Serenity (2005) (1 Viewer)

[Eddy-C]

I got my Serenity trading cards today. Man those Reavers are nasty looking.

 

[Will_B]

A good article about how theatres and distributors split. My recollections are similar to those expressed in this article - that distributors get 85% first week, and it drops by about 5% each week thereafter.
Movieball article

 

[Will_B]

Whedonesque.com directs readers to SciFi Wire for this item of related interest to those who wonder if Joss might bring Serenity to direct-to-DVD movies....

Buffy Movies Straight To DVD?
Marti Noxon, executive producer of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its last seasons, told SCI FI Wire that the popular series' characters may live on in direct-to-DVD movies. "There are serious discussions going on about bringing some of the characters back and making a few movies that will go straight to DVD, but they will certainly be the quality they have always been," Noxon said in an interview.

Full story here.
I think Marti Noxon is the one who made Buffy so unlikable a character in the final season of Buffy, by the way. But the article stresses that she'd only be involved in Buffy direct-to-DVDs, not other Whedon projects, so hopefully she'd stay away from Firefly if that show goes that route as well.

 

[David Rogers]

Marti was a good writer as long as she had Joss overseeing her. Season Seven of Buffy clearly showed she lacks ... something ... (dunno what) to bring the magic into full magic strength.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Well, just watch "Point Pleasant" to see the Full Marti, and it does lack that spark in the writing or follow-through.

Anyhow, some optimism about the worldwide gross over $30 million has been creeping about on the other Serenity/Firefly boards.

 

[Marshall W. Carter]

BoxOfficeMojo.com has it at almost $34 million now, and the overseas tally for the week has yet to be added. It's in only 308 theaters nationwide now, so I doubt it will be adding a whole lot more domestically (should be trickling into $1.50 theaters though).

There's a single theater still showing it here (still at four showings too), so I'll likely try to catch one more showing.

I just hope there's still considerable box office overseas. If Deauce Bigaow: European Gigolo can get nearly $21 million overseas, Serenity sure as heck should...

 

[Brent C]

I saw "Serenity" it's opening weekend, but have just finally gotten my hands on a copy of "Firefly" from a local Best Buy($40.99). I've really been enjoying it.

I'd like to see "Serenity" one more time once it hits the local second run theaters.

 

[Dave_MD]

Like I said, I dont want to rain on anyones parade, but we should be happy with what we got because the numbers just do not justify a sequel for Universal.

There's more to the equation than just box office numbers. There's DVD sales. There's the fact that Whedon is making other movies for them, and if these movies do well, they may risk a few more Serenity movies as the "price" for working with Whedon on future projects. Plenty of movies get made for this very reason which are not expected to make a lot of money. Also in a few years with DVD sales and rentals, and TV broadcasts, there will be a lot more people aware of the Firefly/Serenity 'verse than are aware of it now.

I'm not trying to be a Pollyanna, merely pointing out that you aren't taking all of the potential factors into account. A couple of years from now when Joss Whedon is ready for his next project, the "numbers" and other factors could look very different to Universal than they look now.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Serenity hits DVD on December 20:
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/st...-27209,00.html
The major gist:

Although writer-director Whedon was able to complete his first feature with a relatively modest budget (somewhere in the $40 million range), the box office for "Serenity" fell short of what most observers thought would be required to greenlight a theatrical sequel.

 

[Chris S]

Well there is more Serenity coming according to Whedon! But is in the form of more comics. From Whedonesque.com

“And now on to the rumors and allegations section. Many of you want to know what the future holds. Anxiety, hurricanes, and Male Pattern Baldness. But maybe also some art-stuff, which is really what you guys are into. No, I don't know anything about sequels, or spinoffs, or Nathan's President for Life gig. I'll keep my ear to the ground of course, but for now I'm just going to rest on my laurels (I have two). Oh! Oh! But I will tell you that Brett and I are talking about another three part comic, and it's gonna be a hoot. Takes place during the show, and has some sweet character deaths -- I mean moments! ("And what brings you to our ship, FutureTara..?") Sorry. Horrible taste. (Empty inside!) But wait'll you see the cover...

Chris S.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I finally saw it last night. It was only on its second week of release in NZ, but there would have been maybe 10 people in the cinema on a Saturday night. Very disappointing. I was really hoping for more films, but that's not going to happen. The big question is, did all the preview screenings help or hurt the film. It was an interesting idea for promotion, but it doesn't seem to have helped the film find a wider audience.

I was very pleased that I somehow managed to avoid finding out who it was that died in the film, and how it happened, so each death surprised me.

I was particularly surprised that they killed off Book. I was certain that, if they made more films, they would be involved with Book's mysterious past, and this belief was made stronger by the conversation between Book and Mal ("You'll have to tell me about that sometime") which was clearly setting that plot up for new people.

Wash's death was less surprising, as he is one of the more expendible characters, but I was disappointed. I do enjoy the character and Alan Tudyk's performance, and was sad to see him go. Still, I thought Fillon and Torres gave great performances - Torres in particular with that moment of shock before the soldier steps in. She has lost people before, and she knows how to put that aside and get the job done. And that scene between Mal and Zoe onboard Serenity at the end, where they're talking about the ship to try and avoid talking about what is really on their minds - perfect.

Really impressive action scenes. One thing that surprised me was how much they kept Summer Glau visible in those fight scenes, as though deliberately making the point "This isn't a stuntwoman". I thought she did really impressively well.

I was also surprised to find that the whole "western" element was still in the film. I had heard so much about it being removed from the film, but there it was. It wasn't quite to the front of the film, and newcomers probably would not have picked up on it, but it was definitely there. And the music definitely had a subtle "western" feel. I was worried that the loss of the western elements would make it feel like a different universe, but fortunately it didn't.

It was a great plot, excellent performances, very intense, but with great comedy (I really loved Kaylee's battery comment). We found out the backstory of the Reavers, which was pretty cool, and the Reaver attacks were much more horrific than I was expecting. It was just an excellent movie, and a shame it isn't going to go on to more films.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I'm really annoyed that so many news sites continue to bash the film's box office. It underperformed in the US, but that's not all that counts.

Like calling THE ISLAND a failure for making only 36 million of the 100+ budget back. Overseas numbers were pretty good.

SERENITY has yet to open in many more international markets. The total as of now is 11 million, but that number should go up significantly in the coming months when more locations begin showing the film.

 

[Malcolm R]

Actually, I thought a lot of the international markets were cancelling the theatrical release and deciding to go straight to video?

 

[Christopher E]

Most of the non-english speaking international releases are cancelled. Think about it though, the movie would not translate well at all to other languages. A lot of the humor and some of the drama would be lost. I'm pretty sure north american movies are generally dubbed internationaly, so of course they could do subtitles but there would still be a lot lost in the translation.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

There are probably 19 more markets the film has yet to open in. I think maybe 3-5 of them have been cancelled.

I heard there aren't plans to continue the action figures already released. Too bad, I was hoping to get an entire set of the group... *sigh*

 

[Yee-Ming]

Just thought I'd chime in, here in Singapore the local distributor decided not to give Serenity a full theatrical run, but instead had a one-off screening last night. Which was quite well attended (at least IMHO) with the added bonus of a free poster with each ticket purchased. But the main point is, if you guys are hoping that overseas grosses will push Serenity to the target of US$80mil, don't hold your breath. The main other English language markets (UK; Australia) have already opened, and whilst their BO is respectable for those markets, I don't think they'll add enough to worldwide grosses for the total figure to match US grosses. Which is to be expected for a movie spun off from a cult US TV show -- its appeal will not be equivalent, in terms of US v. worldwide gross, to say the Bond franchise, which always does well worldwide. Or even say Star Wars.

As a fan of Firefly, unsurprisingly I loved Serenity -- the DVD is of course a must-buy, and until I found out about this special screening I'd resigned myself to waiting another month before getting to see it. Not much to add, since most of my views have already been discussed; the main jarring point I thought (not already discussed in this thread) was when Mal wanted to dress up Serenity like a Reaver ship, using the dead bodies of Haven residents for "dressing", and how he had to take a very hard-line stance with his crew -- seemed somewhat out of character, yes he's the boss, but he's never had to be so "mean" (for want of a better word) to his crew to get them to carry out orders. Certainly what he was asking them to do was gruesome, but a little persuading, rather than barking, would no doubt have gotten them to comply, e.g. "Look, we have to, otherwise we'll be the only ship without dead bodies on it, and we'll stick out like a sore thumb. Which will then get sucked on by Reavers."

Oh well, here's hoping for DTD sequels.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I just made a thread on the TV and HDTV Programming board concerning IGN's rumor of a Sci-Fi Channel movie sequel. The possible continuation of the 'Verse seems to be leaning to the small screen.

 

[mattCR]

This movie, however, had the same problem in my mind as "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back"
Because it was shown early in the summer to so many audiences as "previews" and a "cap" to a double feature for those willing to stay late, I don't think any of those grosses count (they would apply to the other film). More then that, all of the hardcore devoted fans went to those showings, and there you go.
Before J&SBSB, it opened as a "late night" preview on a Tuesday for people who bought tickets to some other movie (I can't even remember what the other movie was now) and it was brutally obvious people were there for JSBSB Preview.
Anyway, I was very impressed with the film, having never seen the series, it made me go back and watch the series, which I found to be incredibly well thought out.

 

[Patrick Sun]

There were many showings that were not of the "watch one film, stay for 'Serenity'" variety, but were separate and paid screenings for "Serenity" by the attendees. Those ticket sales will count towards "Serenity". How do you account for MovieFone and Fandango being pummelled when these "preview" screening went on sale online?

As mentioned before, the marketing was the main culprit because it marketed to people who would already be in the theaters, the marketing effort did not expand much outside of the demographics of Browncoats.

 

[Rakesh.S]

i loved this movie and series as much as you guys, but I don't think marketing was an issue.

The movie made $25 mill domestically. At $8/ticket, that's more than 3 million tickets sold. You have to keep in mind that this was a tv show and the actors are all unknowns in the movie world. People see a trailer with Nathan Fillion mumbling his ass off and say, "Who the hell is this guy?" In my opinion, $25 mill is a lot of money considering that there are lots of movies that flop these days(make less than 10 million, even with established stars).

All in all, it's one of those "it is what it is" situations. Universal should've just resurrected the show on Sci-Fi instead of going with a big budget(relative to the tv show) movie.

The story is too rich to die this quickly.