After Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi attempted to develop a fourth film but after 3 years and an ultimatum by Sony to either make the movie or move along, Raimi left Spider-Man behind and gave his blessing for a reboot.

To helm the reboot, Sony chose director Marc Webb, fresh off of his Sundance darling 500 Days of Summer, with a plan to make a Twilight-inspired Spider-Man movie for $90 million. What they got was 2012’s THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, a 3D film that reportedly cost $230 million. While it received a solid box office return, the response from viewers was tepid at best. But the one thing everyone agreed on? Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone had incredible chemistry.

Nick and Scott take a look at the ins and out of the first Spider-Man reboot and speculate about how an exciting premise, mostly became a rehash of a better movie from ten years earlier.

(NOTE: This episode features material originally released on Patreon in September of 2021.)

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

After the success of Spider-Man 2, a sequel was immediately greenlit, featuring the Sandman and the Vulture teaming up to take on the friendly neighborhood webhead this time around. But the development of the next Spider-Man would be complicated by the desire for a different villain’s inclusion by Producer Avi Arad over director Sam Raimi’s objections. 

The villain? Venom. The movie? SPIDER-MAN 3. The reaction? Not great!

Nick and Scott aren’t quite on the same page this time around as FRANCHISOGRAPHY takes on the controversial trilogy capper to the Raimi/Maguire era.

(NOTE: This episode features clips from the podcast SPIDER-MAN MINUTE hosted by Scott Carelli and Zach Luna, originally released in July of 2019.)

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

What happens when you greenlight a sequel without a proper script or star? Somehow, you get the best superhero movie ever made.

Two years after the mega-success of the first Spider-Man feature film, Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN 2 was released in the Summer of 2004 to wide acclaim among critics and fans alike. A film that almost starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Peter Parker; filmed with a Frankensteined script from multiple drafts rewritten on the fly; it’s a movie that has no right to be as good as it is.

Join Nick and Scott as they break down how a movie with multiple plot holes and questionable character arcs can be miraculously held together by good vibes and a strong central theme to become a superhero cinema classic.

(NOTE: This episode features clips from the podcast SPIDER-MAN MINUTE hosted by Scott Carelli and Zach Luna, originally released in April of 2018.)

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

With Great Podcast, Comes Great Responsibility… and so FRANCHISOGRAPHY returns with a new mini-series focused on everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood wall-crawler.

It’s difficult to understate the impact that SPIDER-MAN had on pop culture when it hit theaters in 2002. Filled to the brim with meme-able moments, memorable characters, and an iconic kiss that has never been matched, the first film to feature Peter Parker was unstoppable. Not only was it the first film to ever break $100 million at the box office in its opening weekend, it eventually became the top-grossing domestic film of the year, beating Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings.

And with that, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man launched superhero cinema into the stratosphere.

Join Nick and Scott as they try to pinpoint just what makes this movie so special and how it continues to stand the test of time.

(NOTE: This episode features clips from the podcast SPIDER-MAN MINUTE hosted by Scott Carelli and Zach Luna, originally released in April of 2017.)

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

We interrupt our regularly scheduled mini-series with a BONUS FEATURE as we return to Wes Anderson for a look at his latest film, 2023’s ASTEROID CITY.

Releasing less than 2 years after The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson returns to cinemas with another film featuring a framing device and a massive ensemble. This time, a play about a small desert town forced into quarantine after an interaction with an alien visitor and the effect it has on the lives of the people trapped there.

Join Nick and Scott as they dig into one of Wes Anderson’s best films, as well as his deepest and most thematically rich as it examines life’s biggest questions and the very nature of art itself.

Next Week: SPIDER-MAN begins!

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

It’s a Betweenisode!

Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the conclusion of the Apatow mini-series, what they want to see him do next, and announce our next mini-series (beginning on July 14)!

Next Week: ASTEROID CITY

FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) episode now available on PATREON!

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Patreon Associate Producers: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

As all of humanity grappled with a worldwide pandemic, writer-director Judd Apatow wanted to provide filmgoers with distraction and laughter, but could he provide that distraction while also investigating the existential crisis of lockdown and quarantine with his patented brand of honesty and self-deprecation? The answer it turns out was a resounding no.

Subbing out his grounded, humanistic style with bawdy slapstick and uncharacteristic mean-spiritedness, THE BUBBLE is unlike any movie Apatow had ever made before and, hopefully, unlike any movie he ever makes again.

The Apatow era of FRANCHISOGRAPHY somehow ends with both a whimper and a bang as Nick and Scott take on one of their toughest challenges yet.

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Five years after Trainwreck, director Judd Apatow was now nearly two decades into his storied career as Hollywood’s leading comedy director. For his next film, Apatow would return to a now familiar formula: Collaborating with a young star-in-the-making to craft a deeply personal, semi-autobiographical character study that mixed big laughs with honest self-examination.

This time, his muse would be then-26-year-old Pete Davidson, a stand-up wunderkind turned Saturday Night Live superstar more well-known for his list of famous ex-girlfriends than his film and TV roles. But Davidson had a mission with his first big movie, emotional baggage he needed to process in order to grow not just as an actor and comedian, but a person.

In interviews, Apatow had often said his love of working with actors in their first projects stemmed from their hunger and passion for finally bringing their story to the screen, and in Pete Davidson, he may have found his ultimate collaborator. This is THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND.

No guests. Just vibes.

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One day while stuck in LA traffic, Judd Apatow heard stand-up comedian Amy Schumer talking on Howard Stern and felt the same excitement and curiosity he felt when he first discovered Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Lena Dunham. And so, after brokering a deal between himself, Schumer, and his old home at Universal Studios, Apatow began work on a more back-to-basics romantic comedy than his two previous films.

This is TRAINWRECK.

With exceptional performances from supporting actors like Bill Hader, Brie Larson and LeBron James, can a movie still work if its star just might be delivering its weakest performance?

Nick and Scott hold nothing back on this brutally honest episode of FRANCHISOGRAPHY.

No guests. Just vibes.

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

We interrupt your regularly scheduled mini-series for a Centenisode!

Join Nick and Scott as they celebrate 100 episodes of Franchisography, answer listener questions, and rank all of the franchises that we’ve covered so far.

Plus, what better way to commemorate our 100th episode than discussing both entries in a franchise that we wouldn’t be able to cover as a regular mini-series? The story of two high school rivals who become cops and eventually best friends when they go undercover as high school students, and then again as college students, with strong ties to our very first mini-series.

It’s Lord & Miller’s 21 JUMP STREET & 22 JUMP STREET.

Strap in folks, it’s gonna be a long one.

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra