Serenity (2005) (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

I can't believe how fast this movie is dropping in the box office considering all of the positive reviews out there.

I haven't seen a commercial for Serenity since the day before it came out. That's why.

 

[DonRoeber]

Saw the movie for the second time last night, as we wanted to be sure we saw it again before it left theaters. There were a half dozen people in the theater for a 7:30 show on a Tuesday night. I thought that was a pretty good turnout.

 

[Grant H]

Yes, that was very "Galaxy Quest" now that you point it out. So, maybe it wasn't a "potshot" at Matrix Revolutions, but a nod.

Disappointing that the film isn't doing better. There was a good crowd the night I saw it opening weekend. Most were the Firefly fans I'm sure. Maybe they already had all their friends with them.

The DVD has already been announced, but I haven't heard anything about an extended version. I was hoping Whedon had shot some additional scenes to flesh it out a little for the Firefly fans. If so, maybe he's keeping quiet, so a double-dip could pull-in enough money to justify continuing the franchise.

I'd like to go see Serenity again, but I was lucky to find the time to see it a first time. Just bad timing. I'm afraid it will be gone if I don't see it this weekend.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I hope the DVD has a few scene extensions - I scanned the novelization particularly at one section to see if Zoe's reaction played out better, and it did. I hope those additional beats were filmed. A few small moments that makes a big difference.

 

[Brandon Conway]

From another forum, apparently from a BBFC website:
""SERENITY" 113m 59s Widescreen, DVD additional material, DVD Director's audio commentary,
"SERENITY - DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES" 13m 26s
00:00:21:21 (EXTENDED LILAC ENTRANCE)
00:01:05:20 (EXTENDED KAYLEE AND JAYNE)
00:02:18:20 (INARA AND SHEYDRA)
00:02:12:15 (OPERATIVE TRACKS MAL)
00:02:22:05 (EXTENDED RIVER AND SIMON/HAVEN OPENING)
00:01:27:16 (ESCAPE FROM COMPANION TRAINING HOUSE)
00:00:13:17 (MAL AND INARA SHUTTLE CHASE)
00:02:16:04 (MAL AND INARA QUIET MOMENT)
00:01:06:20 (EXTENDED MAL AND OPERATIVE CODA)"

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Seeing it again tomorrow with 3 people. Honestly, it's not fading as quickly as we'd think... The film is going to clear 25 million in the US at least. Assuming it can make 50 million overseas, that's 75 million. Throw in all the merchandise, DVD sales, etc. etc... it's highly likely this universe will live on through a new sequel, miniseries, or SOMETHING.

I can see a sequel performing better than the original, just based on positive word of mouth, the DVD sales, etc. etc.

 

[Doug Miller]

Before I post a question or two, let me clarify:

- Never watched an episode of Buffy (although I saw the moive in the theater... twice).

- Never watched Angel.

- Never watched Firefly.

I saw Serenity because it looked interesting enough, Whedon had a solid following, and I've enjoyed his writing on Astonishing X-Men.

That all said. I really liked it. Other than Wash's death, that I thought was a bummer because he seemed like a pretty likable (although extraneous) character, I was really happy with the flow of the movie, the effects were above average, and the cast was good. All in all, a good time -- I'm going to try and talk my wife into seeing it with me on Friday (since I know she won't be interested in seeing History of Violence, that I want to see).

A few questions:

1) Does the show have more of River's back story? I was confused about her time in the school and as a non-viewer of the show, had no idea she had a brother until he said so, because he wasn't in the memories.

2) Her memories of Miranda. I take it that the reason she has visions of Miranda, the bodies, and fear of Reevers, is because she saw/glimpsed the archive footage through one of Parliment's heads -- Meaning, they didn't have her watch it to motivate her (ala "Rage" in 28 Days), rather she read one of Parliament's minds and saw the reminents of the tape. Right?

3) Is there more back story or conspiracy on the show for Parliament? The Operative made it sound like there were a slew of unsavory secrets they may have. And the whole "Operative sees he's wrong and lets them go" seemed really off. If the Operative knew that Parliment had skeletons in the closet, why was he so surprised or shocked at the Miranda atrocities? Or was it just that Mal had beaten him fairly, so he let them go out of respect? On the good side, I was going to be seriously disturbed if Mal offered the Operative a spot on the ship -- some have called the movie "tv writing". TV writing would have been "Ah, I know you slaughtered all my safe houses and their families, but deep down you're a good guy, c'mon board." So, thanks for not doing that.

Doug

 

[Kevin Grey]

Doug,

1) There is a bit more background but I wouldn't say that any additional information is imparted. What the show does provide though is how River and her brother Simon interact with the rest of the crew so you certainly learn a lot more about their character if not so much about their "plot".

The events of Serenity were effectively several seasons worth of material on the show. The conspiracy elements were in place in the show but not at the forefront of most episodes and the basic structure of the conspiracy was just beginning to emerge. In fact, the last episode of the series was a major kick in the pants for River's storyline.

2) The Miranda issue seems to be a side effect of her having pyschic abilities and being in the presence of officials from Parliament. Don't think it was intentional at all.

3) IIRC, Parliament is never mentioned by name on the show. However it is revealed the conspiracy involves the alliance and a mysterious group of men who wear blue gloves.

I share your concerns about the Operative's change of heart at the end. Although it can be rationalized it just didn't ring true to me.

If you enjoyed the movie you are almost guaranteed to really enjoy the show.

 

[Phil Florian]

I haven't seen a commercial for Serenity since the day before it came out. That's why.

 

[Grant H]

Wash's death seemed a bit forced to me. I seem to remember there was some concern they might not be able to get Tudyk for the film since he's a fairly busy and successful actor. To me, it was like saying "this guy's too much trouble or too much money to bother getting for the sequels."

He provides a lot of the comic relief in the crew that despite his reluctance to enter dangerous situations is a hotshot pilot who can thread a needle with a Firefly vessel. River doesn't seem like the right person to take his place on the crew. She's a genius, so I'm sure she can fly, but it sure won't be the same. I didn't have any problems with them killing the shepard. That seemed inevitable; he seemed to lose his purpose on the show rather quickly. Yet, we never learned all that much about him.

I wonder if we might see both Wash and the shepard in flashbacks if sequels are made. Whedon did non-linear story-telling on the show, so it wouldn't surprise me if another film jumped around through time a bit.

My father hasn't gotten to see it yet, and I haven't even gotten to tell him about when I saw it. I know he'll be royally pissed when Wash bites it, probably enough to never watch the movie again. It will definitely leave a bad tatse in his mouth.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Catch "Serenity" on the Big Cinema Screen if you can, ... the screen count is Declining!

OCTOBER 14

DECLINING

Title (Distributor)......./ Theater Count (Change) ..../ Week #

Serenity (Universal).../ 1,700 (-489)...................../ 3

Phil

 

[DonRoeber]

Do those numbers reflect the number of screens that the movie is playing on, or the number of theaters it's showing in? I'd totally expect the screen count to go down now that it's in it's third week, but hopefully the theater count won't go down much.

 

[Brian Sheffield]

That's the theater count.

Most theaters still running the film will only have it on one screen now. Too many new openers competing for space,

 

[ChrisBEA]

I had heard that it was Tudyk, himself, who suggested the death, but is also signed for potential sequels.

Serenity II: The Search for Wash?

 

[Sean*O]

Hopefully, some Universal higher-ups are reading this thread and seeing all of the positive reaction people here are giving this movie.
Here is my story on it, for what it's worth.
I recall seeing an ad for this movie on TV and thinking to myself that it looked like a mediocre TV movie for the teenybopper crowd (a totally wrong assumption, by the way.)
Later on, I received an e-mail from Rotten Tomatoes with overwhelmingly positive reviews, which made me crack a smile with surprise.
A bit after that, I happend across a random thread in another forum completely unrelated to movies, where someone made a thread that basically proclaimed "Serenity is f*ckin awesome" especially, he added, if you are a fan of the "Firefly" TV series.
I then became more curious and looked up "Firefly" at Amazon, where the series had a maximum 5 star rating from I believe over 1500 write-in reviews. I wondered how it was that I had never heard of this show until now?
So, I bought the series the next day, and my wife and I really got into it; Watching it over the course of less than a week’s time.
Tonight we finally got out to see the movie, which is quite something for us as we have a 20 month old daughter who gets all of our attention. Never wanting to be the guy who brought his baby to cry at the theater, we had to work something out with the family so our daughter would be in good hands while we escaped to a movie.
I think we have been to maybe 1 other movie since our daughter was born, as we have to be very selective about what we see because our opportunities for that sort of thing are so rare these days.
I am glad to say that the movie was worth it. Great movie, and we are trying to turn friends and family on to Firefly/Serenity whom we feel might also be fans of this kind of series/movie.
I can only hope for a good return for the people behind the movie so that there will be more upcoming from this 'Verse they have created.

 

[Holadem]

I saw it a second time, and it's now safe to say that it's the best movie I've seen all year (tie with Crash).

--

H

 

[Kevin Grey]

The report I've read is that when the show was still in production that he had suggested to Whedon that it would be cool to kill of his character at the end of Season Two. So when the script came and Wash was killed off, Tudyk wasn't that surprised based on their previous conversations.

As for signing for sequels- anyone who has seen a Whedon show knows that just because your character is killed off doesn't mean that you can't appear in later episodes (and to his credit Whedon has never cheated with "fake" deaths that I can recall). He's pretty creative about incorporating characters who have shaken off the mortal coil.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Am I the only one who thinks a sci-fi resurrection of the show isn't rediculous to imagine?

Tim Minear could have a strong hand in it while Whedon's working on his film projects.

The Sci-Fi ratings for the re-runs are pretty strong, and appear to have gained numbers since the premiere episode aired. The ratings are only slightly lower than Battlestar and the other shows they air.

The episodes are 3 years old, and have been available on DVD for a very long time, with better picture/sound. So clearly the people watching probably aren't the hardcore fans. So if you take the average 1.3 million tuning in every week and throw in the hardcore fans who'd tune in for NEW episodes (not to mention the new people who'd recently gotten into the series because of the film) you'd have a pretty good chance for a hit.

I'm surprised they didn't start talks as soon as the first few episodes reaired.

 

[Nigel McN]

Sean*O's post made me think of something that might have been mentioned, I might have missed it. It would be interesting to see how the sales of the normal box set have done in relation to the release of the movie. The publicity could have generated quite an increase in sales which would, at least indirectly, increase the 'success' of the Film.

 

[Rutgar]

Everyone I know who has seen the movie without seeing the original series on TV or DVD, have also checked out the DVD's either renting or buying them. One person told me they were having a hard time trying to buy it, because the stores he checked said they kept selling out.

But, like you said, there ought to be some sales or rental numbers supporting this somewhere.