Need Help: Approximately how many Serenity\Firefly fans are there? by Penthos

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Need Help: Approximately how many Serenity\Firefly fans are there?

POSTED BY: PENTHOS
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 21:04
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VIEWED: 6326
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:33 AM

Does anyone have an idea or estimate of how many real "fans" there are? -People who would spend money on Firefly\Serenity?

It's hard to tell stictly on sales figures because so many of us buy more than once...

Is it less than 20k? More than 50k? ... I have no idea.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:38 AM

ZZETTA13

There are plenty enought for someone to invest in a sequel,mini series or BD(new)Series.

Z

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:40 AM

PENTHOS

Quote:
Originally posted by zzetta13:
There are plenty enought for someone to invest in a sequel,mini series or BD(new)Series.

Z

I agree, but what is that number?

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:45 AM

MICJWELCH

I've wondered the same thing. This site just has the "A lot of browncoats" thing. Can't find a number of registered users.

"We may experience some slight turbulence, and then... explode."

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:48 AM

PENTHOS

To clarify, I mean Firefly "Fans", not just the people who are registered on this site. Just in case there was some confusion as to the scope of my question.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:01 AM

ZZETTA13

There's no way of really knowing. I know at least 30 people who are FF/Serenity fans that belong to no fansite. They get all their info from me (the browncoat nut

).but then they don't belong to anything, the mondane fools...ha..ha
I could ponder to say that for every regestered fan on every fansite, Universal has around 2000,there are 50-100 that would go see the sequel or buy another season of new tv episodes.

There's tons of $$$ to be made.It's why it boggles the mind why someone ain't started the ball rollin yet.

Z

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 10:22 AM

PENTHOS

If what I'm reading off wikipedia is right, " By September 2005, its [Firefly] DVD release had sold approximately 500,000 copies" then my conservative estimates at the top of this thread were way off.

Even if every fan bought 2 copies, that's still 250,000 fans. Likely it was probably closer to 300,000+ fans buying 500,000 DVDs...

But that was as of Sept 2005. By now there has got to be more than 500,000 fans around the globe. Does anyone disagree and think that estimate is too high?

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 11:58 AM

PDCHARLES

What happened? He see your face?

Quote:
Originally posted by Penthos:
But that was as of Sept 2005. By now there has got to be more than 500,000 fans around the globe. Does anyone disagree and think that estimate is too high?

Not at all. For a DVD set to do so well on the amazon top 100 list for so long. Problably more. Not sure if inquiring Fox thru email would get any response. But I would try that route if u need accurate data.

Not to mention, most of the sales numbers can be looked at as "household" purchases thus touching more people than the numbers indicate. One Box set per household. (and yes many more in some cases) Then factor in netflix, sci-fi showings, now UHD, illegal burnings, loners, etc. and the numbers grow even more.

Then comes the question: (and definition of) Do these numbers directly create Flans? Are they
hardcore vs. casual?

Is the reason u ask for this info. to see if the numbers would make the series/movie viable to produce again?
...or a school project?
..basic curiousity?

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 12:14 PM

KAREL

Flying on duct tape and a damaged registry.

Using just this site as a barometer, I'd say that there are many more Browncoats than there were when Serenity was released in 2005. Seems like there is a new Browncoat joining the fff.net ranks every day.

When I went to the CSTS in Tucson in 2006, The Loft Cinema was PACKED. I think it seats 400. They had to turn peeps away!

But anyway, that is far more AZ people than are on fff.net and/or active members of the Arizona Browncoats.

"This is the twenty first century, can't you get it through your head? This ain't the way it was meant to be, magic isn't dead." -- Marillion.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 12:14 PM

PENTHOS

Quote:
Is the reason u ask for this info. to see if the numbers would make the series/movie viable to produce again?

No, I'm not looking at that angle. Based on the DVD sales, we know there are enough fans.

There's been plenty of time for FOX to start the series back up if they were gonna. I don't believe they will. And no one else (like SciFi) will either until FOX releases the rights to future Firefly DVD sales...

I think we need a new plan...

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 2:48 PM

FREEBROWNCOAT

Have to agree after all this time. Sadly.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 6:09 AM

PENTHOS

Seems to me FOX is content not producing any new shows. They just keep recycling FireFly on DVD with an added "bonus feature" or two, like episode commentary from the set designer's brother-in-law and his girlfriend and such. And we keep givin em our money in hopes they'll kindly make new ones...

Don't get me wrong, something is better than nothing. But the way I see it someone needs to rustle those FireFly rights away from FOX... I wonder what those rights are worth to them anway...

Zoe: Don't think its a good spot sir, she still has the advantage over us.
Mal: Everyone always does, that's what makes us special.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 2:13 PM

TRAVELER

When you start hearing from people from Norway and Australia I think you get the picture that there are plenty. There are also other Firefly fan sites and generic SciFi sites that have an independent Firefly discussion group. Now how many sites are there in other languages that we have not heard of? How many fans don't have access to the internet? So counting heads would be near impossible.

As said, DVD sales can be misleading. Many people have more than one set while some sets are owned by a household that could average around four people and all could be fans.

So there must be several hundred thousand people who are or have enjoyed Firefly and consider themselves fans.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 4:41 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Penthos,

Keep in mind that Joss is or is going to be working in the same buildings soon with the 20th Century Fox DVD people. They know how much money Firefly brings in. And then when http://drhorrible.com happens (already filmed...in post production) Gee Joss, you do webepisodes too huh, how is that working out...

Also remember the people who cancelled Firefly are long gone.

And Joss and the crew keep getting more and more popular. The more people see of our big darn heroes, the more they want to see of our big darn heroes.

And then Universal is probably watching the Stargate: Ark of Truth DVD movie carefully. Morena is the big bad villian. And Universal just bought the rights to make movies from Dark Horse comics which would include the rights to Serenity: Better Days and Serenity: Those Left Behind.

Budget 7 million.

Just think what Joss could do with 7 million.

Stargate - The Ark of Truth DVD sales Total so far 350,465 $5,936,877

$4.16M Rental gross.

Firefly DVD sales $amount
45,794 $1,288,185 2007/09/09
31,983 $685,076 2007/06/17
33,845 $773,358 2007/03/04
120,215 $3,745,899 2007/01/07
------- ----------
231,837 $6,492,518

And that is only when Firefly made the top 30 DVD chart and for 2007. Hope for more DVD sales figures in the future...maybe even back to 2005!

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=lang_en&safe=active&as_q
dr=all&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=firefly+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-numbers.com%2Fdvd

http://whedonesque.com/ has 6495 members but they restrict membership.

http://www.serenitymovie.org/ has 10,120 registered members.

http://www.fireflyfans.net has I think over 25000 members but I forget how to find the number.

Nathan Fillion has 43874 friends.

Jewel Staite has 28253 friends.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 4:57 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Penthos,

Remember that Joss knows how to reach us. All he has to do is post on http://whedonesque.com/ Nathan can send out a myspace bulletin to 43845 friends.

Joss wants to tell more stories in the 'verse with actors. The actors want to also.

Fox or Universal or some other studio someday will realize that there is more money to be made in the 'verse. Or Joss and the actors will end up doing this themselves.

We hold 'til Mal gets back.

Or Joss puts a donate button on http://drhorrible.net for the Webepisodes of Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Or asks us to do something else.

We promote Firefly/Serenity, we buy official merchandise, we spread the love of Firefly/Serenity, we go to regular screenings of Serenity, we go to/arrange Charity Screenings of Serenity http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/ , we donate DVDs to troops, firefighters, libraries, we enjoy the other works of Joss and the crew...

Lots of other ideas on http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=20
Firefly and Serenity Guerilla Marketing

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Friday, April 4, 2008 6:26 PM

STOWEAWAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous1:
Penthos,

And Universal just bought the rights to make movies from Dark Horse comics which would include the rights to Serenity: Better Days and Serenity: Those Left Behind.

http://www.fireflyfans.net has I think over 25000 members but I forget how to find the number.

Wow! I wasn't aware of the Universal/Dark Horse deal. Thanks, Anony1. You're a fountain of knowledge.

And may I offer a tidbit of my own -- there are now 30,800+ members of fireflyfans.net
The way to tell is to put your cursor over the name of a member and their member number appears in the status bar at the bottom of your screen. Find a thread where someone just signed up and says hello. That will give you a general idea of where we stand on membership.
That's a pretty impressive number. I don't know of another Browncoat site that has that many members. And we're all such shiny folk!

-----------------------------------------------
Check out http://www.americasfunniesttshirts.com for hilarious shirts at a great price.

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Sunday, April 6, 2008 5:56 PM

BLUEREDGREEN

Way I think of it myself is that there's around 1 million AT LEAST, though that may be wrong, I just like thinking that way... and it probably IS close...

Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng!

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Monday, April 7, 2008 12:29 AM

AGATSU

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous1:
And then Universal is probably watching the Stargate: Ark of Truth DVD movie carefully. Morena is the big bad villian. And Universal just bought the rights to make movies from Dark Horse comics which would include the rights to Serenity: Better Days and Serenity: Those Left Behind.

Afaik, it doesn't work that way because they're two different licenses. I once made a game design for a "Captain Tsubasa" flash game and wasn't allowed to use animations because the Japanese company only held the rights to the comic books, not the animated series. Maybe that was just a Japanese thing, but usually the law works in a way that if it can be any more complicated, it is.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dude, you never wanna f*ck with a Browncoat, man." - Kevin Smith

I think that cats know the deepest secrets of the universe, but they don't give a shit.

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Monday, April 7, 2008 1:12 AM

EAGERREAVER

And you guys didn't think, like I did, that Joss's last words on the new commentary were a subtle hint? Especially the very last two? "It's through." I don't see why else he would say such a thing unless its some quote I'm unfamiliar with.

The thing you gotta always keep in mind is any project an actor, producer, director, whatever has participated on, it is in their interests (and probably their contracts) to keep spirits high. The studios know there's a lot of money still to be made off Firefly, but, hey why bother with the expense of new content when you can resurrect the old stuff with a few new goodies?

The actors at cons are naturally going to say "there's always hope for more". It's a sure-fire way to get the love in the room to flow.

Don't get me wrong. I love the our big damn heroes, their shenannigans, the verse and everything in it! But I don't like big dangling metaphorical carrots. And that's what it's always whiffed of to me.

So paint me devils advocate red if you want. For all our sakes, I hope I'm way off.

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Monday, April 7, 2008 2:39 AM

DUN

nods head

Havent a clue,fox would know,but they wouldnt understand,dout they'd except they made a big mistake.i have too say this is a shiny thread,reminds me why im a browncoat and gives me hope.tanx

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Monday, April 7, 2008 2:24 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by Agatsu:
it doesn't work that way because they're two different licenses.

Universal bought the rights to turn Dark Horse comics into movies.

Which would include the rights to these pretties...already scripted and storyboarded.

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Monday, April 7, 2008 2:42 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by EagerReaver:
And you guys didn't think, like I did, that Joss's last words on the new commentary were a subtle hint? Especially the very last two? "It's through." I don't see why else he would say such a thing unless its some quote I'm unfamiliar with.

Pop DVD in. Turn on cast commentary. Turn on sub-titles for the hard of hearing.

Joss: "We went through it and now we're through it and it's through."

Listen to the bit before it. Joss is actually trying to end the commentary cause like Nathan and Adam are ready to talk all the way "through" the credits. Earlier Joss said "That's it." Joss is saying cue the music!

Hope for more Firefly/Serenity rests with the Serenity Collector's Edition DVD
See Joss Whedon interview at Comic Con 2007

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=6846

Joss did this interview after the commentary was filmed.

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Monday, April 7, 2008 9:40 PM

AGATSU

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous1:

Universal bought the rights to turn Dark Horse comics into movies.

Which would include the rights to these pretties...already scripted and storyboarded.

Nope. If that were the case, Universal could also do a few Alien, Predator and Star Wars movies, and I think Fox and Lucas would kinda disagree to that.
Different. Licenses.
Sorry. :( It's not like I wouldn't WISH you were right.

As a side note, I wouldn't mind a Grendel:Devil's Choices/Devils and Deaths - Movie, though. Those two mini-series rocked my socks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dude, you never wanna f*ck with a Browncoat, man." - Kevin Smith

I think that cats know the deepest secrets of the universe, but they don't give a shit.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008 3:54 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by Agatsu:
Nope. If that were the case, Universal could also do a few Alien, Predator and Star Wars movies, and I think Fox and Lucas would kinda disagree to that.
Different. Licenses.
Sorry. :( It's not like I wouldn't WISH you were right.

As a side note, I wouldn't mind a Grendel:Devil's Choices/Devils and Deaths - Movie, though. Those two mini-series rocked my socks.

I see what you are saying. But then Universal has the already has the Serenity movie license and these are Serenity comics.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:04 PM

AGATSU

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous1:
I see what you are saying. But then Universal has the already has the Serenity movie license and these are Serenity comics.

I think it's highly unlikely Universal is going to turn the comic stories into movies - they're basically unfilmed episodes of the series and are neither direct sequels nor prequels to Serenity. Okay, so "Those left behind" IS a direct prequel, but it bridges the gap between the series and Serenity and therefore has much too many references to the series. That's what it was made for.
It would be much more likely that they want Joss to write another original one - and we've been waiting for that to happen for years.
Again, I hate to rain on your parade, but I'm really pretty sure of this.

As a side note, they should have just turned the original "Aliens vs Predator" mini series into a movie, which would have been fantastic, but look at the crap Anderson threw in the fans' faces.

You are of course right about Universal already owning the rights to Serenity as opposed to Aliens, Predator and Star Wars, and I admit that it slipped my mind

, but it doesn't really change much when it comes to the chances of the comic books being turned into movies.

All IMHO, of course.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dude, you never wanna f*ck with a Browncoat, man." - Kevin Smith

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