US 2nd Weekend Better Than Expected!

POSTED BY: StakeTheLurk
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 20:08
VIEWED: 10949
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STAKETHELURK

Monday, October 10, 2005 9:02 PM

The actual box office data for this past weekend is in! See Whedonesque for details: http://whedonesque.com/comments/8436

...Or just keep reading. Serenity drops by 47%, with an overall weekend take of $5.35 million. The estimates had us taking only $4.8 million with a 51% drop off, so we beat Hollywood expectations. EDITED TO ADD: #8 for the weekend, ahead of A History of Violence, and Into the Blue.

And as for the 47% drop off, a Whedonesque poster (who seems to know his stuff) put it best:

Quote:
Originally posted by The Dark Shape at Whedonesque:

Yes, this is good. This is probably the best "sci-fi" drop since Attack of the Clones in 2002, which fell 40%. It's a very, very rare thing when sci-fi pictures, especially those with a built-in audience, fall less than 50%.

While we haven't knocked it out of the park, we're still in the game. Let's keep it that way. So, continue seeing the film as many times as you deem appropriate, keep talking it up, keep posting guerrilla marketing, keep lending out "Firefly" DVDs. Serenity may have legs, but that doesn't mean we can't hold its hand. Keep up the good work, Browncoats!

FLYINGTAMS

Monday, October 10, 2005 9:12 PM

I still think its better if one person converts 10 others as opposed to seeing it 10 times (and try not to be too much of a manic ;)

STAKETHELURK

Monday, October 10, 2005 9:26 PM

Quote:
I still think its better if one person converts 10 others as opposed to seeing it 10 times (and try not to be too much of a manic ;)

I agree on both counts, FlyingTams, which is what that "talk it up" part was about. To not come off as much of a maniac, I recommend ommitting the film's unusual history ("it's made from a cancelled TV show" tends to make people think it's crap) and also, perhaps, omit your own fannishness--otherwise people will think you're biased ("well, of course you love it"). Instead, emphasize its sheer quality as a picture: "I just saw this great movie, Serenity, you HAVE to go see it!"

But those are just suggestions. Keep spreading the word however you can, Browncoats (and if you can see it again yourself, that wouldn't hurt either

).

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Monday, October 10, 2005 9:31 PM

Hey, take any bit of good news you can. If it did almost the standard drop with things as they were, I wonder how much it would have done if Universal's promised 'second weekend marketing push' had actually materialized.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
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This week: My spoiler-free Serenity review

BROWNCOATMONK

Monday, October 10, 2005 10:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by StakeTheLurk:
Quote:
I still think its better if one person converts 10 others as opposed to seeing it 10 times (and try not to be too much of a manic ;)
I agree on both counts, FlyingTams, which is what that "talk it up" part was about. To not come off as much of a maniac, I recommend ommitting the film's unusual history ("it's made from a cancelled TV show" tends to make people think it's crap) and also, perhaps, omit your own fannishness--otherwise people will think you're biased ("well, of course you love it"). Instead, emphasize its sheer quality as a picture: "I just saw this great movie, Serenity, you HAVE to go see it!"

But those are just suggestions. Keep spreading the word however you can, Browncoats (and if you can see it again yourself, that wouldn't hurt either ).

The technique that I've used which definitely seems to work is to talk about it like it's a really good movie unrelated to a tv-show, crazy fanbase, science fiction (or westerns), sequels and that sort of stuff. Say 'I really like it' 'it's one of the best movies I've ever seen' 'damn good acting/writing/directing (try not to elaborate on all three)' etc.

Browncoat Monk

Ain't no place I can be since I found Serenity...

DONCOAT

Monday, October 10, 2005 11:07 PM

I've used one that somebody suggested in another thread here. "It doesn't have a huge special effects budget or big-name stars, so it relies on great acting and an imaginative story".

ALEAFONTHEWIND

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:11 AM

I'm glad our down turn wasn't as bad as expected, but, I'm a bit disappointed that Universal isn't giving us any help.

We can only do so much with word of mouth advertising. It would make sense for the suits to do a bit of 'Critically hailed' or 'highest viewer rated film of the year' advertising to get the general audience more interested.

Let's face it, we Browncoats are doing their job, not getting paid AND spending our own money to get this film seen. I feel a bit like Blue Sun is taking advantage...

RABIT

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ALeafontheWind:
I'm glad our down turn wasn't as bad as expected, but, I'm a bit disappointed that Universal isn't giving us any help.

No offense, but they are. I don't watch TV much at all, and I've seen ads stating exactly what you're asking for.

They're out there - you just haven't caught them, I guess.

Rabit

ICCLEDAMES

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 1:01 AM

Whilst I don't have TV reception right now - well actually I only got it today - (came back to University to move into a new house only to discover that somehow, a recently built block of flats is blocking TV reception down our street - seems everyone has had to readjust their aerials. We're still waiting on our landlord sorting that out (GARR!).

A friend leant me an internal aerial which finally allowed me to watch my first TV in 3 weeks. Surprisingly I didn't miss it that much but never mind....

Anyway, getting back to the point - my friend (who did have TV reception and is not a Firefly fan) told me he'd seen the trailer for Serenity (I should point out that this is in the UK). Next time I saw him he said he'd seen it quite regularly and in fact, the next time I was round at his house I saw it for myself.

In any case, we're going to see it tomorrow (second time for me - obviously I'm not as hardcore as you guys out there but I'll try and do my bit as much as I can; after all, that student loan has to be spent on something right

MARTING

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 9:38 AM

The past year ive spend my online time in a irc chatroom belonging to a site, at the start of the year about 2 people from that channel knew firefly together with me, thanks to me thats now up to 12.. and they all liked it.. and they are all going to see the movie, some already have

thats also the bad thing about when fans stick with visiting fansites and fanchats.. you cant convert anyone there as they are already fans..

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