In 2005 (and 2008 for the American translation), the posthumous release of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy" took the world by storm. A series of Swedish cinematic adaptations soon followed, making even bigger pop culture icons of the characters of Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, the punk computer hacker with a mysterious past. And then, Hollywood decided to take their crack at it...not once, but twice. And we're investigating both, with our "The Girl with the Failed February Franchises" theme month! First, a look at 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig as Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Salander, the American adaptation was seen by some as a more prestigious adaptation of the first book in Larsson's series; a surefire awards contender and franchise starter. But was it released too soon after the Swedish films? Was its subject matter actually too dark for American audiences, especially given its Christmas release? We explore these questions and more, including how the film rates as part of Fincher's overall filmography, and what it meant for his career moving forward.

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