The entire business of movie news and movie blogging is driven by our examination of movie franchises. If it weren’t for Disney and Warner Bros’ continued efforts to build massive franchises, there’d be a lot less to write about and many fewer sites out there. And now we’re going to get a satirical look at what it takes to create a cinematic universe in Sam Mendes’ upcoming series, The Franchise, which has just landed a full season order at HBO.
Set to star Aya Cash (The Boys) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday), The Franchise is the brainchild of Armando Iannucci. Name sound familiar? Well, he’s one of the creators of Veep, along with hilarious political satire films such as In the Loop and The Death of Stalin. There aren’t many who can skewer a sacred cow or institution better. He also did the surprisingly great and extremely funny The Personal History of David Copperfield with Dev Patel.
Here’s the series synopsis: The crew of an unloved franchise movie fight for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. THE FRANCHISE shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f*ck-up has an origin story.
Sam Mendes is attached to direct the pilot from a script by showrunner Jon Brown. Jessica Hynes, Billy Magnussen, Lolly Adefope, Darren Goldstein, Isaac Powell, Richard E. Grant, and Daniel Brühl are aboard to co-star. Brühl and Grant know a thing or two about being part of the Marvel machine.
