Verbenski and star Johnny Depp not only beat this curse, but turn a movie based on a slow-moving boat ride into a generation-defining phenomenon? Our intrepid hosts team up with theme park expert Kyle Crane to uncover these buried secrets and more.

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It’s a Betweenisode!

Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the conclusion of the Matrix mini-series, prepare for the start of the Pirates of the Caribbean mini-series next week, and make some announcements about the future of the podcast.

Franchise Potential: Jupiter Ascending (2015) episode now available on PATREON!

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FRANCHISOGRAPHY concludes its dizzying Matrix series with the unexpected and sometimes baffling epilogue to the series that changed reality as we know it: Lana Wachowski’s THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS.

After over a decade of pestering from a restless Warner Bros., Wachowski finally found a way back into The Matrix, revisiting the characters of Neo and Trinity and giving them the love story they always deserved.

In true Wachowski fashion, this fourth installment would be divisive and challenging to audiences. What do we owe the things that we create? What do those creations owe to other people? Who does The Matrix belong to?

Our hosts fly solo this week as they try to answer these questions and many, many more.

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Just six months after THE MATRIX RELOADED divided audiences and blew up the box office, The Wachowskis concluded their trilogy with the most complex, dizzying chapter yet, THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.

The Path of The One is clear; Neo must journey to the heart of Machine City and connect with The Source to end the war and save Zion, but are man and machine destined to be interlocked in conflict forever? Is true revolution possible within the confines of a system made to control us? What is choice and what is programming?

Scott, Nick and special guest Syn Vik attempt to answer these questions and more in this high-flying installment of FRANCHISOGRAPHY.

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In January of 2003, Newsweek Magazine proclaimed it to be The Year of The Matrix, with two sequels, a video game and a straight-to-DVD anthology all to be released within months of each other. The world was waiting to be rocked once again, but The Wachowskis had a much different, more challenging experience in mind. By the time 2003 was over, audiences would never look at The Matrix the same way again. 

It all kicks off with THE MATRIX RELOADED as Scott and Nick are joined by Reloaded true believer Maeve Shade to dive even further down the rabbit hole on a journey that questions the very nature of revolution itself. Choose to join us on this mind-bending episode of FRANCHISOGRAPHY. You don’t truly know a movie until you fight it.

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This episode description cannot tell you what Franchisography uncovers about 1999’s The Matrix. You have to listen for yourself.

Join Scott, Nick and special guest Jonfen Parker as they jack into a world of landlines, flip phones and guns, lots of guns. The Wachowskis weren’t even first-time filmmakers when they began dreaming up the world of the Matrix, and the journey to creating it would lead to revolutions both technical and spiritual in ways even they couldn’t imagine.

Nearly three decades on, we may never learn just how deep the rabbit whole goes, but this episode takes the first leap.

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It’s a Betweenisode!

Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the conclusion of the Twilight Saga mini-series, their rankings, and the announcement of the mini-series that will follow The Matrix.

Franchise Potential: Beautiful Creatures (2013) episode now available on PATREON!

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