What if 'Serenity' had been called 'FIrefly'?

POSTED BY: OPPYH
UPDATED: Sunday, June 27, 2010 18:13
VIEWED: 5984
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OPPYH

Monday, June 21, 2010 7:41 PM

If The Film Serenity had the name Firefly would it have done better at the box office? Just saying, because I remember a couple ahead of me at the theater saying they didn't know what Serenity was, and it was a dumb name for a movie. Really can't argue their point.

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70's TV FOREVER

BROWNCOAT1

Monday, June 21, 2010 7:48 PM

It's possible I suppose, but unfortunately the name "Firefly" could not be used as Fox still owned rights to it. It may have helped, but I doubt it would have made a huge difference. The ads clearly would have jogged the memories of anyone that had seen the show and we browncoats ran an aggressive viral marketing campaign for the movie.

The problem in my mind is that when people look at movies they look for familiar faces in the trailer. If they don't recognize A list stars they generally discount it out of hand. Look how many new browncoats showed up after the dvd hit rental and store shelves. These people avoided it in theatres due to no big name actors, but took a chance on it from a rental outlet and were hooked.

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ECGORDON

Monday, June 21, 2010 10:23 PM

You must not have been around from the beginning, because there were quite a few critics saying that Firefly was a bad name for the series since it didn't convey what the show was about. Anyone who was a fan of the show knew exactly what Serenity was, and personally I think it was the perfect name for the BDM (except of course if Joss had called it "Big Damn Movie").

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

BYTEMITE

Monday, June 21, 2010 10:28 PM

It would have been canceled after the first thirteen minutes.

From the movie theatres.

Sorry, dark humour mood.

ZEEK

Monday, June 21, 2010 10:31 PM

It seems like a standard Joss move. To me it screams "If you aren't going to give a movie a chance just because of the title then I don't want you watching my movie anyway". It's like with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think we can all agree that the first time you hear that you think it's a silly title. If anyone can't look past the silly title then they aren't ready to look deep enough at the characters either.

Serenity is a pretty bad title all around. It doesn't give new comers any idea what they're in for. It works fine for us fans but I be "Space Fight Boobie War" would have made more money at the box office.

PIZMOBEACH

Monday, June 21, 2010 10:38 PM

I'm not sure Firefly would have been much better, but for me Serenity as the title said, "I'm doing this for the fans... the people who know and care... and then I'm going to kill 2 of their favorite characters." What a mad elf he is.

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OPPYH

Monday, June 21, 2010 11:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
You must not have been around from the beginning, because there were quite a few critics saying that Firefly was a bad name for the series since it didn't convey what the show was about. Anyone who was a fan of the show knew exactly what Serenity was, and personally I think it was the perfect name for the BDM (except of course if Joss had called it "Big Damn Movie").

I was around from the beginning.

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70's TV FOREVER

RAHLMACLAREN

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 12:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
It's possible I suppose, but unfortunately the name "Firefly" could not be used as Fox still owned rights to it.

Is this why the word "Firefly" wasn't used in movie? I can't recall the scene where they did.

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Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

11THHOUR

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 7:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
If The Film Serenity had the name Firefly would it have done better at the box office? Just saying, because I remember a couple ahead of me at the theater saying they didn't know what Serenity was, and it was a dumb name for a movie. Really can't argue their point.

I'm fairly sure there was a thread started here before the movie was announced posing the question if "Serenity" would be a good movie title. I seem to remember several people, including myself, having misgivings about a Firefly movie being titled "Serenity".

My apprehension was that people unfamiliar with the 'Verse would see that title and think "chick flick", or even worse... "boring". Now there could be some who might make the leap and wonder if the name was one of those purposely sarcastic titles meant to put the audience in a headlock and whip them around a good 180 degrees, as anyone who has seen "Happiness" can attest.

Sure the existing fans would "get" the title, but for the movie to be a success it needed to pull in new fans too. It was crucial that the first movie be enough of a financial success that Universal would move forward on the 3 picture contract. As much as die hard fans, and independent minded creators, bristle at the thought of making creative decisions to appeal to a wider audience... but perhaps coming up with a title that would work better to spike the curiosity of new people to see the movie might have been a good thing. It would have been so great if Serenity had been more financially successful as we would have had two more movies after it. Oh well...

Keep in mind that this is the opinion of a dedicated Firefly guerilla marketer, so I was very concerned that the movie have the best chance possible to reach A LOT of new fans. Getting the 'Verse restarted seemed like it would happen, but it all depended on the success of the movie. Creative decisions that didn't particularly help to draw in new fans, or alienated existing ones, doomed the 'Verse to another early death.

"Firefly", as a movie title, was not able to be used due to the rights issues as already mentioned up-thread. In comparison to "Serenity, it has a liveliness and curiosity factor. I live in the camp that always loved the name "Firefly".

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TWO

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 12:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
It's possible I suppose, but unfortunately the name "Firefly" could not be used as Fox still owned rights to it.

Is this why the word "Firefly" wasn't used in movie? I can't recall the scene where they did.

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Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

I don't know the why but the only mention of Firefly that, almost, got into the movie was this line spoken by the Ensign: “We got a pos on a retinal -- man carrying her out is Malcolm Reynolds, captains a Firefly-class transport ship, "Serenity". Bound by law five times, smuggling, tariff dodge... not convicted.” But that line was cut, cut, cut from the finished movie. Instead, that same information, except the Firefly-class, was on the Operative's computer display. I am guessing Joss cut the spoken line mentioning Firefly and added the computer display brainstorm in the film-editing process. For the script see page 89 of Serenity - The Official Visual Companion or page 47 of Serenity-126pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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