franchise

18 Nov

In Star Trek: Discovery’s New Future, Franchise History Still Matters

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for “Forget Me Not.” For back-to-back Star Trek projects, director Hanelle Culpepper has been given scripts that require filming on recreated versions of Trek sets that were last seen in the 1990s, more than 20 years ago. First, Culpepper filmed the Picard premiere’s opening scene on The Next Generation‘s iconic Ten Forward. And, now, in Discovery Season 3, Culpepper got the chance to shoot in the Trill Caves of Mak’ala, first and last seen on Deep Space Nine. Interestingly, in both Culpepper’s Picard episode “Remembrance” and in Discovery’s “Forget Me Not,” memories, dreams,…

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18 Nov

Here’s What Scream 5’s Title Could Mean for the Franchise

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Scream 5 has wrapped filming. The announcement came via Twitter from original Scream writer Kevin Williamson, the godfather of the ’90s teen slasher era (he also wrote I Know What You Did Last Summer) and exec producer on the new Scream movie. Along with the production wrap announcement, Williamson also officially revealed what the title of Scream 5 would be. No, not 5cream, as the internet would have it, but just, simply, Scream. His wrap message reads: “That’s a wrap on Scream, which I’m excited to announce is the official title of the next film! Nearly 25 years ago, when…

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05 Nov

The Power Rangers “Reboot Universe” Is Exactly What The Franchise Needs

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In the early 1990s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers burst onto the scene and quickly became one of the hottest kids shows on the planet. Millions of toys were sold, ratings went through the roof, multiple copycats were created, and a big budget movie was put into production. Power Rangers’ place in pop culture was cemented and secured a long future for the franchise. However, as the years went on and Power Rangers continued on television its fame slowly evaporated. It fell into the background; successive seasons of the TV show were enjoyed by new generations of kids and hardcore fans…

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30 Oct

Final Fantasy 16 Already Features Some of the Franchise’s Best Clichés

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The Final Fantasy 16 team released a small preview of the game’s world, protagonists, and plot, and it is loaded with many of the clichés that define the Final Fantasy series nearly 33 years after its debut. It’s understandable if your mind goes to a negative place when you hear the word “cliché.” The word is most frequently used in a derogatory fashion (sometimes rightfully so), but when you’re talking about a series as old and celebrated as Final Fantasy, thoseclichés become more like traditions. They’re these little plot beats we dance to every time they come up because they…

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25 Oct

The Weird History of A Chinese Ghost Story Franchise

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When A Chinese Ghost Story premiered in 1987, it was already part of a unique category – the fusion of horror, comedy, and Kung Fu. Asian horror films are known as jiangshi, which is the name of a specific spooky hopping ghost found in Chinese folklore that proliferates these films. Part zombie, part vampire, jiangshi are corpses that are usually reanimated by demons or Daoist sorcerers. They hop along mindlessly with their arms outstretched like sleepwalkers, and feed on the life essence – or qi – of the living. Often a jiangshi is blind but can smell breath. This makes…

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23 Oct

Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick: The Fast Franchise Meets Diablo Cody

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This article is sponsored by St. Martin’s Press. Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick is the fun and fast-paced second book in the Zoey Ashe series by David Wong, writer of the John Dies at the End series. It picks up a year after the events in the first book, 2015’s Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, and follows Zoey Ashe and her Ashe Security team as the protagonist continues to adjust to her immense wealth and power. Action-packed and full of humor, Zoey Ashe is Diablo Cody meets the Fast franchise. Fans of snarky protagonists and action that borders…

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09 Oct

Fast & Furious Spy Racers Producer Talks Vin Diesel, Family, and the Franchise Going to Space

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The following contains spoilers for Fast & Furious Spy Racers season 2. Fast & Furious Spy Racers is something a throwback to the past, a kids TV tie-in to a popular adult movie franchise. While the Fast & Furious films are no Rambo (which somehow got a kids cartoon) it’s still a challenge to take a well beloved franchise of films and turn them into a TV series meant for kids. That’s just what executive producer Tim Hedrick has done, taking elements of the Fast & Furious universe but making sure the show can stand on its own for kids…

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12 Aug

The Quentin Tarantino Star Trek Movie is Just What the Franchise Needs

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In perhaps the funniest episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (sorry “Trouble With Tribbles”!) Captain Kirk boldly strides on a pool table, decked out in a blue pinstripe suit, and says, in a tortured faux Al Capone-accent, “the Federation is taking over the whole ball of wax.” He’s talking about the planet Sigma Iotia II, better known to Trekkies as “the mobster planet.” “A Piece of the Action” imagines a planet entirely run by ‘20s and ‘30s style mobsters, and now, it seems this slightly obscure Trek concept is about to make a big comeback. According to Deadline, the…

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07 Aug

Star Trek: Noah Hawley Movie On Hold as Studio Rethinks Franchise

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The Star Trek universe may be thriving on the small screen with three series streaming on CBS All Access and at least two more to come, but the U.S.S. Enterprise remains in dry dock on the theatrical front with no new mission coming anytime soon. According to reports from Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, new Paramount Motion Picture Group president Emma Watts–who started at the job last month after a long tenure at 20th Century Fox–is reassessing the studio’s development slate, which includes three different proposed Star Trek movies. The most recent addition to that list, a pitch from Fargo…

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03 Jun

Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker – Why Did the Film Fail to Launch a Movie Franchise?

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There’s a sense that history is repeating itself right now, with our entertainment overlords once again deciding that a live-action adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider novels is exactly what we need. But long before the upcoming Amazon Prime series was a twinkle in anybody’s eye, a feature-length film starring some high-profile British actors arrived in cinemas in 2006. That film was Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (or simply Stormbreaker, as it was called in the UK). A fairly faithful adaptation of the first book in Horowitz’s series, with a few added action scenes and beefed out roles for the supporting…

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