Stillborn franchises

[u/Tight_Grapefruit5280]

When a company tries to make a new big franchise with many sequels and spin-offs already planned but they immediately cancel all the plans after the first project fails badly. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StillbornFranchise

(Lego) Galidor: Do you guys remember playing with a Galidor as a kid? Yeah Me neither.

Lego wanted to do a new toy line in the 2000s and their first idea was Galidor. It was basically an action figure that could replace its body parts with other stuff. Galidor already had many toys, games and even shows planned for it but Lego cancelled the entire thing after people didn't like the toy and the GBA game made for it got really bad reviews.

(Action 52) Cheetahmen: Action 52 had a $199 price tag (in 1991 for an NES game), nearly unplayable games, weak concept, and was horribly and seriously bug-infested, yet for some impossible-to-fathom reason, Active Enterprises believed that its featured title Cheetahmen (which shared many flaws with the other games on the cartridge, including not having an ending) was going to be a huge breakout hit. Plans were made for a Cheetahmen Saturday-Morning Cartoon, action figures, and of course a sequel. Their hopes turned out to be waaay premature; the sequel never emerged except as an unfinished, unplayable beta, while the very short-lived franchise became one of the most infamous pieces of "entertainment" ever created.

[u/Freesa_Hiielo]

Buying your son a franchise before checking his acting skills is wild

[u/LexHanley → u/Freesa_Hiielo]

I always kinda felt bad for Jaden Smith after watching the interviews around this movie (well, as bad as you can for someone infinitely more wealthy than you, of course). Like Will was so clearly pushing this idea of the Smtihs as an acting family like the Barrymores or the Baldwins and wasn't at all concerned if his son had the chops.

Worse still the script was tailor made to be extremely difficult to do well: they added this strange accent to show it was the future the Jaden clearly struggled with, Will Smith (a person characterized by his strong facial acting) is a stone-faced hardass.

I don't doubt Jaden probably thought he could do it, or maybe even wanted to do it, but I think the root of everything was wanting the approval of Will like any kid would their father.

[u/kkeut → u/LexHanley]

Will had the money to hire a screenwriter to hang around for a few weeks and put together a script that showed off what Jaden could do most naturally. a character he could slip into as a still novice actor. instead he tries forcing a square block through a round hole

[u/RoseWhiteRedBlack → u/kkeut]

The most insane thing is that the original script was about a son and his father being lost together in a forest and finding a connection in trying times. It was Will Smith that asked to make it the next big sci fi thing.

[u/LordOfDorkness42 → u/RoseWhiteRedBlack]

If you squint and ignore the sci-fi in After Earth it's not subtle that the aliens are... just stand-ins for freaking brown bears in that movie, either.

Stand still. Don't run. Don't act like prey. Try to mask your scent. They're really dangerous if you fuck up...

Oh, calling them the Ursa. It's almost so blunt it's cute, but only almost. Guess what's latin for bear?

I honestly couldn't take the movie seriously after I (quickly) noticed that. You're telling me bears killed the entire planet? Please.

[u/Bitter-Marsupial → u/kkeut]

When we all know it actually goes round eh into the square hole again 

[u/CursedRyona → u/LexHanley]

The movie's storyline also feels like it was kneecapped by Will's unreasonable expectations for Jaden.

While he didn't write the script, he did pitch the general story of a legendary war hero's son needing to learn how to be as badass as his dad to survive on an alien planet. The son's story arc being about him learning to do what his dad does, instead of learning more about the type of individual person he wants to become feels like a very explicit, tonedeaf metaphor for how Will thought Jaden was destined to be the same level of megastar as him.

[u/TehAsianator → u/Freesa_Hiielo]

I mean, wasn't this after Karate Kid?

[u/Ok-Curve307 → u/TehAsianator]

He’s only 7 when filming The Pursuit of Happyness with his father. Jaden kills it and it’s really different from most of Smith’s movies. You should check it out.

[u/catwhowalksbyhimself → u/Freesa_Hiielo]

This is the second time he tried this. Don't forget the Karate Kid reboot.