Franchisography

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us for the most expensive entry in the entire franchise. After the success of Fallout, another Mission was greenlit quickly with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie returning … Continue reading →

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Impossible Mission with a bonus Scheme! After the unexpectedly contentious response to 2023’s Asteroid City, Anderson returns with a simple, crowd-pleasing comedy about the relationship between an industrialist who has survived multiple assassination attempts and … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us for the first direct sequel in the franchise and one of the greatest action movies ever put to film. While Rogue Nation was only … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us for the sequel that kickstarted a brand new era for the series going forward. After Ghost Protocol was another success, Tom Cruise turned to … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us for the espionage sequel that launched the live action career for an animation director. After Tom Cruise’s deal on M:I 3 created issues for … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us for the espionage sequel that started the cinematic career of a television director. The year was 2006, and a sequel to MI2 had spent … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch the high octane sequel to the espionage summer blockbuster four years in the making. The year was 2000, and a highly anticipated sequel was released … Continue reading →

Good evening, Mr/Ms. Listener. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch every entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise along with the newest mini-series from the podcast FRANCHISOGRAPHY. The year was 1996, and a film based on … Continue reading →

It's a Betweenisode! Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the Fantastic Four, the current state of the MCU, look ahead toward First Steps, and announce our next mini-series! Next week: A new franchise begins! FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: Sky High (2005) … Continue reading →

Well that didn't work! After Rise of the Silver Surfer failed to up the ante at the level of a Spider-Man 2 or X2: X-Men United, Marvel and Fox decided to hit the reset button and reboot the adventures of … Continue reading →

This week's FRANCHISOGRAPHY digs deep into one of the most infamous comic book movies in all of nerd history, a film that manages to whittle down a three part masterpiece of sequential art into a 90-something minute comedy and reduces … Continue reading →

With Marvel's First Family finally taking their “First Steps” into the MCU, Nick and Scott are marking the occasion by looking back at the previous attempts to bring those iconic Silver Age explorers to the big screen! Reed, Sue, Johnny … Continue reading →

It's a Betweenisode! Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the state of female filmmaker “authors”, rank the films of Small Talk and Big Kitchens, and announce our next mini-series! Next week: A new franchise begins! FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: Home Again … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, comes to a close with the feel-good comedy about learning from your elders and falling in platonic love. After It’s Complicated, Nancy Meyers wanted … Continue reading →

Round 1 of this year's Listener Pick Tournament is over and Nick & Scott are here to discuss where the choices made by our listeners on Discord and Patreon have led us. There were surprising victories and devastating losses, but … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with a biopic that mixes the lives of two women into complimentary story about transforming yourself into the person you want to become. … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the story of a divorcée looking for love in the wrong place. With the financial success of The Holiday, Nancy Meyers basically … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the story of two women ready to be the protagonists of their own Christmas romance.  The reaction to Something’s Gotta Give was … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the convoluted cinematic sitcom adaptation about a sitcom reboot. After being involved with three flops in a row (2 movies and a … Continue reading →

It's a Listener Pick Tournament Bonus-ode! With March less than two weeks away, Nick & Scott are joined by Patreon Producer Mark Ybarra to reveal the 32 franchises that were chosen for this year's Listener Pick Tournament and discuss their … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the movie that defied Hollywood’s accepted ageism by focusing on romantic leads over the age of 55. Fresh off of the massive … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the movie that became the then-most successful film ever directed by a woman. After her divorce from Charles, Meyers was eager to … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the movie that brought the romantic comedy into the age of the internet. With the creative freedom rewarded to her by the … Continue reading →

February is almost here and March is right around the corner… …which means it's almost time for this year's Listener Pick Tournament! Join Nick and Scott as they discuss this year's Tournament rules and regulations! What’s off limits? What’s back … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the remake that introduced the world to Lindsay Lohan. With everything she had learned while making Father of the Bride Part II … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with the movie that broke conventional wisdom and dared to save the meet cute of its romantic leads until just before the closing … Continue reading →

SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, continues with a look at a pair of heartwarming remakes about a father learning to let go of his adult daughter… by replacing her … Continue reading →

Prepare to open your hearts to a brand new era of FRANCHISOGRAPHY as we begin SMALL TALK & BIG KITCHENS, our mini-series on the romcoms of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, with the film that many credit as the greatest … Continue reading →

It's a Betweenisode! Join Nick & Scott as they rank the Santa Clause franchise, pitch ideas for a Santa Clause reboot, and announce our next (quite lengthy) mini-series! Next week: New year, new mini-series! FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: Rise of the Guardians … Continue reading →

Carol Newman is dead. Only Mrs. Claus remains. As the confines of her new life in the North Pole begin to suffocate her, Scott Calvin breaks protocol and invites his entire blended family to the North Pole to keep Carol … Continue reading →

Scott Calvin is dead. Only Santa remains. And with the combined forces of Scott’s 90’s business know-how and good old fashioned Christmas magic, the happiness of the world’s children is up a whopping 86%, even as the world grapples with … Continue reading →

FRANCHISOGRAPHY gets into the holiday spirit with a deep dive into the beloved Santa Clause Trilogy! America’s ultimate 90’s funnyman Tim Allen stars as ultimate 90’s corporate dad, Scott Calvin, a recent divorcee struggling to find any holiday spirit when … Continue reading →

It's a Betweenisode! Recorded less than 24 hours after the 2024 Presidential Election… Join Nick & Scott as they discuss the election results, rank the Purge franchise, pitch ideas for a Purge anthology series and what a final Purge film … Continue reading →

Purge creator James DeMonaco decided to end the series and when he realized the story would focus on immigration, he realized he needed a Latino director at the helm. After seeing his renowned work as a television director, DeMonaco turned … Continue reading →

After three films, Purge creator James DeMonaco was ready to step away from the director’s chair to focus on other projects but agreed to stay on as screenwriter. What better way to introduce a new director (Gerard McMurray, fresh off … Continue reading →

After Anarchy proved that the concept had legs, writer/director James DeMonaco wanted to push the franchise to its limits by exploring how the potential end to the Purge would affect society after more that 20 years of the annual event, … Continue reading →

While The Purge had been immensely successful, financially, the response to the film was disappointing. Audiences felt the premise had been wasted by staying inside a suburban home, turning a great idea into a generic home invasion thriller. With the … Continue reading →

This is not a test, this is FRANCHISOGRAPHY announcing the commencement of a new mini-series sanctioned by the founding fathers of the podcast. Screenwriter James DeMonaco found himself disturbed by an offhanded comment made by his wife about how great … Continue reading →

It's a Betweenisode! Join Nick & Scott as they rank the Underworld franchise, discuss how an Underworld reboot/remake should be handled (including cast ideas), and announce our next mini-series! Next week: A new franchise begins! FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: I, Frankenstein (2014) … Continue reading →

Kate Beckinsale's beloved leather-clad killer is lost and on the run in a new future. When an old ally tries to bring Selene in from the cold, she finds herself in a new web of coven intrigue. Who can she … Continue reading →

Underworld goes back… to the future with its fourth and most financially successful chapter. Kate Beckinsale returns as Selene as she awakens to a new world and a new war. Humans have hunted Lycans and vampires to the brink of … Continue reading →

The Underworld franchise changed direction with its third installment, traveling back to the origins of the Vampire Lycan war. Here we meet again Michael Sheen's Lucian and Bill Nighy's Viktor, and learn of the tragic events that led them to … Continue reading →