History Main / StillBornFranchise

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping a movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced a TV series, a SpinOff, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a TV series for the spin-off]], the ComicBookAdaptation, [[TheMerch action figures]], [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} the flamethrower (which the kids will love]], and plans to make a trilogy.

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping a movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced a TV series, a SpinOff, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a TV series for the spin-off]], the ComicBookAdaptation, [[TheMerch action figures]], [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} the flamethrower]], and plans to make a trilogy.

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 publishing/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.

* Creator/JohnKricfalusi's ''ComicBook/SpumcoComicBook'' had a very short lived run. The initial run of the comics only lasted three issues under Creator/DarkHorseComics in 1995, with Creator/MarvelComics distributing one more issue in 1997 before the comics were cancelled altogether. Per word of Spumco employee Stephen Worth, it was a Catch 22 situation that killed the series early; comic book stores were the wrong market for funny comics, since readers were mostly interested in superhero comics instead of the gag oriented stories, and they couldn't get regular book stores to stock their comic books.

* The notoriously awful ''Heroes of Wrestling'' pay-per-view in 1999 was actually supposed to be a series of old-timers events instead of the one-off it (thankfully) ended up being. The promoters had set a break even point of 50,000 PPV buys but poor promotion, a weak card, the fact that there were already 3 wrestling [=PPVs=] that month, and [[AudienceAlienatingPremise a concept that just wasn't going to work in 1999 to begin with]] (wrestling was at its peak and no one was clamoring for the stars of yesterday when there were so many current ones, not to mention the [[Wrestling/HulkHogan three]] [[Wrestling/RicFlair biggest]] [[Wrestling/RandySavage stars]] of the 80s were wrestling for Wrestling/{{WCW}} and the [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes fourth]] was doing commentary for them) meant the show only ended up doing half that amount, killing the proposed quarterly series right out of the gate. That it ended up being what's still considered the worst PPV ever thanks to everyone being too old or too strung out (or in many cases, both) to put on a decent performance was just salt in the wound.

* Website/ShiftyLook was Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment's attempt to revitalize their classic and lesser-known arcade games--such as ''VideoGame/{{Mappy}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bravoman}}''--for a western audience, via webcomics and cartoons. The project bled money from the start due to the obscurity of these properties, many of which were based on games that [[NoExportForYou never left Japan]]. At its peak, the site was best known for the ''VideoGame/NamcoHigh'' DatingSim, mostly because [[JustHereForGodzilla it featured characters from]] ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. In early 2014, Namco doubled down on their most popular outing, ''VideoGame/WonderMomo''. While clearly intended to be their BreakthroughHit with an anime adaptation and mobile game by Creator/WayForwardTechnologies, it never became the success they were looking for. Changes in upper management resulted in a complete write-off; the site shut down not long after, leaving its projects with [[CutShort hasty endings]]. [=ShiftyLook=] eventually faded away into an oddity of Namco's history, and the featured properties went back to their usual representation through [[CompilationRerelease compilation titles]] and CompanyCrossReferences.

* The notoriously awful ''Heroes of Wrestling'' pay-per-view in 1999 was actually supposed to be a series of old-timers events instead of the one-off it (thankfully) ended up being. The promoters had set a break even point of 50,000 PPV buys but poor promotion, a weak card, the fact that there were already 3 wrestling [=PPVs=] that month, and [[AudienceAlienatingPremise a concept that just wasn't going to work in 1999 to begin with]] (wrestling was at its peak and no one was clamoring for the stars of yesterday when there were so many current ones, not to mention the [[Wrestling/HulkHogan three]] [[Wrestling/RicFlair biggest]] [[Wrestling/RandySavage stars]] of the 80s were wrestling for Wrestling/{{WCW}} and the [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes fourth]] was doing commentary for them) and the show only ended up doing half that amount, killing the proposed quarterly series right out of the gate. That it ended up being what's still considered the worst PPV ever thanks to everyone being too old or too strung out (or in many cases, both) to put on a decent performance was just salt in the wound.

** Following the temporary abolishment of the sole Editor-in-Chief position in favor of five [=EICs=], which included Carl Potts overseeing an attempt to do an AlternateCompanyEquivalent to Creator/DCComics's Creator/{{Elseworlds}} imprint called "Alterniverse" -- which only last a few months and, outside of taking over overseeing issues of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' published during that time, only had three notable stories to its name: ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'', ''ComicBook/TheLastAvengersStory'', and ''ComicBook/{{Ruins}}''.

* A sequel to the ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' spinoff book ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfOokAndGlukKungFuCavemenFromTheFuture'' was teased, but was left in DevelopmentHell for years; with Ook and Gluk getting pulled from the market in the wake of Asian-American hate crimes in 2021, chances for a follow-up are officially dead and buried.

* The work just plain sucks.

* Mid-to-late [[TheNineties '90s]] hip hop supergroup The Firm -- consisting of Music/{{Nas}}, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega (who was later ousted and replaced with Nature) -- was hyped as one of the hottest new groups in hip-hop after their formation, appearance on Nas' ''It Was Written'' album, and signing to Music/DrDre's record label. In 1997, they released their debut album... which got such a lackluster reception by both consumers and critics that any interest in more music from the group was nixed, and they went their separate ways the year after. While Brown has mentioned that there have been discussions of The Firm reuniting, the project seems to be an OldShame for nearly everyone involved.

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, TrendKiller and WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* An adaptation that [[Uncertain audience pisses off the fans of the original source and fails to capture a new audience]].

* An adaptation that pisses off the fans of the original source and fails to capture a new audience.

** The LetsPlay of ''Bart's Nightmare'' would have led to a recurring feature were it not for the negative reception it received, to the point where the review of the ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' film that followed opened with NC apologizing for it at the start in a sketch where he got sent to prison for it (placed next to [[Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie the State Home for the Ugly,]] no less).

* The work's premise [[AudienceAlienatingPremise turned off too many people]] from watching it.

However, when the work is actually released, it flops so badly that all the intended sequels and spin-offs are cancelled. This can happen for a variety of reasons:

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping a movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced a TV series, a SpinOff, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a TV series for the Spin-Off]], [[TheMerch the comic book adaptation, action figures,]] [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} the flamethrower]] and plans to make a trilogy.

!!Example subpages

!!Other examples

* [[WebAnimation/TheRedApeFamily The Red Ape Family]] was hyped up to being a very big deal, with it having a ton of promotional material that repeatedly boasted about how it was “The first [[UsefulNotes/{{Bitcoin}} NFT]] cartoon.” [[note]] Which isn’t even true, since the first NFT cartoon is actually a show called “Stoner Cats.” [[/note]] There’s even a [[Website/{{YouTube}} YouTube]] [[https://youtube.com/@TheRedApeFamily channel dedicated towards it.]] However, due to the show promoting a heavily controversial practice as well as being critically panned by nearly everyone who watched it, these plans quickly fell flat, and the show was QuietlyCancelled after [[OneEpisodeWonder only two episodes.]]

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping a movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced a TV series, a SpinOff, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a TV series for the Spin-off]], [[TheMerch the comic book adaptation, action figures,]] [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} the flamethrower]] and plans to make a trilogy.

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping a movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced a TV series, [[TheMerch the comic book adaptation, action figures,]] [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} the flamethrower]] and plans to make a trilogy.