Dare we hope? 'Firefly breaks 30 mil, on track for sequel?'

POSTED BY: MaTwang
UPDATED: Thursday, October 27, 2005 09:45
VIEWED: 8190
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MATWANG

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:00 PM

Found this article/blog thing in Google News this afternoon:

URL:
http://www.slashfilm.com/article.php/20051023204915276

Quote:
Joss Whedon's Serenity broke $30 million worldwide this past weekend. According to fan boy sites, this achievement may put it on track for a sequel. Maybe if all of you clap your hands while shouting "I do believe in fairies!" it may happen.

Do we dare to hope???

The total box office quoted in article is larger than the one on the front of FFF.net...

FILLIONFLAN

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:05 PM

I'm starting the clapping now...

...but d***, the writer of that article was nasty!

ZOE: “It’s just, the Captain’s so tense…”
WASH: “Of course he’s tense. He’s awake.”

YORG

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:13 PM

I don't care enough to email the writer back to say rude things to him.

But I am happy, however, that they broke 30 mil.

MEANGOLDFISH

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:24 PM

i thought 80 mil was what we had to break for a sequel....?

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:28 PM

A few more tickets on my behalf will be bought this weekend as I take another Serenity virgin to the show. Wait, umm.... she's not seen it yet. Serenity, I mean. Yeah, that's it.

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

KNIBBLET

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:31 PM

As soon as he loses his pesky virginity, he'll be much nicer.

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/MN-Firefly/

VANCOUVER

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by yorg:
I don't care enough to email the writer back to say rude things to him.

But I am happy, however, that they broke 30 mil.

We broke 30 mil some time ago, I thought--when we were at 23 domestic, around the middle of last week and int'l was at 7. But that's just my math. Domestic should hit $25 mil by next weekend, hey? We're well above $24 now.

Those of you who aren't insanely obsessive about the numbers may not know yet that Serenity's actuals beat the estimates for the second weekend in a row, at least in relative terms. Estimates had us at #18, and actuals had us at #17. As well, we continue to be #1 on the Most Popular list for Boxofficemojo, despite the downer review of Serenity by that guy they have on there who as far as I can tell hasn't liked a single movie in his natural-born life. (Okay, he liked Batman Begins, which I thought was just about the dumbest movie I'd ever seen, but that's literally the only positive review on the site...)

You can find lots of less poisonous references to sequels and to the Serenity "franchise" than the one in this nasty quote or this nasty article, simply by reading reviews by people who don't know much about the Firefly/Browncoats history. These references are possibly less informed, and certainly more naive, but they are also less biased, and they could well be right: there seems to be a natural, commonsense, and fairly widespread assumption among media non-initiates that Serenity will continue.

At any rate, the sneery Tinkerbell references are just these guys saving face. What were they saying after the show got cancelled and we/Joss sought to get a movie made of it? They're just embarrassed.

And, on a different note, I have to think that, after this disastrous year in both movie and TV viewership, the studios are going to start looking at different business models--which, if these execs have a brain between them, will include building on established shows, established characters, "franchiseable" movies. If they feature no recognizable stars, so much the better: how much of War of the World's red ink went to Tom Cruise's salary? Serenity had 10 leading roles, and got made for less money than Elizabethtown.

It will all be good. You wait and see.

Vancouver

GATORMARC

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Vancouver:
And, on a different note, I have to think that, after this disastrous year in both movie and TV viewership, the studios are going to start looking at different business models--which, if these execs have a brain between them, will include building on established shows, established characters, "franchiseable" movies. If they feature no recognizable stars, so much the better: how much of War of the World's red ink went to Tom Cruise's salary? Serenity had 10 leading roles, and got made for less money than Elizabethtown.

War of the Worlds has grossed over $600 million so far.

Elizabethtown was made for $45 mil vs. Serenity's $39 mil. I don't think that's a significant difference as far as the studios are concerned

As for your suggestion... that's pretty much what Hollywood has been doing for years.

Find an old TV show or movie... remake it. Find a successful movie... sequel it. Take a typecast actor and their genre, make another movie of the same type... find an old book... make the movie.

The problem as far as Serenity is concerned, is that they felt that the built in fanbase could carry the movie all by itself.

GatorMarc

Eat 'em up, chomp, chomp.

STAKETHELURK

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:35 PM

Quote:
Do we dare to hope???

The total box office quoted in article is larger than the one on the front of FFF.net...

The box office listed on the front of the site is *US only.* The article refers to worldwide box office, ie US + International.

And when it comes to "fanboy sites," the author of this sneering article is probably referring to Tired Old Reaver's thread ( http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14225), which is titled "A suit's eye view on Serenity and sequels." He makes a fairly convincing case from a cost management perspective that the BDM will be profitable and will encourage Universal to make sequels. Apparently, $30 million worldwide was an important threshold for our film to cross, from his perspective.

I sure hope he's right.

SCHIZORABBIT

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:38 PM

i don't know. not sure how many theaters are gonna carry it after this week. i'm in atlanta, georgia and did a showtimes search for the coming weekend, and nothing--i mean, NOTHING--showed up in the whole state, not even in the multiplexes. hopefully, it's because the info hasn't been updated yet. looks like stuff like the new zorro and saw 2 are gonna swallow up a lot of those screen numbers. anyway, if the bdm is gonna make the requisite 80 million to ensure a sequel (fingers crossed, hope, hope...), it better do so fast.

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