History Main / StillBornFranchise

* The work gets OvershadowedByControversy and turns people off as a result.

Compare and contrast with FranchiseKiller where an already vibrant franchise is ended by a later bad entry. Another installment might be planned but end up being a victim of DevelopmentHell. Often overlaps with OrphanedSeries. See also GenreKiller, CreatorKiller, and WhatCouldHaveBeen.

** A number of characters which were supposed to be the next generation of heroes. Among them ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Darkhawk}}'', ''ComicBook/NFLSuperPro'', and ''ComicBook/TheAwesomeSlapstick''. None of them lasted long, although there have been many attempts to bring them back after years in ComicBookLimbo.

** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' was meant to be the linchpin of an ambitious SharedUniverse called ''Unit:E'' (which was promoted with an one-off comic issue sold at the 2011 New York Comic Con), which would've placed ''Transformers'' alongside other Creator/{{Hasbro}} properties such as ''Franchise/GIJoe'' and (baffingly) ''Candyland'', and would've been a launchpad to revivals of many of the company's cult 80s properties such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Inhumanoids}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''. While the show was decently successful and well-received, the low outreach of Creator/TheHub and [[https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/sunnybutte/131368170623 long-running]] [[https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/sunnybutte/131367083128 behind-the-scenes troubles]] ultimately doomed any attempt to launch a wider Hasbroverse, killing Hasbro's IP development division Haslab with it. Although the company would later give another shot at a shared universe with a [[ComicBook/HasbroComicUniverse 2016 comic book event]], it followed none of what was set up in ''Unit:E'' and didn't last long.

* Toys/{{LEGO}} announced ''[[Toys/{{Bionicle 2015}} BIONICLE Generation 2]]'' in 2014 with a planned three-year test phase that would stand as a complete toy and multimedia franchise, with the chance of a continuation if it proved successful. It was scrapped within less than half that time due to reasons never fully disclosed -- although fans with ties to the company suggests there was a massive shift in plans immediately after ''G2'''s announcement, with LEGO reallocating their budget to bringing back their CashCowFranchise ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'' after having ended it prematurely. Essentially they gave up on the ''BIONICLE'' relaunch before it even hit shelves. With little marketing and [[UncertainAudience an indecisive presentation]] that left both fans and newcomers unimpressed, the franchise ended on a whimper, with several sets and collectible items never released to the public. However, given the extremely abrupt nature of the cancellation, it is unknown whether LEGO had at least waited for their sales data to come in or if they intended to scrap the franchise regardless of its profits.

* ''Puppicarus'' by ''{{Webvideo/Caddicarus}}'' received not so stellar views and mixed reception that led to the end of the spinoff and even the end of the character altogether.

* ''Literature/EveTheAwakening'' was apparently intended to be the first book in a series; it ends with a few [[SequelHook unresolved plot threads]] that could be explored in sequels, it's listed as the first installment of a series on Goodreads and Creator/JennaMoreci talked about potentially writing a sequel when the book was first published. Since ''Eve'''s 2015 release however, there's been no news on any potential sequels and Moreci later began work on a [[Literature/TheSaviorsChampion completely different series]], the first book of which was published just three years later in 2018. It's looking unlikely at this point that ''Eve'' will remain anything but a standalone novel.

%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

** To clarify, it tried to [[CanonWelding canon weld]] the Transformers and G.I.Joe into existing in the same universe, as well as introduce new versions of ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', ''[[ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight Rom the Space Knight]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan''. Among other problems, the histories of Transformers and G.I.Joe clashed somewhat [[note]] in-universe, the Decepticons actually ''conquered'' Earth briefly and inflicted horrific casualties such as the Decepticon Skywarp single-handedly massacring the ''entire population of Beijing'' making COBRA look insignificant in comparison[[/note]], some of the changes to properties weren't well-received (e.g. a DarkerAndEdgier take on the Visionaries, Matt Trakker of MASK being [[RaceLift "reimagined" as a young African-American]] with none of the skill and confidence of the original), several of the properties like Micronauts and Action Man lacking the recognition of the likes of the Transformers, and many of the stories overall not being very good due to plodding pacing and the Transformers themselves becoming a bit of a PlotTumor (e.g. G.I.Joe now spent more time fighting alongside and against Transformers, the Micronauts turn out to come from a micro-universe created by Micronus Prime, Rom and his fellow Space Knights hating them with a passion because of their ForeverWar ruining so many worlds).

** To clarify, it tried to [[CanonWelding canon weld]] the Transformers and G.I.Joe into existing in the same universe, as well as introduce new versions of ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'', ''Toys/{{Micronauts}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', ''[[ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight Rom the Space Knight]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan''. Among other problems, the histories of Transformers and G.I.Joe clashed somewhat [[note]] in-universe, the Decepticons actually ''conquered'' Earth briefly and inflicted horrific casualties such as the Decepticon Skywarp single-handedly massacring the ''entire population of Beijing'' making COBRA look insignificant in comparison[[/note]], some of the changes to properties weren't well-received (e.g. a DarkerAndEdgier take on the Visionaries, Matt Trakker of MASK being [[RaceLift "reimagined" as a young African-American]] with none of the skill and confidence of the original), several of the properties like Micronauts and Action Man lacking the recognition of the likes of the Transformers, and many of the stories overall not being very good due to plodding pacing and the Transformers themselves becoming a bit of a PlotTumor (e.g. G.I.Joe now spent more time fighting alongside and against Transformers, the Micronauts turn out to come from a micro-universe created by Micronus Prime, Rom and his fellow Space Knights hating them with a passion because of their ForeverWar ruining so many worlds).

* '80s band Re-Flex is best known for their single of ''The Politics of Dancing'' from their one and only album of the same name. The single ''How Much Longer?'' released in 1985 was labled "From the forthcoming album ''Humanication''". The album never forthcame due to ExecutiveMeddling.

[[quoteright:250:[[Webcomic/PortSherry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/comic_codename_rex_4.png]]

%%
%% Due to the nature of this trope, finding an image will be very difficult.
%% DO NOT add an image to this page without discussion in Image Pickin'.
%% Image Pickin' thread for reference: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1637633011079639900
%%
%%
%%

* Creator/StephenieMeyer's ''Literature/TheHost'' was supposed to start a trilogy of adult science fiction books centered on the Souls. Despite the novel being a bestseller, however, Meyer has apparently given up on the idea.

In some cases, the start of a stillborn franchise may actually be [[AcclaimedFlop critically]] and/or even [[CriticProof financially]] successful, but complications (such as the creators parting ways with the production company and [[ScrewedByTheLawyers losing the rights]], the publisher/distributing company refusing to fund a sequel on the grounds that the work didn't make ''enough'' money, CreativeDifferences, the creative team focusing on other projects, or, most dramatically, [[DiedDuringProduction death of one of the creators]]) prevent sequels from being made.

In some cases, the start of a stillborn franchise may actually be [[AcclaimedFlop critically]] and/or even [[CriticProof financially]] successful, but complications (such as the creators parting ways with the production company and [[ScrewedByTheLawyers losing the rights]], CreativeDifferences, the creative team focusing on other projects, or, most dramatically, [[DiedDuringProduction death of one of the creators]]) prevent sequels from being made.

* Creator/{{Rius}}' book, ''La Perestroika'' (The Perestroika), which deals with the then-recent economic reforms implemented by UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev, ends with a note saying that this is the first in a series of books dedicated to the topic, and mentioning that the next one would come after a trip of the author to the U.S.S.R. to witness first-hand the effects of the reforms. The book came out just about the same time of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Putsch 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt]], which effectively [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp put the final nail in the coffin of the existence of the Soviet Union]].

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' was planned to have a trilogy of movies to tie up loose ends, along with a video game to explain how things ended up that way. ''The Prince of Darkness'' bombed quite badly, and no more effort has been put into the series. A video game that [[AllThereInTheManual covers the events between the series]] and ''The Prince of Darkness'' was released, [[NoExportForYou but in Japan only]].
* ''Great Dangaioh''’s performance was bad enough to have the show get cancelled and leave things hanging in episode 12 (out of a planned 26). This effectively ensured that the ''Anime/{{Dangaioh}}'' series as a whole would never get a proper ending (let alone resolve the OVA's events).
* ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie'' was supposed to be a full-fledged anime series, but only two episodes were released because the franchise's popularity in Japan is lower than it is elsewhere.
* ''Techno Police 21C'' from Creator/StudioNue was going to be a TV series about a team of 3 policemen and 3 human-sized childish [[SuperRobotGenre prototype]] {{Tin Can Robot}}s fighting crime in the year 2001[[note]]The concept was still fresh for late 1970s. Also of note are composer Music/JoeHisaishi, who would later write music for ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', ''Film/{{Sonatine}}'', ''Film/HanaBi'', and artist Creator/ShojiKawamori, who would later create ''Anime/{{Macross}}''[[/note]]. After some 4 years of TroubledProduction they managed to make an 80-minute pilot. And repurposed it as a theatrical movie. Which wasn't very successful.
* A lot of anime ends up being this, especially when they're the adaptation of something that hasn't finished yet. People who follow anime sales invented the idea of the "[[Manga/ManabiStraight Manabi]] Line", where a series must pass a certain amount of BD sales per volume (at least 2900 units) to warrant the hopes of getting a second season. Failing to do thus results in a stillbirth adaptation. The actual validity of the Manabi line, as well as the relative importance of BD sales of general is a topic of much debate; especially after streaming services such as Creator/{{Netflix}} and Creator/PrimeVideo, along with numerous other homegrown platforms have become preferred methods of viewing Anime in Japan during the late-2010s.
* Takara Tomy hyped up ''VideoGame/PrettyRhythm'' by trying to promote it everywhere, stating that the anime combined many things the target audience loved such as fashion and dancing, all whilst teaching them to follow their dreams. However, not that many children played the game (in total, there were only 400,000 uses throughout its entire run) or watched the anime. Its successor ''VideoGame/PriPara'' eventually took up the reigns of their above statement, and ended up totally eclipsing ''Pretty Rhythm'' in popularity. After the surprise runaway success of the ''Anime/KingOfPrism'' films (especially since they were a spinoff of the old ''Pretty Rhythm'' series), and the ColbertBump it gave to ''Rainbow Live'' in return, the franchise was rebranded as the {{Thematic|Series}} "Pretty Series" and sold itself on a new experience every installment. This particular strategy was the one that ended up working in the long run.
* ''Anime/KemonoFriends'' was narrowly close to dying on birth: the original mobile game ended up being a flop, the manga's fanbase was middling, the anime was greenlit only because Kadokawa was already bound by contract to produce it, and as a result the anime was produced under a shoestring budget that didn't even reach the hundred thousand dollars it spent to make it. Its sudden and unexpected success was one of the big reasons why it was considered the big anime surprise of 2017.
* In 2014, Avex began the first series in a unisex anime franchise about dancing that aired as part of the Nichi Asa Kids' Time block, ''Anime/TribeCoolCrew''. The series did so well that a second installment in the franchise, ''Anime/BraveBeats'', was created. Unfortunately, this show had such low ratings that it was CutShort to 22 episodes.
* ''Anime/UnderTheDog'' was going to be a full-fledged franchise. After two years of TroubledProduction, they managed to make a 22-minute pilot that was released to middling reviews. Two years later they released an expanded version that performed better but with the people involved having moved on to other works, it's highly unlikely it will ever be revisited.
* The manga ''[[Manga/CheatSlayer Killing the People Reincarnated in the Other World - Cheat Slayer]]'', from the Author of ''{{Manga/Kakegurui}}'', was a Seinen revenge manga that would have revolved around a young man from a fantasy world trying to wage a personal war against a group of [[CaptainErsatz copyright-friendly]] [[CorruptedCharacterCopy bastardized versions]] of protagonists from various ''[[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]]'' franchises. The manga only lasted one number before it was cancelled after several manga fans and some artists accused the author of making the manga in bad faith and for making the villains too similar to their inspiration (Most notably the Black Swordsman "Kilt" and a clear {{Expy}} of [[LightNovel/KonoSuba Aqua]] named Flare). The author had to apologize and the publisher announced that new Manga proposals would go through a more rigorous editorial examination to prevent something similar from ever happening again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'' suffered from this. Poor toy sales and ratings (partly due to ScrewedByTheNetwork) plus financial troubles with Adness Entertainment meant that any possible follow-up adaptation was dead. It didn't help that the final two episodes didn't even air on TV, only online.
* ''Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue'' was so named for a reason, but we didn't get past the prologue. He was intended to eventually 'evolve' into a more Rider-like form in future installments.
* [[Series/HardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries After having a semi-successful series in the seventies]], there have been multiple attempts to adapt the ''Literature/NancyDrew'' and ''[[Literature/TheHardyBoys Hardy Boys]]'' series onto the screen, often as a TV series. Success is variable.
** Both had a limited 13-episode Canadian adaptation in 1995, but both were quickly cancelled (many feel the biggest factor working against them was the half-hour format, which just doesn't give enough space to set up a good mystery).
** Previously, the Hardy Boys had two Disney serials in the 1950s as part of ''Series/TheMickeyMouseClub'', a failed 1967 TV pilot, and a single-season 1969 SaturdayMorningCartoon. After the 1995 series, there was no more adaptation until 2020, when Creator/{{Hulu}} aired a DarkerAndEdgier adaptation.
** As for Nancy, there was a failed TV pilot in the 1950s, as well as a made-for-TV movie in 2002 that would function as a backdoor pilot if ratings were good enough (they weren't). After the flop of the [[Film/NancyDrew 2007 Nancy Drew movie]] starting Creator/EmmaRoberts, Hollywood lost interest until 2016 when CBS filmed a pilot for a ''Nancy Drew'' TV procedural that would have portrayed Nancy as a grownup private detective, but the pilot was not picked up to series. By 2019, however, Nancy has [[Series/NancyDrew2019 an ongoing TV series]] on The CW.
* In 2008, the BBC released a series of drama pilots all at once with the intention of choosing the most popular one to make into a full-length series. This led to several instances of the trope:
** ''The Things I Haven't Told You'', a mystery drama. It was supposed to, unsurprisingly, contain lots of secrets and stuff that would be released throughout the show's entire prospective run. As an episode in its own right, it made very little sense, but the viewers that found it compelling were very disappointed (not to mention confused/angry/frustrated) when ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'' was made into a series instead.
** ''Phoo Action'', a futuristic comedy about a [[TheyFightCrime mismatched crime-fighting duo]] trying to stop mutant terrorists from turning Princes William and Harry into mutants. It was commissioned for a series and a franchise planned around it (it was already based on an existing comic strip), but cancelled before shooting began when the BBC decided the show wasn't going to achieve its "creative ambitions."
** ''Dis[=/=]Connected'', about a group of high schoolers discovering that each played a role in a classmate's suicide. Initially touted as a rival to ''Series/{{Skins}}'' and ambitious talk about its future, but its ratings were too low to justify a full series.
** In 2010, the BBC aired another pilot called ''Lizzie and Sarah'', about two abused wives who go on a murder spree. It was to have been the last of six stand-alone TV movies in a planned series, with a possible second series to follow, and expected to be a hit BlackComedy following in the footsteps of shows like ''Series/NightyNight'' (whose star, Julia Davis, wrote and performed in ''Lizzie and Sarah''). It aired in a very poor time slot and was ultimately not commissioned, despite complaints from fans and support from other comedians such as Creator/SimonPegg.
* The [[Film/Carrie2002 2002 made-for-TV]] version of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' was meant to lead into a series on Creator/{{NBC}}, in which [[spoiler:Carrie, having been SparedByTheAdaptation, heads to Florida to search for others like her]]. Low ratings for the film meant that the series was never made.
* ''Series/MockingbirdLane'' was supposed to be the PilotMovie of a DarkerAndEdgier reboot of ''Series/TheMunsters''. Unusually, the show didn't get picked up, but the film was still shown on NBC as a Halloween special.
* ''Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher'' is a 2002 TV movie starring Robert Bogue and Creator/ChristopherHeyerdahl, about [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a WWII super-soldier frozen in the 1940s and revived in the 1990s, who battles supernatural creatures in New York City]]. Similar (in concept, at least) to ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', it failed to garner any plaudits and no series detailing the further adventures of Blackheart ever appeared.
* The 2003 TV film ''Mermaids''[[note]]Not the 1990 Cher vehicle[[/note]] was intended as a PilotMovie for a series about three mermaid sisters. It wasn't picked up, being feared too similar to ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}''. The mermaid concept would later be used in ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' - with the protagonists as teenagers rather than adults.
* Speaking of ''Charmed'', they planned a spin-off called ''Mermaid'' inspired by the fifth season premiere - about a mermaid called Nikki who would room with two human boys and help various people, all the while ducking a hunter trying to kill her. WordOfGod is that the franchise had a wrench thrown into it when the WB and UPN merged into the CW - and the network decided not to pick up the show.
* Circa 2006, The WB created a PilotMovie adaptation of ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} starring Creator/JustinHartley in the title role. As with the ''Charmed'' spin-off above, because of the creative hurdles surrounding The WB/UPN merger, it was never picked up by The CW and the pilot was ultimately not aired on TV, being relegated to digital media. Hartley would instead star as ComicBook/GreenArrow in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.
* Netflix clearly had high hopes for ''Series/JupitersLegacy'', as they paid Creator/MarkMillar a downright ''obscene'' amount of money to obtain the rights to not only it, but also the general "Millarworld" brand, hoping to leverage the series into adaptations of later arcs as well as various other Millar series. Not only did the series end up massively overbudget, but it underperformed critically and financially and was thrown into a miserable light by the comparisons to ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'' and ''Series/SupermanAndLois'' running at the same time. This led to it being cancelled after one season, though a ''Supercrooks'' spinoff has stayed in the works for now.
* Game show producer John Ricci Jr. first created a format called ''Combination Lock'' in 1996 for filming in the UK. The show was piloted again in 2006 and 2007, but every single time it failed to get greenlit for series. More info, and clips from the pilots, can be found [[https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/Combination_Lock here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The very short lived Creator/VanBeurenStudios WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat shorts, an attempt to revive the franchise after the original theatrical cartoons, fell to the wayside due to multiple factors (including the death of his owner Pat Sullivan and the latest efforts absolutely paling in comparison to the new MickeyMouse sound films, and the fact that Felix still had a popular newspaper comic running) and only lasted for three shorts (with a fourth one never getting past the story stage) due to Creator/VanBeurenStudios abruptly going belly-up when RKO negated their contract in favor of distributing Creator/{{Disney}} [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts shorts.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' was originally going to be part of a new block of adult animation for Creator/{{TBS}}, alongside ''WesternAnimation/CloseEnough'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarantula}}'' and Creator/LouisCK's never-produced ''The Cops''. Production on C.K.'s show was abruptly halted once reports of his sexual misconduct became public, derailing all plans for the block in the process, and ''Close Enough'' got lost in the shuffle, eventually being aired on Creator/HBOMax. The only other show to make it to air on TBS was ''Tarantula'', and only for one season, while ''Final Space'' was OnlyBarelyRenewed and made a ChannelHop to Creator/AdultSwim.
* David Hand's ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaland}}'' series, a lushly animated series of [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age shorts]], was supposed to be a full fledged series. But since it was unable to find a [[NoExportForYou distributor in the US]], it died after just nine shorts. David Hand's son has tried to revive the series, but nothing ever came from that.
* After the massive success of the Franchise/DisneyPrincess crossover franchise, Creator/{{Disney}} attempted to do the same thing with its popular male heroes in the mid-2000s. The result was the "Disney Heroes" franchise, whose lineup consisted of WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone King Arthur]], WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}, WesternAnimation/PeterPan, WesternAnimation/RobinHood and WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}. Poor sales ended the franchise pretty quickly, largely because at that point most boys considered Disney to be deep in the GirlShowGhetto thanks to the aforementioned Princess franchise. Disney had much more success later on with boy-centric merchandise based on acquired franchises like ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''[[note]]To be exact, [[Creator/{{Pixar}} the studio]] had been acquired, as ''Cars'' ended up being Pixar's first release as a subsidiary of Disney[[/note]], Creator/MarvelComics and ''Franchise/StarWars''.
* ''WesternAnimation/RapsittieStreetKidsBelieveInSanta'' was meant to be the first of a series of TV specials featuring the eponymous kids. The special's... [[NoFlowInCGI questionable]] [[UncannyValley quality]] and poor reception, however, put the kibosh on any of those plans, and the only other planned special starring the eponymous kids known to have existed, an Easter special called ''A Bunny's Tale'', was scrapped and was never heard from again.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Underfist}}: Halloween Bash'' was intended to be the PilotMovie for an action-comedy SpinOff of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', but a change in executives at the studio resulted in those plans being scrapped and the movie remaining as a standalone special. Lampshaded by Billy's comment at the end credits.
-->'''Billy''': All that work, and nothing to show for it!
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' had several [[http://www.multiversitycomics.com/longform/gargoyles-spin-offs/ spin-offs]] planned, with Disney wanting to make an entire universe akin to Marvel or DC. Some got released as comics by Creator/SlaveLaborGraphics[[note]]the same company that made the comics that continued after Season 2[[/note]], while others were never released in any form.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'' was intended as part of a larger franchise that would have included many other tie-ins including a new video game featuring the characters. The show lasted only one season thanks to being ScrewedByTheNetwork and was considered SoOkayItsAverage by critics and panned by fans of the franchise for heavily deviating from the source material. Creator/{{Capcom}} has not mentioned the series outside of a six-issue comic miniseries.
* The 2014 reboot miniseries of ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'' was meant to test the waters for a revitalization of the franchise ala ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', but its low outreach led to Hallmark not moving forward with the reboot and not much else of ''Rainbow Brite'' has been heard of since.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThundercatsRoar'' was intended to mark a new direction for the ''Thundercats'' franchise and reinvigorate the series. Instead, it was roundly despised by fans of the [[WesternAnimation/Thundercats1985 previous]] [[WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011 cartoons]], leading to the show lasting only one season.
* Nickelodeon’s 2003 film WesternAnimation/TheElectricPiper was subtitled “A Pied Piper Adventure”, implying sequels were being planned. Unfortunately, the special itself aired only once on TV before apparently being ScrewedByTheLawyers and lost for over a decade, so this franchise wasn’t given a fighting chance.
* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatianStreet'' was intended to reboot the ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' franchise but was cancelled after just one season. Although the cartoon attracted a fairly positive response, due to low ratings it was deemed a disappointment by Disney. Mere months after its first season concluded, the COVID-19 pandemic started, preventing a second season from starting production. The show was therefore quietly cancelled, and in 2021, [[https://twitter.com/MikWeigert/status/1405877825048035334 its cancellation was confirmed by show director Miklos Weigert]]. However, the ''Dalmatians'' franchise ''was'' successfully rebooted that same year - just in a rather [[Film/{{Cruella}} different manner.]]
[[/folder]]

* The manga ''[[Manga/CheatSlayer Killing the People Reincarnated in the Other World - Cheat Slayer]]'', from the Author of ''{{Manga/Kakegurui}}'', was a Seinen revenge manga that would have revolve around a young man from a fantasy world trying to wage a personal war against a group of [[CaptainErsatz copyright-friendly]] [[CorruptedCharacterCopy bastardized versions of protagonists from various Isekai manga]]. The manga only lasted one number before it was cancelled after several manga fans and some artists accused the author of making the manga in bad faith and for making the villains too similar to their inspiration (Most notably the Black Swordsman "Kilt" and a clear {{Expy}} of Aqua named Flare). The author had to apologize and the publisher announced that new Manga proposals would go through a more rigorous editorial examination to prevent something similar from ever happening again.

* After the massive success of the Franchise/DisneyPrincess crossover franchise, Creator/{{Disney}} attempted to do the same thing with its popular male heroes in the mid-2000s. The result was the "Disney Heroes" franchise, whose lineup consisted of WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone King Arthur]], WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}, WesternAnimation/PeterPan, WesternAnimation/RobinHood and WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}. Poor sales ended the franchise pretty quickly, largely because at that point most boys considered Disney be deep in the GirlShowGhetto thanks to the aforementioned Princess franchise. Disney had much more success later on with boy-centric merchandise based on acquired franchises like ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''[[note]]To be exact, [[Creator/{{Pixar}} the studio]] had been acquired, as ''Cars'' ended up being Pixar's first release as a subsidiary of Disney[[/note]], Creator/MarvelComics and ''Franchise/StarWars''.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThundercatsRoar'' was intended to mark a new direction for the ''Thundercats'' franchise and reinvigorate the series. Instead, it suffered from poor ratings and was roundly trashed by fans of the [[WesternAnimation/Thundercats1985 previous]] [[WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011 cartoons]], leading to the show being cancelled after just one season.