Serenity still has a chance to break even at the Box Office by GatorMarc

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity still has a chance to break even at the Box Office

POSTED BY: GATORMARC
UPDATED: Friday, February 3, 2006 16:37
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 16736
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Friday, December 9, 2005 11:46 AM

Granted, it's razor thin with no new openings coming up (I think) but it'll get close :)

Updated Box Office Figures:

Domestic: $25,374,750
+ Overseas: $12,680,355
= Worldwide: $38,055,105

International Figures:

Australia $2,414,055 (12/6/05)
Austria $122,698 (12/6/05)
Belgium $50,326 (12/6/05)
Denmark $66,631 (12/6/05)
France $530,411 (Final)
Germany $933,985 (12/6/05)
Holland $93,477 (12/6/05)
Italy $107,926 12/6/05)
New Zealand $219,824 (12/6/05)
Norway $24,530 (12/6/05)
Portugal $221,620 (11/26/05)
Russia $1,691,368 (11/20/05)
Spain $991,573 (11/20/05)
Sweden $44,082 (12/6/05)
Switzerland $25,845 (12/6/05)
United Kingdom $4,784,311 (11/30/05)

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 12:12 PM

HARSHCRITIC

Thanks for the info. Serenity's not doing that bad.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 1:47 PM

FOLLOWMAL

No it's not! And DVD sales will put it over into the black, I just know it.

"Is it Christmas?" Mal

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Friday, December 9, 2005 2:05 PM

RUNA27

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

No it's not! And DVD sales will put it over into the black, I just know it.

I now have the Firefly theme stuck in my head. :P

Not that I mind. It's very pretty, after all.

Hums, "Take me out... to the black... tell 'em I ain't comin' back..."

-Runa27

Can't Stop The Signal

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Friday, December 9, 2005 7:05 PM

HAYWARD79

I have to ssay though, that I am generally disappoitned in the sci-fi community in general for not supporting this great film during its first few weeks here in the US. Because the marketing budget for the film was pretty limited (such that it was unlikely to draw in a large non sci-fi type audience), it was really up to the sci-fi community outside of the core Firefly fans to push this movie into the stratosphere. If the sci-fi community had come out in force for this movie and talked it up to the extent that they should have, this movie would have easily done + $60 million domestic.

That said, a ~$40 million worldwide take on a movie with so little marketing in the mainstream media is not bad. If the DVD sales are extremely strong (and I think, based on the continuing strength of the Firefly DVDs and the movie's strong critical acclaim, there is a strong chance of this), then I think there is a very good chance that Universal will decide to do _something_ with the franchise. Additionally, I think the rental income from the DVD will be very strong. In this sense, I see Serenity as being the "Bourne Identity" of 2005 - a movie that didn't quite meet expectations at the box office, but more than redeemed itself on DVD.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 8:15 PM

NITEHAWK

We can hope.

One problem for the film is that it works so much better if you've watched the DVDs, and know and love the characters, and there wasn't enough talk of how good it was to make new DVD converts before the main release.

Because people knew it kinda depended on the DVDs, a lot of them wavered, and then it didn't stick around long enough for them to finally get to watching it. This seemed to be the case on all the forums where I was promoting it, at least.

Also it was a bad time of year for many. I wanted to see it many many more times, but only got a chance to go twice, with waaay too much work to grant myself the luxury of trekking out and spending the time that I could otherwise use on a problem set or sleep. It went out of theaters here really quickly . . . :(

The advantage of the DVD is that you can get it and then watch it after you've had time to catch up on the series, if you want to do that.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 9:05 PM

STAKETHELURK

One thing to remember is of course that the amount of money Serenity makes at the box office and the amount of money it makes for the studio are two different things. Box Office Mojo estimates that studios receive only 55% of the box office, so Universal would only have made $20,930,307 off the BDM so far (by my hasty calculations). It looks nice for the film to make its budget back at the box office, but it still has quite a ways to go before Universal will be in the black on this.

And that means DVD sales will definitely determine whether or not there is a continuation. Joss has said as much. So we need to be giving out lots of Serenity DVDs this holiday season. Donate extra copies to your local libraries if you run out of friends and relatives.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 9:12 PM

RUNA27

I agree! September/October is a horrible time to release a movie like Serenity. They should have aimed for a summer release, preferably July, r failing that, aimed for November-ish. I think it would have done a lot better if it had been during a peak time for movies, believe it or not. Look at how well Fantastic Four did despite being repeatedly called crap, due to its release date (and marketing budget, granted), or how well some of the autumn movies tend to do. I'm pretty sure Pirates of the Carribean was released during summer as well, and that was a huge hit, despite sounding like an even bigger longshot than Serenity (before PotC, Mr. Depp's popularity in the general public eye had considerably cooled, and for goodness sake, it was based on a theme park ride, who would ever expect it to be that good? At least Serenity was based on a critically-acclaimed, Emmy-winning TV series and had a small but very devoted fan base from the start).

Ah, but these are sleepy ramblings of someone in the middle of writing a final paper.

So I don't know if they make much sense...

-Runa27

Can't Stop The Signal

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:39 AM

HARSHCRITIC

I am buying 3, 1 for me, 1 for my brother, and 1 for my brother's friend. Both haven't seen it yet. I am going to remove the plastic wrap so they can't return it either.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:54 AM

VIKING

hi

i am relatively new to firefly, and i think the problem is that peeps just do not know about the series or the movie.

personally i am a huge sci fi fan and think firefly is the best thing since b5
but i only acidentaly went t the cinema and saw it, case her in Norway the series havent been on tv and the movie got no advertaisment so a lot off the sci fi fans her dont know off the series

personally i got the dvd series a couple o days after seen the movie just finised the last episode, and man i want more o that

i dont think ther have been a show with such good charcters ever. i just love how they play off each oter.

i mean ther were more good stuff in 14 episodes off fierfly then ther were in 4 sesonse off farscape

i think it a shame that such a great show got stoped

any off you know if it is possibel for some oter tv producer to pick it up or will fox refuse that ?

i mean why cant they let somone els make the show if they dont want to ?

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 8:05 AM

VANCOUVER

Want to add that although Box Office Mojo has declared Serenity's domestic BO "closed" as of Nov. 17, that just means the studio stopped tracking it domestically, not that it has actually stopped making money. It's still playing in all sorts of places--like, for instance, Langley, a farming suburb of Vancouver. That is one LONG run, folks! Two months! In Calgary, Alberta, you still have your a choice of several different theatres to see it in.

The increasing international take is heartening.

As for Nitehawk's observation about not enough people knowing and loving the characters, I agree to some extent--but the movie is good enough to have converted a good many people to the series. I, for instance, had seen only three or four episodes of Firefly on TV, and hadn't bought the DVD series, before seeing Serenity. The movie prompted me to buy the series (which actually I meant to do at the time--but $60 was too steep), and the series enhanced the movie, and on and on like that. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've seen the movie since watching the series all the way through; it took me quite a bit of assimilation time to figure out that the movie was the end of Season Two. Anyway, I just wanted to remind fans out there that the movie, while obviously not as good as the series, was one of the more watchable, engaging, and amusing movies to come out this year, and not a single newbie I took regretted the ticket price.

Vancouver

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 8:54 AM

CAUSAL

Quote:
Originally posted by StakeTheLurk:
DVD sales will definitely determine whether or not there is a continuation...So we need to be giving out lots of Serenity DVDs this holiday season.

This kind of fallacious thinking will not get us a sequel. Let's face it--there aren't enough people in the core fan base to provide the kind of cash the studio needs to green-light more movies. Proof? $25 mil domestic budget. And that with repeated viewings (even in the double digits) by the core fan base. This means the the movie didn't reach the broader audience it needed to. If repeated viewings won't significantly boost the B.O. take, repeated buyings won't boost the DVD sales either. The only thing (in my view) that will work is conversions. The more people we convert, the more boxsets sell. The more boxsets sell, the more Serenity DVDs will sell. So the message is the same (ignored) message from before the opening of the BDM: convert!

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 9:00 AM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by Vancouver:
Want to add that although Box Office Mojo has declared Serenity's domestic BO "closed" as of Nov. 17, that just means the studio stopped tracking it domestically, not that it has actually stopped making money. It's still playing in all sorts of places--like, for instance, Langley, a farming suburb of Vancouver. That is one LONG run, folks! Two months! In Calgary, Alberta, you still have your a choice of several different theatres to see it in.

Whoo-hoo! Still holding in Canada!

Still holding in the United States.

11th week of Serenity:AK AZ CA IA ID IL IN KY MI MN MO MT NE NJ NM NY OR TN TX UT VA WA

***Over 70 days in US!**** Serenity showing day before the DVD release!!
Check your theaters and newspapers and other online sites for Serenity showings. There ARE
more showings then there are on the IMDB US map.
For example: Theaters with the word brew or draft in their names.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15395

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 9:21 AM

DERANGEDMILK

and didn't I read something about TNT buying the rights to air it on TV for 2 mil? anyone remember that thread?
-e

"Storms getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 9:31 AM

STAKETHELURK

Quote:
This kind of fallacious thinking will not get us a sequel.

I agree that conversions will be key to boosting DVD sales, and having been talking about it for months ( http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14173). But the ultimate goal of getting a sequel/continuation requires that the BDM sets sell in high numbers. Hence, anything that will boost sales is of the good, not just conversions. Some people may have exhausted their circle of potential converts; they can help by buying an extra copy or two as gifts or donations. Fellow you just can’t get to watch the series? Give him a Serenity DVD for Christmas. Someone who might be interested but just doesn’t have time to watch an episode? Show her the River Tam Sessions. And if you want to reach people you’ll never meet, posting some good old-fashioned guerrilla marketing in the appropriate public places can always help.

I was merely trying to stress the importance of the DVD sales, with just one quick suggestion on how to increase them. You seem agree with me that we need to take an active stance towards getting the BDM sales up there rather than just sitting back and expecting it’ll do well. But there’s more than one way to fight the good fight, and I say we try all of them.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 10:38 AM

GATORMARC

Quote:
Originally posted by derangedmilk:
and didn't I read something about TNT buying the rights to air it on TV for 2 mil? anyone remember that thread?
-e

"Storms getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."

It was USA... they paid $3 million for the "Network broadcast rights" along with Sci-Fi channel for later broadcasts.

They also estimated that HBO paid $5 million for the rights to air the movie.

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 10:42 AM

DERANGEDMILK

Well thats another 8 mil then. I don't see any reasons we can't add that to the total.
-e

"Storms getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:51 PM

KAZZAHDRANE

Do us all a favour and fuck off.

Sorry for my language but I've seen this exact same message time and time again on these boards. We're all doing our part and if you don't want to then we still want you as a fan along for the ride. But don't try to tell us that it's hopeless, because we worked and got a FEATURE FILM.

You've made your opinion very clear, so stop copy-pasting this gorram bullshit onto these boards.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 2:11 PM

NTLZYJSTDNTCARE

There was no way Serenity was ever going to be a big success at the box office. If a film with no major stars does well it's a freak happening, and the filmmakers are the talk of Hollywood.

Plus, Firefly/Serenity doesn't lend itself to easy marketing. The first time I saw the King Kong trailer I knew I had to see it. When Naomi Watts is being stalked by a T-Rex, and KK leaps down to protect her, and lets out a roar, my jaw dropped to the floor. The Serenity trailer was composed entirely of pithy quips, which I think put as many people off the movie as it attracted.

Firefly belongs back on tv, where it will surely be a huge success 2nd time around. Nobody has heard of it in Ireland (where I come from), but if it was shown by british or irish tv it would become hugely popular in no time. Then when the fan base has grown exponentially future films will rake in huge box office.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 2:16 PM

CBY

Quote:
Originally posted by Byrd101:
drivel

Boy, you really must have a good time. Copy and paste is so much fun.

Seriously, nobody knows what will happen at this juncture. Until an official statement of some sort we won't give up our hopes. Even if you repeat your rant hundreds of times.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 4:08 PM

CHOLLETT

What's life without hope?

Seriously! As previously mentioned, we got a FEATURE FILM out of a show that a select few people saw when it initially aired, and we got the BDM just by keeping this fandom going and keeping it fresh.

Keep something going for long enough, and eventually, someone notices.

I'm babbling like a moonbrain.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 5:16 PM

SHEPHERDSCOTT

I find it interesting that in every incarnation, FF/SERENITY gets held back by a company with cold feet. Both FOX and UNIVERSAL have dropped the ball, and in a sense in similar ways. When FF was first airing, FOX marketers saw that they had a highly original, funny, but ultimately rather dark and serious sci-fi drama. They didn't really know how to market it. So, they refused to air the pilot, told Joss to write "The Train Job" and lighten the mood, and aired a slew of commercial pitching the series as a wonky, comic space adventure. As well all know, this misadvertisement dropped the ball.

Then along comes UNIVERSAL. They seem the potential and take a gamble. They give Joss a fair budget to make an inventive sci-fi action-drama, with Joss's trademark dark humor. But, as the release date nears the studio once again gets cold feet. The marketers don't know how to market this unusual film. So its release gets shunted until after the big summer season and its entire advertising budget gets sunk into 2 weeks of fairly ineffective pre-release commercials. And just like FOX did with FF, UNIVERSAL markets the film as a wonky, comic space adventure, emphasizing the jokes in the commercials and downplaying the drama.

UNIVERSAL's cold feet were not validated by the critical response. SERENITY was one of the best reviewed films of its season, with over 80% positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes (even higher among professional critics for major media outlets). UNIVERSAL should have held half its advertising budget for the second weekend. They should have hit newspapers and television stations with ads trumpeting "SERENITY is the #1 new film of the week," "SERENITY is the biggest action film in the country," and "SERENITY is the best-reviewed sci-fi film of the year! Ebert and Roeper give it two thumbs up!" This is how you move a cult film into the mainstream...by saying, "People who know like this movie, and you don't want to miss it."

I fear that even if SERENITY is giving a new lease of life in some other outlet, whoever is producing it still will just mess things up.

* * *

Do the job. Get paid. Keep flying.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 6:14 PM

HAYWARD79

And let's not forget that there is the current rumor that a Serenity sequel will be filmed and shown for the Sci-fi network. Although that's yet to be confirmed, I think that's probably the most realistic possibility right now.

The fact that the DVD is already selling well (#17 overall at Amazon) over a week before its release just makes a future project all the more likely. Again, it's really all about momentum. After The Bourne Identity didn't live up to expectations at the box office (at least based on its high budget), any continuation of the series was suspended. Then, the DVD sold like crazy and was the top DVD of the year, spawning a sequel that absolutely exploded at the box office (with a 3rd film currently in production).

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:03 PM

CALHOUN

Any mathematically inclined people about?

It would be interesting to see the figures "per capita". My rough calculations in my head have us Australians kicking the worlds ass! Whats with that? Some of these little piss ant countries like Norway, Sweden and Switzerland must have only had half a dozen people attend..

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:13 PM

HARTMEISTER

Isn't there a way to get this guy banned? This is spam. A message that continues to be repeated, word-for-word everytime the issue of a Serenity sequel comes forth. I think you can disagree on the BDM but you can't just post THE EXACT SAME MESSAGE.

Quote:
Originally posted by Byrd101:
What a bunch of bull....

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:36 PM

HARTMEISTER

ShepherdScott,

Boy you spoke exactly for me. I don't think Universal was figuring for the great reviews and still hasn't today. Go to Wal-Mart and look at the Serenity poster for the DVD. There is a one review on the poster, from the SF Chronicle I believe. Oh, my gosh, is that the way you promote a film that has had the good reviews the film has had. It has a two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper for crying out loud. Using a SF Chronicle review instead of an Ebert and Roeper.

Now anybody knows that I am not anwhere a fan of the BDM as I am of the series but how this film was marketed is truly a tragedy. I don't understand how you have a sci-fi movie with the reviews it has had and you market it anyway other than that. In fact why even have a single picture of a cast member. None of the cast are stars (with the exception of old TV fans of Barney Miller) so just have a black poster with a small picture of the ship and reviews. After all, there are no start to appease so just sell the darn DVD.

What made Matrix into a DVD phenomenon was the number of good reviews about the movie. Remember the Matrix was a box office dud and wasn't even released on VHS. The DVD had tons of great features, dual commentaries and really set the stage for future DVD releases.

Quote:
Originally posted by ShepherdScott:
I find it interesting that in every incarnation, FF/SERENITY gets held back by a company with cold feet. Both FOX and UNIVERSAL have dropped the ball, and in a sense in similar ways. When FF was first airing, FOX marketers saw that they had a highly original, funny, but ultimately rather dark and serious sci-fi drama. They didn't really know how to market it. So, they refused to air the pilot, told Joss to write "The Train Job" and lighten the mood, and aired a slew of commercial pitching the series as a wonky, comic space adventure. As well all know, this misadvertisement dropped the ball.

Then along comes UNIVERSAL. They seem the potential and take a gamble. They give Joss a fair budget to make an inventive sci-fi action-drama, with Joss's trademark dark humor. But, as the release date nears the studio once again gets cold feet. The marketers don't know how to market this unusual film. So its release gets shunted until after the big summer season and its entire advertising budget gets sunk into 2 weeks of fairly ineffective pre-release commercials. And just like FOX did with FF, UNIVERSAL markets the film as a wonky, comic space adventure, emphasizing the jokes in the commercials and downplaying the drama.

UNIVERSAL's cold feet were not validated by the critical response. SERENITY was one of the best reviewed films of its season, with over 80% positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes (even higher among professional critics for major media outlets). UNIVERSAL should have held half its advertising budget for the second weekend. They should have hit newspapers and television stations with ads trumpeting "SERENITY is the #1 new film of the week," "SERENITY is the biggest action film in the country," and "SERENITY is the best-reviewed sci-fi film of the year! Ebert and Roeper give it two thumbs up!" This is how you move a cult film into the mainstream...by saying, "People who know like this movie, and you don't want to miss it."

I fear that even if SERENITY is giving a new lease of life in some other outlet, whoever is producing it still will just mess things up.

* * *

Do the job. Get paid. Keep flying.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005 11:20 PM

VIKING

it is not o strange that Norway and sweden had so low numbers since we have not had the series aird on tv or had any time off commercial for the film

hell the film was aired in the smalles off the cinemas in my town and was allmost impossebel to find.

so this i think had more with peeps not been informed then about peeps not wanting to see it

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 6:51 AM

NELLIE

Thanks to GatorMarc, the most important issue of all has popped up again.

Viking is right to defend Norway & Sweden---how can anyone see the film if the promoters only show it at 12 tiny cinemas in the whole country, like they did in the Netherlands? And $93,477 from only 12 cinemas is fantastic, isn't it? Especially when Fox's "In Her Shoes" was on at 80 cinemas there. Instead of just looking at the money, look at the numbers of cinemas compared to other films---it's all there in Box Office Mojo, Calhoun.

ShepherdScott and Hartmeister are also right to point out the real problem: appalling promotion. It's more than cold feet---it seems deliberate.

And surprise, surprise, StaketheLurk keeps a watchful eye, always ready to jump in whenever anyone criticizes the promoters, trying to steer us all away from that and divert us into what Universal wants us to do: "Buy More DVDs". Why does he never, ever criticize the promoters or the ad campaign, I wonder? And why should we all keep shelling out money to reward them for doing a bad job?

Let's get down to brass tacks here: as others have pointed out, somebody in Hollywood wanted this whole thing to fail. Who knows why? Maybe so that none of the cast would become big stars. Maybe it's just envy, ugly old envy and rivalry, at the bottom of this. But it's absolutely unfair to blame the fans or the people or the film for the games these promoters are playing with us all.

Sorry, I just couldn't help sticking my oar in again, but all your comments inspired me. I'll keep quiet and go away now...

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:32 AM

STAKETHELURK

Quote:
And surprise, surprise, StaketheLurk keeps a watchful eye, always ready to jump in whenever anyone criticizes the promoters, trying to steer us all away from that and divert us into what Universal wants us to do: "Buy More DVDs". Why does he never, ever criticize the promoters or the ad campaign, I wonder?

I don’t criticize the advertisements because, A) their failure speaks for itself and B) it doesn’t do any good. Complaining about the adverts achieves nothing but a group hate-in, which, while sometimes cathartic, does not really help our BDHs in any way. I agree that it’s f**king idiotic that they haven’t put the Ebert & Roeper quotes on anything--so anyone putting together guerrilla marketing should feature them prominently.

I don’t, however, believe that there was this vast conspiracy among studio execs to ruin the film. I think the studio was faced with an unusual product to sell and made some poor decisions in trying to sell it, but c’mon folks, they’re suits. They don’t poor millions of dollars into a film just to spite the fans; it’s not good business sense. They’re not FOX. They didn’t tamper with the film, they didn’t put it up against Star Wars where it would have been swamped, and organized all the pre-screening to reward the fans and produce some additional buzz. I think that their advertising department overall failed to market the film properly, but as Joss has repeatedly noticed, it is a tough film to market. Because it lacks some easily sellable premise, it is something the advertisers haven’t dealt with before and their lack of experience shows. They screwed it up, but I sincerely doubt it they did so with malicious intent.

Quote:
And why should we all keep shelling out money to reward them for doing a bad job?

Why should we “reward” Universal for taking an incredible gamble on a show widely regarded in Hollywood as a commercial failure? Why should we reward them for giving Joss complete creative freedom? I’ll tell you why: because they have the rights to the BDM. If you’re like me and you want more of the ‘verse, Uni is really the only place you can turn to. They may have fumbled the advertising, but they still have a big stake in the film. If “Serenity” is viewed as a failure and disowned by Universal, nobody’s going to take a chance on a franchised that failed its second chance as well. On the other hand, if Universal thinks there’s money in it, they’d be interested in doing more--because they’re execs. As I noted above, Joss has said the DVDs sales will decide whether there will be a sequel. It all comes down to that. If you want more of our BDHs, help boost the DVD sales. If you want to abandon any chance of a continuation so you can spitefully stick to Universal, the studio without which we would never have gotten the BDM in the first place, you can do that as well. But I know where I stand on the issue.

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:46 AM

VIKING

we reward the show not the losy prooters and the show deservs it :)

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 1:25 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Hear hear, StaketheLurk, I agree with you!

Universal may have fumbled the job promoting the BDM, but that doesn't mean we have to fumble what WE can do and that is BUY DVDS!!!

I for one am too happy to share the "Firefly/Serenity" love with the folks I love and I'm gonna keep on believing that- like the folks that started this thing if we do our best it will work out.

I listened to the latest Joss interview posted after downloading it last night and he says that the DVD sales are the key to the future of this 'verse. At this point, "Joss is boss." and I'm gonna do my share.

"Is it Christmas?" Mal

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:06 PM

KYLENBLADE

I've, likewise, been doing everything I can to hook as many people as I can on FF. Got a few people going out and buying the series soon and just dying to go out and buy Serenity when it comes out. This series is sooooo infectuous (sp?). Show people one episode and BOOM they're hooked... it's like video crack!

Hey! You're back! And there's your front too!

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:51 PM

BADGERGIRL

Quote:
The only thing (in my view) that will work is conversions. The more people we convert, the more boxsets sell. The more boxsets sell, the more Serenity DVDs will sell. So the message is the same (ignored) message from before the opening of the BDM: convert!

Hallelujah, for I haven't heard that since the BDM came out! I've been converting since I learned of Firefly two years ago, and I've been converting ever since the BDM was released. Just last weekend I converted five more people. I have friends who are going to buy Serenity on DVD next week because it didn't come to any theatres near us; a lot of them haven't even seen Firefly much, or at all.

Converting is KEY. People keep forgetting this; the huge fanbase is part of what makes us mighty. If it keeps getting bigger, they know that they have to keep serving the fans.

---------
"Is there someone you are good at talking to?"

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 5:17 PM

INIRE

Byrd101 wrote:

Sunday, December 11, 2005 16:03

What a bunch of....
-------

Byrd101 SERIOUSLY needs to get out more. Perhaps even laid.

I'm not volunteering, i'm just sayin'.

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 9:51 PM

NELLIE

I see you are still avoiding the issue of pathetically low cinema numbers compared to other films, StaketheLurk. Everyone seems to be avoiding this issue.

No one is criticizing the Universal studio executives---only their promoters, which is a different thing completely. And YES, it DOES do good to criticize the promoters, because maybe some of them are pulling the wool over the eyes of the executives. Top executives don't have time to attend to every detail of every department.

It is entirely in the interest of Fox that Serenity fails like they said it would, so what's to stop them from quietly putting some of their own people onto Universal's advertising team, just for a laugh? Haven't we all seen that sort of thing in movies?

Quoting Joss twice to get everyone on your side is an old trick. You don't speak for Joss---none of us speak for him. Only Joss speaks for himself.

I don't pretend to know what is going on. I only know that it's important to keep asking questions, so that our enthusiasm doesn't get manipulated by professionals, who can come onto this site posing as fans anytime.

It's important to open our eyes and not just follow blindly.

So, GatorMarc, how about that marvellous Box Office list of yours again, including cinema numbers this time? Comparing it to the figures for Fox's "In Her Shoes" would be nice, too...

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Monday, December 12, 2005 10:56 PM

NELLIE

GatorMarc, where did you get your Box Office figures for all those countries?

Many of them aren't available on Box Office Mojo, so where did you get them, if you don't mind my asking?

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005 1:29 AM

IAMLOSTINSPACE

I don't know if you are being a little over-protective Nellie, don't come down on anyone for saying that the film might do well. I loved the show too, just having bought and watched the series this weekend.
The problem I see with Serenity in Australia is that it wasn't marketed AT ALL! The only reason I knew about it is because of chat on another sci-fi chatroom that I belong to.My first reaction was to investigate a little and then go and see the movie. Unfortunately, the movie never screened in my local cinema or any of the others that I went to (I happened to travel from Newcastle to Townsville that month and I looked). It only showed in the major cinemas in the major cities.
I was really disappointed with not being able to see it (and still haven't) but it was probably that fact that made me buy the dvd boxed set of the series (something I rarely do, and NEVER without having already seen a show) so that I could check out what all the fuss was about.
I loved it. Can't wait to see the film on the little screen (only option I have)and hope to hell that they manage to make another series.

Just another thought, I can't tell the last time I think a FOX exectutive made the right decision with TV, so don't think they're out to get you, they're just out to get the lowest common denominator's ratings.... and if you think I'm biased, remember, FOX is owned by an Australian.

By the way, the television series has, to my knowledge, never aired in Australia and only came out on dvd after the film screened.

Boomshanka,
Bill

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005 3:21 AM

NELLIE

iamlostinspacebill,

Well, you really surprised me in two ways:

First, I never knew Fox was owned by an Australian.

And second, you made me look at everything in a whole new way. Here I am getting all upset about the promoters trying to kill the film, nipping it in the bud and making sure that as few people see it as possible.

But if even people like you way out in the wilds of Australia heard about it and bought the Firefly set and became a Browncoat (you are now) without ever seeing the film, well that means they CAN'T kill it, no matter how hard they try.

So I guess it doesn't really matter what they do to destroy it, or why they are doing it. You are proof that it will just keep spreading like wildfire, so why should we worry?

Thanks, pal---you really cheered me up!

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:59 PM

IAMLOSTINSPACE

Happy to oblige, Nellie,
By the way, Rupert Murdoch is the Australian that owns FOX (a part of his Newscorp company) and while I don't for a second believe that he personally would have even watched the show, he has such a reputation as a "tough dealer" that perhaps the attitude has filtered down his companies. Except that it may have been like Chinese whispers and the attitude got changed on it's way down to "just be a hard bastard and kill anything good". Sometimes it isn't the guy at the top making the bad decisions, it's the jerks in the middle who think that is what the boss would want. I've seen the same thing just about every job I've worked in, not nice but if enough people sign the petitions, maybe the people at the top will see what a bad decision their executives made on their behalf and change it.

Thanks for the really nice reply, by the way.

Boomshanka,
Bill

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005 10:23 AM

GATORMARC

Updated Figures:

Domestic: $25,374,750
+ Overseas: $12,951,133
= Worldwide: $38,325,883

International Figures:

Australia $2,417,321 (12/11/05)
Austria $154,464 (12/11/05)
Belgium $62,787 (12/11/05)
Denmark $77,996 (12/11/05)
France $530,411 (Final)
Germany $1,116,694 (12/11/05)
Holland $96,415 (12/11/05)
Italy $108,106 (12/11/05)
New Zealand $222,800 (12/11/05)
Norway $37,663 (12/11/05)
Portugal $221,620 (Final)
Russia $1,691,368 (11/20/05)
Spain $991,573 (11/20/05)
Sweden $52,330 (12/11/05)
Switzerland $27,152 (12/11/05)
United Kingdom $4,784,311 (Final)

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:38 AM

GATORMARC

Domestic: $25,374,750
+ Overseas: $13,097,095
= Worldwide: $38,471,845

Australia $2,417,865 (12/14/05)
Austria $165,674 (12/22/05)
Belgium $68,698 (12/22/05)
Denmark $82,591 (12/22/05)
France $530,411 (Final)
Germany $1,184,483 (12/22/05)
Holland $96,604 (12/13/05)
Italy $108,106 (12/11/05)
New Zealand $223,529 (12/13/05)
Norway $49,038 (12/22/05)
Portugal $221,620 (Final)
Russia $1,691,368 (Final)
Spain $991,573 (11/20/05)
Sweden $55,125 (12/15/05)
Switzerland $27,573 (12/15/05)
United Kingdom $4,784,311 (Final)

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Thursday, January 5, 2006 3:19 AM

GATORMARC

Quote:
Originally posted by Nellie:
GatorMarc, where did you get your Box Office figures for all those countries?

Many of them aren't available on Box Office Mojo, so where did you get them, if you don't mind my asking?

Actually, that's where I got them from... Box Office Mojo.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=serenity.htm

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Thursday, January 5, 2006 3:21 AM

GATORMARC

Updated Box Office:

Domestic: $25,374,750
+ Overseas: $13,272,980
= Worldwide: $38,647,730

International:

Australia $2,427,169 (12/28/05)
Austria $168,873 (1/3/06)
Belgium $68,698 (12/22/05)
Denmark $82,756 (12/23/05)
France $530,411 (Final)
Germany $1,207,740 (1/3/06)
Holland $96,604 (12/13/05)
Italy $108,106 (12/11/05)
New Zealand $224,725 (12/29/05)
Norway $49,496 (12/23/05)
Portugal $221,620 (Final)
Russia $1,691,368 (Final)
Spain $1,018,603 (12/29/05)
Sweden $55,125 (12/15/05)
Switzerland $27,573 (12/15/05)
United Kingdom $4,784,311 (Final)

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Thursday, January 5, 2006 3:47 AM

NELLIE

Pointless without cinema numbers.
(Holland $96,604 from 12 cinemas)
12 CINEMAS!!!

Especially compared to other films like Fox's "In Her Shoes" (Holland: 80 cinemas)...

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Wednesday, January 11, 2006 11:25 AM

GATORMARC

They finally updated the domestic figures after a month.

Domestic: $25,514,517
+ Overseas: $13,281,442
= Worldwide: $38,795,959

Some of these International Figures are still out of date... not sure if we can expect much more to come in, but then again, I was pleasantly surprised to see the extra $140k domestically from December.

Australia $2,427,169 (12/28/05)
Austria $168,873 (1/3/06)
Belgium $68,698 (12/22/05)
Denmark $82,756 (12/23/05)
France $530,411 (Final)
Germany $1,207,740 (1/3/06)
Holland $96,604 (12/13/05)
Italy $108,106 (12/11/05)
New Zealand $224,725 (12/29/05)
Norway $49,496 (12/23/05)
Portugal $221,620 (Final)
Russia $1,691,368 (Final)
Spain $1,018,603 (12/29/05)
Sweden $55,125 (12/15/05)
Switzerland $27,573 (12/15/05)
United Kingdom $4,784,311 (Final)

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Wednesday, January 18, 2006 7:11 AM

GATORMARC

Domestic: $25,514,517
+ Overseas: $13,299,915
= Worldwide: $38,814,432

Still a lot of International figures that are out of date. Don't know if we can expect more from them or not.

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Wednesday, January 18, 2006 5:11 PM

WINDWALKER

I didn't see Japan They eat up American SciFi

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:39 AM

GATORMARC

It's like it's constantly taunting me by adding ten grand here and ten grand there...

Domestic: $25,514,517
+ Overseas: $13,322,807
= Worldwide: $38,837,324

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 4:37 PM

HALFBREEDINKC

There was a thread I started a few days ago that pretty much asked some of these same questions. If memory serves - the rental grosses were somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million +, Serenity was #38 on the top rentals last week, but most stores only had a few copies, my local blockbuster only had like 6 total. I couldn't find any figures for the grosses on dvd SALES, so who actually knows how well it is doing?

Remember also that some franchises have done a lot worse financially and yet still had sequels made. I'd sure as hell like to see SOMETHING, preferably "long-term" - the series being brought back, a run of several movies or mini-series...anything is better than what we have right now.

HalfBreed in KC

"They don't like it when you shoot at them. I worked that out myself"

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