Does this Make Sense!?!?

POSTED BY: XanderHarris
UPDATED: Sunday, October 9, 2005 13:25
VIEWED: 13249
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BROWNCOAT1

Friday, October 7, 2005 4:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by XanderHarris:
'Serenity' is perhaps one of the best reviewed films of the year, i just read that 'Serenity' is one of the top Google searches. also the number 7 yahoo movie. Summer is on IMDB front page, I just heard a Serenity ad on the radio on my way to work.....twice. we browncoats tirelessly converted our friends, family and enemies. there are a number of crap movies out now......

SO WHAT'S THE DEAL!?!? why isn't anyone seeing our BDM? where is the disconnect? i realize it's a genre film, but c'mon. what is happening?

theories?

Part of it is the # of theatres we opened in. 2188 theatres around the country is not a lot. Per theatre we did better than the movies we were up against, but overall the take was a bit low.

Secondly the viral marketing program targeted the fan base more so than the general population that you rely on to fill theatres. The viral marketing strategy was risky, and in this case it appears looking solely at the #s as they stand now, that it did not pay off as well as Universal may have hoped.

Thirdly, the opening weekend is one that is historically soft for box office sales. Few movies have broken the $15 million mark on the last weekend of September. Sure we had almost no real competition, but that made little difference in #s.

I think a last major factor is that many people, myself included amongst them, generally avoid opening weekend due to crowds. I normally wait at least a week, sometimes more, before I go to see a movie.

__________________________________________

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

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

BROWNCOATISH

Friday, October 7, 2005 4:43 PM

I side with Embers on the spoiler stuff. It was tough, but to me made the story better and the final 20 minutes downright riveting.

But that's just me.

;)

As to why the reviews didn't help opening weekend, most of the reviews, and almost all of the highly respected reviews weren't available before opening weekend. Ebert and Roeper's two thumbs-up is a pretty big deal, but wasn't known until the Saturday of the opening weekend. You'll notice how Universal plastered it first on their follow-up marketing this week.

You should also notice that Universal sprung for some pretty expensive time slots for that follow-up marketing.

I disagree that Firefly will drop 50%. Most movies do, but not all, and with notable exceptions lately. The Wedding Crashers is one example of a movie that opened modestly and never had a stellar weekend, but became a big financial hit through sheer longevity. The same is true for 40 Year Old Virgin, which actually improved it's take from one weekend to the next.

The economy is not that great right now, especially in sci-fi fan circles (darned Nasdaq!). Lots of people are being more selective about their movie-going. Good critical reviews and word-of-mouth are important, and Firefly has both in spades.

...not to mention the 9 minute prologue being made available online which I thinks was a clever move.

I think Serenity has excellent chances for a strong 2nd weekend, and if it gets one, word of mouth will only get stronger. We just might have a late-breaking hit.

But, I also think it MUST have a strong 2nd weekend, or things will be quite bleak indeed.

So, we just keep doing what we're doing. See it again, bring friends, tell everyone how great it is. I'm pesonally responsible for at least 10 ticket sales from folks that had never heard of Serenity.

The gauntlet is thrown!

:)

HAKEN

Friday, October 7, 2005 4:57 PM

Here are a couple of factors that no one has brought up.

- Serenity didn't have a big name star. Flightplan had Jodie Foster. That name alone will bring in the numbers regardless of whether the movie was good or not. And from what I've read and heard, Flightplan isn't all that great of a movie. People just want to see Jodie Foster in a movie.

- Serenity didn't have a big name director. Sure, Joss Whedon is real big in fandom, but other than that, few have heard of him.

Hate to say this, but the "average" moviegoer usually decide on what to watch based on who made it and who is in it. That's why good movies that didn't do well at the theaters usually do very well on DVD.

LADYSHELLEY

Friday, October 7, 2005 9:12 PM

Another possiblity may be that most of the reviews good and bad seem to emphasize that it's based on a "failed FOX television series" not the best lead-off statement.

1. People see 'failed TV show' and wonder why a movie would ever be made

2. Most general viewers think they have to know the show to get the film.

What I've been telling folks is Serenity is great sci-fi if you've never seen the show. If you have seen Firefly, it's great sci-fi with old friends.

Lady Shelley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.redhawke.org

JAIF

Friday, October 7, 2005 10:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
- Serenity didn't have a big name star. Flightplan had Jodie Foster. That name alone will bring in the numbers regardless of whether the movie was good or not. And from what I've read and heard, Flightplan isn't all that great of a movie. People just want to see Jodie Foster in a movie.

I completely agree. Most people don't know firefly from beans. They look in the paper, see some movies, and say "Do we see the Jodie Foster one, the Violence one, or that sci-fi one?"

-Jeff

JASONZZZ

Saturday, October 8, 2005 2:05 AM

so, just going off on a tangent slightly as a meta-discussion... I don't think any of it is off the mark with regards to what "normal" people's decision process is... I mean we can surely extrapolate from "normal" people who selects their movie-viewing based on:

1) who is starring in it
2) who wrote and/or directed the film

aren't what people on this board doing the very same thing... Pretty much everyone has had their $80 ready for tickets even before the movie was even committed to paper. I think a lot of people justifiably use that same exact process.

If it works for us, why wouldn't it work for them?

I actually, in fact, do like Jodie Foster works. Both as an actress and as a director. I don't mean that she is the greatest, she certainly doesn't have a wide range (certainly not like Alfred Molina or even Gary Oldman - as counter examples for really versatile actors), but what she does, she carries it very well.

People in general don't usually jump at the chance to do anything out-of-this-world earth-shakingly unfamiliar to them. Granted, there are some who do, but they are a much much minority in comparison. Some people do venture just a tiny bit on the edge of the envelope. But by far, most of us, like to stay with the familiar - it's comforting, you already "know" what you are going to get... And it's not just a conscious choice either... Most of us are, in fact our pleasure centers are, wired for repeat stimulus... It feels good, keep doing the same, " Oh yeah!!! "... We constantly are in need, to self reinforce our little pleasure centers... That's just how we are...

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
Here are a couple of factors that no one has brought up.

- Serenity didn't have a big name star. Flightplan had Jodie Foster. That name alone will bring in the numbers regardless of whether the movie was good or not. And from what I've read and heard, Flightplan isn't all that great of a movie. People just want to see Jodie Foster in a movie.

- Serenity didn't have a big name director. Sure, Joss Whedon is real big in fandom, but other than that, few have heard of him.

Hate to say this, but the "average" moviegoer usually decide on what to watch based on who made it and who is in it. That's why good movies that didn't do well at the theaters usually do very well on DVD.

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ROCKETJOCK

Saturday, October 8, 2005 3:44 AM

Historical points:

1. Adjusted for inflation, Star Wars made only $5 million on its first week of release.

2. Aside from Alec Guiness, none of the cast of Star Wars were well known at the time. (Peter Cushing was respected by genre fans, but the average man on the street didn't know him too well.) SW made Mark Hammil, Carrie Fisher, & Harrison Ford's careers. I'm hoping that Serenity will do the same for our Big Damn Cast.

3. George Lucas had only two professional directing credits at the time, and only one (American Grafitti) was successful.

So much for history; on to the spoilers:

Select to view spoiler:

In terms of the story, both deaths had a purpose: Book's showed The Operative's ruthlessness and galvanized Mal into agressive action. Wash's demonstrated to everyone, browncoat and newcomer alike, that this was real, that our heroes had no magic deus ex machina ability to defeat the odds forever.

As for Mal being out of character when he let The Operative live, hell no! He'd gotten the man's measure by then; letting him live to see what his dream of the future really led to was the cruelest thing Mal could have done! Watch the Operative's eyes as he views the recording -- he goes from disbelief, to horror, to deadness. This is a man whose soul has died, exactly the same way Mal's died in Serenity Valley.

He could have shut it all out just by closing his eyes, humming something to block out the sound. But the Operative's tragedy is that he is at once a monster, and an honest man.

As it turns out, that honesty was the factor that saved Serenity's surviving crew -- but Mal hadn't planned that. Truth is, he probably thought he was leaving The Operative behind, helplessly pinned with two dislocated shoulders, to face the reavers alone.

Yes, Joss took a big chance raising the stakes the way he did, and he may have alienated a lot of people for so doing. But I think, painful or not, that he made the right decision. And in the words of a wise man...

"If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Shepherd Deria Book

JASONZZZ

Saturday, October 8, 2005 4:15 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by RocketJock:
Historical points:

3. George Lucas had only two professional directing credits at the time, and only one (American Grafitti) was successful.

"If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Shepherd Deria Book

Good stuff, but I think some pretty important bits got left out... By the time when Lucas had "only two movies" under his belt, he already had pretty good clout. He jointly owned a movie company with Coppola. His two movies earned him a Golden Globe and 5 academy award nominations. He also started the 2 effects company ILM and Skywalker Sound (named something else at first) and invented technical innovations for movies during that time. I mean, people can argue whether Star Wars is a good/bad movie, but those are some really fantastic technical achievements that he came up with - for that time.

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HAKEN

Saturday, October 8, 2005 5:12 AM

It's interesting to note that although THX-1138 didn't do well at the box office, it was, imho, a great sci-fi movie when it was released. And it has held up very well over time, having seen it again recently.

Having said that, it does make me wonder why Lucas didn't direct more non-sci-fi movies like "American Grafitti." He certainly does have a feel for it. It might even have made him a better writer and director.

JASONZZZ

Saturday, October 8, 2005 5:25 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
It's interesting to note that although THX-1138 didn't do well at the box office, it was, imho, a great sci-fi movie when it was released. And it has held up very well over time, having seen it again recently.

Having said that, it does make me wonder why Lucas didn't direct more non-sci-fi movies like "American Grafitti." He certainly does have a feel for it. It might even have made him a better writer and director.

3 words "3 Billion Dollars"... The entire Starwars franchise and all of the technology companies that he owns has him rolling in the dough... But seriously, just looking at all of the different technology and things that he owns - I'm going to take a wild stab that he likes to dabble in all of the little neat toys in the film making process and not just making the film. Besides, he doesn't really *have* to churn out any real film product. He has all the time in the world (and all of the $$$ ) to just play.

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