Scifi.com post: Firefly Film, DVDs Due

POSTED BY: JavidRho
UPDATED: Friday, May 23, 2003 03:53
VIEWED: 7508
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SLOWSMURF

Thursday, May 22, 2003 4:36 PM

I think after the experiences Joss had with movies, he's NOT going to be risky with firefly. He'll make sure they know what they're making beforehand, that they can't change it(ie give me money and let me do my thing(and sign a contract saying so) or fuck off)

Especially as long as they make it fairly low budget(an hour ep for TV took, apparently, 2 million. Nothing says a movie would have to cost THAT much more(per hour))

RANDOM

Friday, May 23, 2003 12:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SlowSmurf:
I think after the experiences Joss had with movies, he's NOT going to be risky with firefly. He'll make sure they know what they're making beforehand, that they can't change it(ie give me money and let me do my thing(and sign a contract saying so) or fuck off)

Especially as long as they make it fairly low budget(an hour ep for TV took, apparently, 2 million. Nothing says a movie would have to cost THAT much more(per hour))

I agree that Joss won't make the movie unless he has contracted control. After his many, frequent and continuing rants about his horrible experience on the Buffy movie and a lot of movies thereafter, I can't see him even thinking about making it unless he is the boss of bosses. And if he can get 20th Century behind him, he should be ok in that respect.

As for the budgets. My friends who work In Hollywood tell me anything connected with movies cost a lot more than anything connected with TV. That there are whole groups of people in Hollywood who just work Movies or just work TV, never the two shall meet. And the Movie gang charge a lot more for everything than the TV gang (unions and all that).

Still, if made outside Hollywood, (Canada, New Zealand, UK) a 1.5 hour Firefly movie could probably be made for under 10 million. I'm basing this estimage on other low-budget, no-star movies made there over the last few years.

There would be no big-star paychecks to pay. But any theatrical Sci Fi movie needs the requisite massive amount of special effects. They'd probably have to spend a Firefly-season's worth of budget on FX. But from what I remember, Zoic (who did the Firefly FX) typically only had a budget of only $150k to $200k an episode to produce the FX. So figure a few million for the FX, a few million for the production, a nice paycheck for the stars. 10 million is do-able, "if", they stay out of Hollywood. Then figure at least 5 or 10 million to promote the movie. A good weekend or two could pay for it entirely, the overseas market and DVD/rental markets would be gravy.

How long would it take? Well, these days movies can get to the screen surprisingly fast. Digital editing and all that makes the post production process that much easier. If they started production before the end of this year, it could easily be on the screens by late Spring or Summer of 2004.

---------------------------------
Illusions? Against a burninator?

ELERI

Friday, May 23, 2003 3:16 AM

From an email I received from the TVonDVD site:

Firefly extras in-the-works for the DVDs
5/21/2003

The SciFi Channel's SciFiWire news section had this article today, revealing some information about the upcoming Firefly DVDs:
(Nathan) Fillion-who played Capt. Mal Reynolds-said that he is completing audio commentaries for a complete DVD set of the Fox series' 15 produced episodes, including three that never aired. "I just finished commentary with Alan Tudyk [Wash] on 'War Stories,' an episode where he and I got tortured. ... And then, Monday, I go in to do audio commentary with Joss Whedon for 'Serenity,' the two-hour pilot."

The DVD will also include on-camera interviews and maybe even some of Fillion's own behind-the-scenes home video and photos. As for the unaired episodes, Fillion said, "My naked ass is in them. In the very last episode. I'll let you know that much. They called me Capt. Tight Pants for some time. And now it's going to be Capt. No Pants for sure." Fillion did not know when the DVD set would come out.

~~Eleri

TECHBOY

Friday, May 23, 2003 3:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JavidRho:
... there will be "money people" who will jump in and try to change things to make Firefly appeal to the widest possible audience (they are in it to make money, after all) ...

[edited for brevity]

The thing that really will get people in the seats is the talk that the fans are generating, and the fact that "Firefly" is good story telling. It's not about the hi-tech super-razmafrazits, and heizenberg comsentaors.

I'm a Trek fan, but I care more about what happens to the "Enterprise" more than what happens to the people in it. Granted, Trek is about the story, too - but "Firefly" is about the people and how they live, not how they operate their ship.

I think that will translate well to the big-screen, and draw people in. What I worry about is the episodes really need to be seen in order, and releasing a motion picture without the background may cause confusion, and not have the impact that it had on us.

All through this, when watching episodes and reading posts here, I've got the felling that their (the crew of Firefly) stories haven't been told yet, things are just getting started. I will be waiting for more "Firefly" stuff with baited breath.

Does anyone have the final ratings numbers for the run?

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