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"Serenity"/"Freddy" Updates
Posted: Monday May 3rd, 2004 9:30pm (Au-EST)

Author: Garth Franklin
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Conventions seemed rife this weekend that C-Grade actresses must've been in short supply for talkshows. The "Starfury: Fusion" convention in Blackpool had one insider there named 'Pixel' who got a couple of minutes chat with Nathan Fillion, best known for the lead role in "Firefly" and a guest stint as an evil Preacher at the end of "Buffy". Fillion spoke a bit about the "Firefly" film spin-off "Serenity" which Universal is currently developing:

"When the set was struck, at the end of the show, nothing was kept except one door, so everything had to be built from scratch. The characters of Badger and Saffron will not be in the film, however ALL nine main cast members will appear.

Filming starts early June for ten weeks for a projected release "early next year". The budget, previously listed as $35m, is actually about $50m. The deal they have with Universal precludes another TV show - so a revival ain't gonna happen. The plan is, if the film does well enough, to have a trilogy of films".

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Nathan Fillion was quoted as saying the $50 million budgeted 'Serenity' will not return as a television series should it preforms well at the box office; rather, it'll become a trilogy of movies.

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Originally posted by Noocyte:
. . . there has been a recent vogue for shooting films contiguously, even when they will be released separately. LOTR, the Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, Kill Bill (actually, there was precedent in the last two Back to the Future films). These were all shot that way...so who's to say that, given the sudden and inevitable success fo the BDM, the next two BDMs will not be shot similarly, thus eliminating the down-time?

The more I think about this, the more it creates a warm, fuzzy feeling in my solar plexus....mmmmm...warm fuzzy feeling....

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Yay! ...I really like how, in TV, you get a lot of character development, that you just can't get in a film. Am I lame, that I'm feeling awfully sad that it won't come back as a series?

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Originally posted by TheClaps:

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Yay! ...I really like how, in TV, you get a lot of character development, that you just can't get in a film. Am I lame, that I'm feeling awfully sad that it won't come back as a series?

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Well, if it's being planned as a trilogy, that means lots of twists and character development from one to the other.

Also, if it does NOT do as well as to warrant another two films, does that mean it will come back as a tv series? or does that mean it's dead?

In any case, granted that the first movie will either set back up a tv series or a precedent for another two movies, we're bound to have non-static story telling and some fun fun Joss Whedon character deaths and changes.

Ain't. We. Just.

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Originally posted by Drakon:
10 weeks and 50 million dollars, that seems a bit long for just one movie in the first place. Think about it a second. They are going to take 10 weeks and 50 million dollars to do what they used to be able to do in 2 weeks, for about 4 million dollars. Figure a 2 hour movie, that is essentially the equivalent of 2 episodes. I know budgets for film goes up, but this seems a bit much for just a single movie.

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Originally posted by Poetic4U:
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"When the set was struck, at the end of the show, nothing was kept except one door, so everything had to be built from scratch."
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Originally posted by pforhan:

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Originally posted by Poetic4U:
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"When the set was struck, at the end of the show, nothing was kept except one door, so everything had to be built from scratch."
...

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I thought they made a point of saving the set at the end of the show, because of plans to come back. Did this change?

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They are going to take 10 weeks and 50 million dollars to do what they used to be able to do in 2 weeks, for about 4 million dollars. Figure a 2 hour movie, that is essentially the equivalent of 2 episodes.

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:

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Originally posted by TheClaps:

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Yay! ...I really like how, in TV, you get a lot of character development, that you just can't get in a film. Am I lame, that I'm feeling awfully sad that it won't come back as a series?

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No, you're not lame, cause I feel the same way -- and heaven knows I'm never lame.

One of the things I dearly,dearly love about Joss Whedon's shows is the almost geologic character development, and you can't do that in one movie, or three movies. The most obvious example is Willow, but the one that impresses me the most is Cordelia. I hated Cordelia through the first two seasons of Buffy, was indifferent about her during season three, and only started to even half-way like her during season one of Angel. And that's entirely because her character development was so gradual that one day I looked around and went, "Hey. I like Cordelia. Who'da thunk it?"

Sure, I'll take three movies with a yee-haw, but with movies, it's harder to do sneaky character development that creeps on you like that. That's what I'd miss the most, I think. Other than the being able to watch it weekly, obviously.

"We're just happy to be doin' good works."

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Another thing to bear in mind; the original budget was set at $35 million, but according to reports, the new budget is $50 million. What has changed to increase the budge $15 million and how will that effect expectations for the movie? What ticket sales figure will now be accepted by Universal as successful?

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Originally posted by Shutty24:
Hey - just signed up to this thing, and I have slightly jolier news for you guys than seems to have been indicated on here so far.
I was at Starfury:Fusion in Blackpool a couple of weeks ago, and what Nathan Fillion actually said about the deal between Fox and Universal was that they would be unable to produce a tv series FOR A PARTICULAR TIME PERIOD. The hint that he (and Summer Glau and Jewel Staite) seemed to be giving was that a trilogy of films could take them up to the end of this time period. Assuming the films had been succesful, a series could then be produced.

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Originally posted by GreggAllinson:

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Another thing to bear in mind; the original budget was set at $35 million, but according to reports, the new budget is $50 million. What has changed to increase the budge $15 million and how will that effect expectations for the movie? What ticket sales figure will now be accepted by Universal as successful?

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As I understand it, a movie needs to earn back double or triple its budget to "break even". So...$150 million and Serenity would likely be seen as at least a moderate hit. $200 mill and I can almost guarantee another movie.

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
The success of the movie relies in a large part on us, the fanbase. We need to get the word out about the movie, the show, the DVD set, and convert everyone we can in the time we have before the movie's release.

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Hey - just signed up to this thing, and I have slightly jolier news for you guys than seems to have been indicated on here so far.
I was at Starfury:Fusion in Blackpool a couple of weeks ago, and what Nathan Fillion actually said about the deal between Fox and Universal was that they would be unable to produce a tv series FOR A PARTICULAR TIME PERIOD. The hint that he (and Summer Glau and Jewel Staite) seemed to be giving was that a trilogy of films could take them up to the end of this time period. Assuming the films had been succesful, a series could then be produced.

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Originally posted by Shiny:

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Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
The success of the movie relies in a large part on us, the fanbase. We need to get the word out about the movie, the show, the DVD set, and convert everyone we can in the time we have before the movie's release.

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That's true, BC1. I keep thinking about how we can increase the recruiting momentum...what do you all think about some kind of system where you can 'register' who you recruited (or who recruited you) on one of the websites (maybe browncoats.com?) and with the promise of some vague future prizes (weekly, monthly, lifetime) for those who convert/recruit the most? Of course you would have to have some system of e-mail responding with the word in an image or something to prevent cheating/automated registrations, but I think it would be doable and it might help motivate some folks who have already converted their really close family and friends, but may not have taken it to the next circle of more casual friends, co-workers, etc.

What do you think?

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