Universal to make 'Firefly' movie? by NewsAdmin

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Universal to make 'Firefly' movie?

POSTED BY: NEWSADMIN
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 7, 2003 12:07
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Thursday, May 1, 2003 9:34 AM

There's a very interesting rumor going around on the RenewAngel.com website that Univsersal is interested in making Joss Whedon's big screen 'Firefly' movie.

As most of you are well aware of, 'Firefly' is currently a property of 20th Century FOX. This possible leap from FOX to Universal, if it was true, is an interesting one that'll certainly create new possibilities in terms of any future projects that Whedon and Mutant Enemy might have.

Again, this is just a speculation based on an unconfirmed rumor, but I'll definately keep you all posted if and when I learn more.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 10:26 AM

GOLDENTHORN74

I love this rumor! I hope it comes true soon!

Thanks so much for the uplift.

I will also take this opportunity to congratulate you on a great web site - you are doing an outstanding job. You have stuff nobody else does and all the rumors you have posted have become true so far! :-)

Goldenthorn74

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 10:38 AM

SLOWSMURF

I'm going to assume its false just so I don't get my hopes up...

It would be so nice if it were true though....

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 11:55 AM

HAPLO721

That would be great!

Even better, Universal is, I believe, part of media giant Vivendi, which also owns video game company Sierra, which produced Half-Life, 1998's Game of the Year according to a bazillion gaming mags, and one of the most popular games of all time. People are STILL playing HL and its myriad of mods 5 years later.

*moan* Firefly video game... *drool*

Early: You ever been raped, Kaylee?
Kaylee: You know, it's funny you should mention that... ever heard of the Fox network?

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 1:10 PM

DUTCH

what's RenewlAngel.com? would be interesting to read, but that doesn't seem to exits.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 2:02 PM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by Dutch:
what's RenewlAngel.com? would be interesting to read, but that doesn't seem to exits.

That's a typo, it's actually RenewAngel.com. Here's the link to the thread:

http://www.renewangel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=434&start=20

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 2:48 PM

XENARC

Quote:
Haplo721 wrote:*moan* Firefly video game... *drool*

We could always do a Firefly hack/conversion for Homeworld as was done for B5

ZenArc

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 2:56 PM

NOOCYTE

Um...speaking of which...Isn't Sierra the company which was almost finished with the Babylon 5: Into the Fire PC game (which looked absolutely, indescribably deliciously shiny!)..then pulled the plug, amid general fannish clamor,which they most arrogantly and short-sightedly ignored? Not to mention taking a cracker-jack team of developers, who were In Love with the project, and causing them to be scattered to the 4 winds?

Movie rumor: YAAAAY!!

Sierra being trusted with having ANYTHING to do with a Firefly game: BOOOO!

But of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong...

Department of Redundancy Department

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 4:47 PM

SWITCHY

HOLY CRAP!!!! This kind of rumour is so excellent and yet impossible to believe. please coroborate as soon as possible. That would be a fanastic piece of news.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 5:02 PM

SUCCATASH

I wonder how Joss will continue the story? I doubt the movie will simply start where the last TV episode left off, or will it?

Problems occur when a movie is trying to reach two different groups:
1. Firefly Fans
2. "People who never heard of Firefly"

Joss will have to please us Browncoats and give us a new story and take us to a new level, while at the same time appealing to the Newbies.

I'd hate to see too much repetition for the sake of new viewers, but many people will need an introduction to the story. This movie will have to appeal to those who have never heard of Firefly before.

I'd like to see how Joss does it.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 5:39 PM

SERGEANTX

Some kind of prequel might be the best. Introduce the characters while still giving us Browncoats something to chew on.

SergeantX

"..and here's to all the dreamers, may our open hearts find rest." -- Nanci Griffith

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 6:18 PM

NIGHTTRAIN

I don't think I would be into a prequel as much. Firefly has such a great storyline going and i would hate to see it put on the backburner while a prequel is made. I gotta know what the alliance did to River, why they did it, who those blue hand guys are, what's Book's real story, and a million other questions that I think us fans deserve to have answered. I think the best way to go would be to start out with the war and a little backstory and then go on to show what we've seen so far and then continue the story and bring it to a good stopping point instead of leaving us hanging like we are right now. It will be hard to cram all episodes so far into about an hour or so but it can work. I think the prequels can wait right now. The story that needs to be told is the story of the crew of Serenity. The history of the crew of Serenity, in my opinion, can wait.

SIGNATURE???? I don't have time to think of a signature!!!!!!!

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 7:24 PM

STRINGSLINGER

Quote:
I gotta know what the alliance did to River, why they did it, who those blue hand guys are, what's Book's real story, and a million other questions that I think us fans deserve to have answered.

Careful what you wish for. I would much rather be kept in the dark about all of these things than find out that midichlorians are somehow involved.

I do agree with you that the movie (if it ever happens) should be a continuation of the story of Serenity. I'm not sure an entire 15 episodes worth of exposition will be needed to set the plot up for new viewers, though.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 7:41 PM

SERGEANTX

Quote:
I don't think I would be into a prequel as much. Firefly has such a great storyline going and i would hate to see it put on the backburner while a prequel is made. I gotta know what the alliance did to River, why they did it, who those blue hand guys are, what's Book's real story, and a million other questions that I think us fans deserve to have answered.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I want to find out all that stuff too, but I guess we're looking at it with different expectations. See, I want the story to truly go on. I wouldn't want to see the movie as somehow wrapping things up. I guess in my heart of hearts I'm hoping it will be a vehicle to jump-start the series again. I'm not sure I'd be happy with a quick and dirty wrap up of everything and I just don't see how all those wonderful story lines could be justly handled in a two hour movie. So that's why I was thinking a prequel, save the grand story arcs for the medium they were intended - a long running series. Too optimistic I guess....

SergeantX

"..and here's to all the dreamers, may our open hearts find rest." -- Nanci Griffith

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 8:11 PM

SUCCATASH

"So that's why I was thinking a prequel"

I think you make a good point. It almost seems impossible to continue the intricate story and have a box office success in only two hours.

A prequel sounds like a likely candidate to me.

Here's how it goes... The movie is a smashingly successful prequel. Then, everyone goes out and buys the TV DVD's, and then the NEXT movie picks up where the episodes leave off....

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 8:21 PM

DUTCH

I figure a movie would need about 20 minutes to get the new viewers uptodate, which leaves the rest of the 5 hours for some shiny Joss Whedon storytelling

Don't think 5 hours is too long for a movie, right?

I'd sell my soul to see this movie... sell it twice even.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 10:43 PM

SWITCHY

I've thought about it and I think I know how Joss could go about it. This idea may be met with resistance but here goes. It needs to be a compelling plot right from the top to catch new interest so we could begin with the back story of Simon and River. Her at the academy and the subsequent rescue. Plenty of action and intrigue abeit limited intitially to the two characters. They appear to be safe, but not by much, by the time they meet up with Serenity. At this point, as hard as it is to imagine, we could leap forward past the show and pick up a year later with River and Simon having stayed aboard serenity as their best way to avoid capture. At this point we could begin to catch up with the others and resume life on serenity. I know many would say there's to much story arc missing from this approach but remember that most of the beauty in this show is in the characters relationships and how the stories unfold. There would be plenty of room to have many of the developements from the show revealed, a couple of episodic digressions, discover what the sinister plot behind River's abduction was, Deal out some FF brand justice and still be back on Serenity by dinner. Boy do I hope there is really going to be a movie

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Friday, May 2, 2003 5:25 AM

SERGEANTX

Wow... I like it. No resistance here.

SergeantX

"..and here's to all the dreamers, may our open hearts find rest." -- Nanci Griffith

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Friday, May 2, 2003 7:28 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

I just found this @ about.com. It's from a Nathan Fillion interview with the horrible Fred Topel:

Quote:
How do you feel about how Firefly ended? I wish I knew what went wrong there. I’m still crossing my fingers for the movie. I still hope we make a movie. I’ll do it. If someone will let me, I’ll do it.

Theatrical movie or TV movie? Oh, movie movie. Big old silver screen.

http://actionadventure.about.com/cs/weeklystories/a/aa050103.htm

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Friday, May 2, 2003 8:28 AM

HAPLO721

I'd want the FF game to be kinda like Freelancer, where you get to explore cities between missions, listen to gossip, and get job offers. However, instead of a flight sim, it'd be a third-person shooter with heavy plot-driven elements-- missions are along the lines of "find the Counselor and get him out of the detainment center" instead of the boring "find the red key, find the green key, find the blue key" or even "activate the fuel cells, activate the O2 tanks, activate the generator", which is pretty much the same thing when you think about it.

Early: You ever been raped, Kaylee?
Kaylee: You know, it's funny you should mention that... ever heard of the Fox network?

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 7:03 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Joss has plans to make a movie:

Quote:
JUST JOSSIN': The interviewee -- Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The subject: His plans to write and produce a movie, now that he won't have to dream up plots for Buffy after this month's series finale.

The Sun: "You should think about shooting up here. They lifted our SARS advisory. We're no longer a plague city."

Whedon: (Laughs) "What better enticement could I have? I'm on my way!... You guys could use that as a tourism slogan, 'Mostly plague-free. C'mon up!' "

Yeah, we laughed too. Sometimes you've just got to.

Could it be a "Firefly" movie.
Read the full article at http://www.canoe.ca/JamMovies/may2_katie-sun.html

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 8:20 AM

SUCCATASH

Alright, I'm completely convinced now. We're gonna get a movie! Yeeehaawwww!

Does this mean we will have to wait 2 or 3 years?

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 9:06 AM

NOVAGRASS

So, looks like Universal is finally looking for something to replace Star Trek, now that the franchise is all but dead (and has been for quite some time).

What better choice than Firefly? But something tells me Joss wouldn't work outside of 20th Century Fox... after all, he does consider it home (or so he said in an interview once... I wish I could remember the source).

--Dylan Palmer, Pretentious Bastard at Large--

"Oh my god, I'm a hack!" - Joss Whedon

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 12:16 PM

SWITCHY

I could be wrong but isn't star trek a paramount franchise? Perhaps paramount is now in the Universal family, so to speak. I can never remember who bought who.

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 3:14 PM

SUCCATASH

I never heard anything about Paramount and Universal being related. Does anyone know?

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 3:54 PM

LERXST

Paramount is owned by Viacom. Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi Universal Entertainment, who also owns USA Networks. Hmmmmmm. USA owns the Sci-Fi Channel.

_________________________________________________
Raspberry! Only one man would dare give me the Raspberry...LONESTAR!!

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 4:48 PM

SUCCATASH

This is getting better and better!

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Saturday, May 3, 2003 9:09 PM

FILMCRITIC3000

In a press release last week, the CEO of Vivendi Universal announced that they'll be selling their TV & movie assets this year. I'm hoping Viacom or NBC will buy Universal, and restore SCI FI to its former glory: as a real science fiction network. So I have no idea what weight this news has on Firefly's chance at a big screen movie.

FilmCritic3000

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Monday, May 5, 2003 6:53 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

I truly hope that the rumor is true. It jives with some of what Joss has said, what Nathan has been quoted as saying, and what Adam has only hinted at over at the official site.

I am keeping my fingers crossed............

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 2:58 AM

SHUGGIE

You guys might be interested in this news snippet.

This weekend just past there was a Buffy/Angel conference in Blackpool, UK called End of Days. Here's a report from someone who attended -

Quote:
Joss Whedon was supposed to be a surprise guest at End of Days. He wasn't able to attend, but did send a video message apologising & saying that the reason he couldn't be there was because a project of his had been "re-lit". Pretty sure that's the exact word he used.

Here's the message in full
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=b
96j1v%24g3o1o%241%40ID-177816.news.dfncis.de

Shug

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 6:52 AM

SAGRILARUS

All of this sounds excellent, but keep in mind that, like the Bush administration, Hollywood folks know that talking up a win before it happens helps bring it home. Joss and Nathan may be talking the game in hopes of bringing it across the finish line.
If ever a show had a good chance of succeeding in a second shot, I think Firefly is it. I'd much prefer additional TV episodes, but I'll take what I can get. Maybe one will lead to another.

J.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 6:55 AM

SAGRILARUS

By the way, according to the time assigned to my last post, the fireflyfans server resides in the middle of the Pacific ocean, east of Hawaii. Perhaps Alaska. Anyone know?

J.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 9:01 AM

SHUGGIE

I'm pretty sure Haken's in Hawai.

As for the movie - if you think of the Serenity pilot as a 2 hour movie, then for $10m you've got a darn good, and by today's standards, cheap movie.

Not that releasing Serenity theatrically would be a good idea, you need something that's slightly less open-ended. But Serenity shows what Joss can do. And for that type of budget, throw in a little more for promotion, it's stands a good chance of making money even if it's not a huge blockbuster success.

A commercially successfully movie will then raise the profile of Firefly to the point where maybe someone will look seriously at the TV show again.

OK there are a fews IFs in there, but nothing wildy fantastical.

Shug

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 9:28 AM

SAGRILARUS

The only fantastical part is the budget -- movie quality sets and effects are more expensive than TV. TV's generally low quality picture covers a multitude of sins. I don't think anyone's even noticed that Nathan Fillion has six fingers yet.

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Wednesday, May 7, 2003 12:07 PM

ASIA

Sweet!
I sure hope it's true 'cause the first time I heard it made my day.

"She who cries a lot"

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