Possible Firefly movie.... (1 Viewer)

todd s · Jul 16, 2003

I just saw this:

Joss Whedon To Write Firefly Feature Film
Source: Sci Fi Wire
Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Joss Whedon, creator of Fox's canceled SF western series Firefly, told Sci Fi Wire that he is close to a deal to write and direct a feature film based on the short-lived show.

"What's happening with that is that I'm writing a script," Whedon said in an interview. "And I have some interest. But I won't know really until I finish a draft whether or not it's genuine. ... We have a pretty decent shot. It's not a crazed pipe dream."

Whedon said that any deal for a Firefly movie would be contingent on getting the original cast back as the crew of the space transport ship Serenity.

Glenn Overholt · Jul 16, 2003

Is it going to be on the DVD with the rest of the episodes?

Ok, I can dream, can't I?

It would be funny if the movie was a hit and the series started back up, wouldn't it?

Glenn

Jeff Kleist · Jul 16, 2003

The series comes out December 5th, so no it'd be a seperate item.

They're hoping the series will be more successful as a movie franchise, and since half the cast already have new shows and development deals, it's done as a series

Gregg Shiu · Jul 16, 2003

How does one like Josh Whedon get another chance to do a tv series, let alone a movie based on the short-lived series? Wasn't Firefly a rather mixed bag? Is there any word on whether or not this will be direct to TV or not?

Max Leung · Jul 16, 2003

The one episode I managed to see reminded me of Cowboy Bebop...the one where a bounty hunter intercepts the ship and gets on board.

Dan Rudolph · Jul 16, 2003

I don't think it was a mixed bag at all unless you mean it ranged from very good to freaking fantastic.

Dominik Droscher · Jul 17, 2003

I am with Rudolph.

It is also very interesting to see Whedon writing a movie script again instead of just touching them up.

Jason Seaver · Jul 17, 2003

How does one like Josh Whedon get another chance to do a tv series, let alone a movie based on the short-lived series?

Right now, he's just writing a script, which doesn't mean much commitment from the studio. As to how he gets another chance, sure, Firefly didn't connect with a large enough audience, but Angel is in its fifth year and Buffy ran seven, and made Fox some good money both in terms of sales and ancillary merchandise. He's certainly worth giving whatever they're paying him for the Firefly feature screenplay, if it keeps him at the studio.

Of course, it could still wind up sitting in a box somewhere in Fox's vaults next to that musical animated Dracula script he was writing for Don Bluth.

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DAN NEIR · Jul 17, 2003

It's JOSS!!! not Josh. Somewhere Jeff's head is exploding.

Steve Felix · Jul 17, 2003

I can't believe I never connected those dots, Max. The show was very, very much like Cowboy Bebop. No wonder I loved it.

(I'm with Rudolph also.)

Bebop got a movie.

Jeff Kleist · Jul 17, 2003

which bombed in Japan and killed future movies (unless they're commissioned by US companies). No comparisons to Bebop if you want Firefly to live

Dan Rudolph · Jul 17, 2003

I wouldn't think a Firefly movie would be horribly expensive. IIRC, they still have the Serenity. It was disassembled, but not scrapped. So that takes care of their main location. THey might be able to pull it off for $30-$40 million.

TheLongshot · Jul 17, 2003

which bombed in Japan and killed future movies (unless they're commissioned by US companies). No comparisons to Bebop if you want Firefly to live

But unlike Firefly, we got 26 episodes...

Jason

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Adam Lenhardt · Jul 17, 2003

I wouldn't think a Firefly movie would be horribly expensive. IIRC, they still have the Serenity. It was disassembled, but not scrapped. So that takes care of their main location. THey might be able to pull it off for $30-$40 million.

Exactly. Each episode only cost around $2 or $3 million, a lot by TV standards but penny change in the movie world. Now movies are by their very nature more expensive, but even so it shouldn't cost too much more that $30 million. Specially since none of the stars have made it really big yet, unless you count Gina Torres' bit role in Reloaded.

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Patrick Sun · Jul 18, 2003

Specially since none of the stars have made it really big yet, unless you count Gina Torres' bit role in Reloaded.

Gina's role in "Reloaded" had more to do with her being Mrs. Laurence Fishburne than anything else.

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Jason Seaver · Jul 18, 2003

Not to mention that Firefly's ratings, while poor for Fox standards were downright decent for the WB and were acceptable for a Friday night. If it had been given a week night or the old X-Files spot, who knows where it would be right now.

If they were acceptable for a Friday night, Firefly would still be in production. And even if its ratings were good enough for WB, that doesn't mean that Firefly would have achieved those ratings on that network - not only does it have somewhat lower household penetration, but there's a good chance WB would have paid less per episode, which would have cut into the production values...

And putting Firefly on another night, or Sunday at 9pm (where it wouldn't have gone, because Angel was there and Mutant Enemy supposedly has no-compete clauses) might just have exposed it to harsher competition as opposed to being the only action hour/show targeted to its age group on at the time.

I loved Firefly, but let's not be under the illusion that it was anything but an expensive gamble.

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Dan Rudolph · Jul 18, 2003

Jason, Fox apparently has odd ideas about what acceptable ratings for a Friday are. No show has lasted more than one season there since Millenium ended in 1999.

Firefly was simply too expensive for a low-traffic night like Friday.

Adam Lenhardt · Jul 19, 2003

And putting Firefly on another night, or Sunday at 9pm (where it wouldn't have gone, because Angel was there and Mutant Enemy supposedly has no-compete clauses) might just have exposed it to harsher competition as opposed to being the only action hour/show targeted to its age group on at the time.

Yes, but considering that Angel is just clinging to life as it is it may have been smarter for them to switch Angel's night as opposed to Firefly's. And while Sunday at 9 is tougher competition, it's because there's a much larger audience to divide up. Law and Order wouldn't have had much cross-over, so the only real threat to viewship would have been Alias. Would it have still failed on Sundays? Maybe. But it would have had a fighting chance there, atleast.

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Jason Seaver · Jul 19, 2003

Of course, when a show gets moved around, there's all sorts of complaints that the network wouldn't let it stay in one place and let it build an audience.

When a network cancels a show one loves, there's always something that could have been done better/different that could have saved it.

Jeff Kleist · Jul 19, 2003

Angel should definately have NOT stayed across from Alias, it's a split audience. It's no coincidence that the ratings went up when the show moved to Wednesday (that and the fact that it got even better

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