
By Stacey Harrison
Everybody understands that TV shows can be canceled. It’s the risk you take in investing your energy into an intricately plotted drama like Lost or even an affable comedy like The Office, whose viewers are among the most loyal anywhere. Each episode is not a triumph of creativity so much as a gift bestowed by bean-counting network execs who have crunched the numbers and found them to be economically favorable. Movies, generally, aren’t thought of in terms of being canceled, but as more studios search for franchises, they often turn to the world of books — namely, popular series of books with multiple installments ready made for future adaptations.
Sometimes it plays out that way, as with The Lord of the Rings, which the studio made a fait accompli by filming all three parts simultaneously. The Harry Potter movies, which started coming before J.K. Rowling was barely halfway done with her seven-book cycle, have become a phenomenon unto themselves and will complete their run in theaters next year. And that Twilight series seems to be doing OK for itself.
But what happens when the first part of a would-be series isn’t a success? The multiplexes have been littered with just such examples in recent years, and The Last Airbender, released last weekend to truly putrid reviews and tepid box office, could very well be the latest. Here’s a rundown of some failed cinematic pilots, and what might have gone wrong:
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
It’s too early to say this franchise is dead, but the resounding shrug that met the big-budget adaptation of Rick Riordan’s series about the modern-day son of Posiedon doesn’t bode well. There was little in the way of anger or vitriol, just a very take-it-or-leave-it vibe, which is not what you want when you’re ramping up a franchise. Most of the reviews were in the so-so range, and it was hard to find one that didn’t contain some variance of the phrase “Harry Potter ripoff.” That’s a hard reputation to fight off when, in addition to being yet another story about a young boy who discovers he’s got supernatural abilities, you’ve got Chris Columbus — who directed the first two Potter films — behind the camera. Timing seems to be this series’ biggest obstacle, as it seeks to be the next Harry Potter when we’re not even done with the original yet. [Read more →]
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Tags: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Lemony Snicket, M. Night Shyamalan, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Stacey Harrison, Superman Returns, The Golden Compass, The Last Airbender, The Lord of the Rings