I was hoping that the box office figures had been estimated low yesterday, but according to Yahoo! Movies, Serenity brought in just about $10M over the weekend. It’s really sad that flightplan kicked its butt at $15M. I didn’t get a chance to see it over the weekend, but it’s definitely on my list. I’m hoping that buzz builds and this coming weekend is even better. I’m not counting it out yet, I’m just a little dissapointed that the hardcore fanbase didn’t manage to bring enough friends along to boost the box office numbers any more.
I can’t help but remember that the spectacular (IMHO) Final Fantasy debuted at $11.4M and took Square down with it. I’ll chip in my $9 as soon as I can, I promise.
Comments
78 responses to “Dissapointing Serenity Box Office Figures?”
I wouldn’t write it off yet. The budget for this flick was only $40m or so, and not much marketing (way less than jodi foster, even in it’s second week). I expect good word of mouth will help it out, too.
Joshua,
Yeah, I’m definitely pulling for it.
After the second weekend it looks like Serenity will finish with under $30m in total in the US. I dont think even DVD sales can save it now.
DVD sales will definately bring this movie to profitability. There is a huge loyal fan base that will buy the film as soon as it hits the shelves. Remember, it was the DVD sales of the TV show that allowed this to become a movie.
I went to see for the second time this past weekend – something I’ve never done for any movie. I’m disappointed with the results too but I’m not giving up – I tore out the Serenity newspaper ad (the one with the “THUMBS UP!” above all the glowing reviews) and showing it to anyone and everyone in my sphere of influence.
I can’t believe it. I *accidently* saw this movie, b/c a friend gave me a hard time about being a sci-fi fan & not knowing about firefly & serenity.
Whoa. I mean whoa. So… strangely, he told me before Serenity released, and I downloaded & watched all the Firefly episodes in like 2 days. I was AMAZED. THEN I went to the movie. IT WAS FABULOUS–of course you all know that.
I, too, have gone twice (NEVER DONE BEFORE EITHER), and told everyone i knew about it. I JUST CAN”T believe that people aren’t going to see it. With rave reviews, thumbs flying up all over, it is amazing…aaaargh.
It goes to show that marketing works. That to get people to go to a movie, the average joe won’t go out and look up the reviews himself, he wants everything served to him. This wasnt’ served. It was an underground rumble. And in the end it will pay off, but not soon enough for Universal to give the potential 2 movie sequals a go.
I don’t have a TV (reality TV killed any desire i had to have one). I do, however, love movies and read the reviews and about what is coming out.
Sigh…crawling back in hole. Mebbe I’ll go to the movies AGAIN… Do what I can to contribute to the $40million more that is needed….
Deb, you downloaded all the Firefly episodes? Suddenly, I feel very foolish having spent a chunk of change on the DVD collection of the series.
With all that money you saved, you can definitely afford to see the movie again at the theater. So go again soon!
Sadly, I don’t think that the $39 million spent on making the movie includes the sum spent on the advertising. The $50 million domestic benchmark may have been set by the additional money Universal spent on ads. I barely saw any advertising myself, but perhaps I’m not in one of the markets they targeted.
I have seen the movie FIVE times myself, a record for me. With different people each time. Normally, I rarely see movies in the theater, and even more rarely see them there more than once. All part of my own effort to lure others out to see it. Because I certainly felt a sense of urgency, even panic, when I noticed such a lack of advertising.
Universal knew it was taking a chance on this movie. They only had modest expectations for its success at the theater; they were counting all along on the sales of the movie on DVD. When they made the decision to go with a Firefly movie, I believe DVD sales of the series were at a very respectable 200,000. That number has since jumped to a million. The movie will at the very least be a cult classic for years to come. The DVD sales will ensure that Universal sees profits.
I’m not certain of this, but there are some indications this was essentially an experiment by Universal to see if a movie without big name stars could be made cheaply with minimal advertising. They used the sneak-preview screenings of the movie all over the country, the “Browncoat” fan-base, the viral marketing campaign on the Internet, and – the latest touch – the downloadable first 9 minutes of the movie at http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html. That the DVD sales for the series were so robust emboldened them – they felt a little safer trying the experiment on Whedon’s proven talent over something cobbled together by standard Hollywood hacks. Joss Whedon, they know, is going places, and Firefly is a franchise with existing customers willing to pay to see more.
Box-office revenue has been down in general. Certainly not helped by rising gas-prices and the disaster on the Gulf coast. Katrina guaranteed a segment of America’s population would be more concerned with next meals and where it would be sleeping that night than with checking out the latest fare at the cinema. And it did something else. Everyone I know also sent money to the victims, including Yours Truly. Which meant less money to dispose of elsewhere, such as the theater. Perhaps Universal will take these factors into consideration when looking at the possibility of sequels to Serenity.
Either way, Firefly’s fans have been given an awesome and unexpected gift after the series’ mistreatment at the hands of Fox. And Joss Whedon’s career in moviemaking has been launched.
Don’t give up hope just yet. And, yeah, I’d say another trip to the theater wouldn’t hurt one bit.
My wife and I have seen the movie three times now and we don’t get tired of it. Each time we see it, we learn more of the storyline background. I’m hopint that the DVD sales will stir interest in doing a sequel or at leat revive the TV series. I would very much like to see an EXTENDED version of the film with deleted scenes and possibly new footage put back into it. The film left the door open for a sequel and I hope it happens. I definitely would support it. The story writing was clever and even had bits of trivia. Here is an interesting point that no-one has mentioned yet. The number of the research vessel on the ghost planet of Miranda was C57D. Watch and listen to the Opening lines from the old 50’s classic – Forbidden Planet. C57D was the designation of the ship sent to rescue the survivors of the previous expedition.
When Firefly died, I went into mourning. It’s ashame that JW had to condense years of TV episodes into one 2-hour movie (I couldn’t see him revealing who the reavers are before the end of year 2 or 3), but it’s satisfying to see many of the mysteries of the Firefly universe resolved so nicely. So much sci-fi is bad because it doesn’t respect the audience, but this movie sure did.
I guess I can’t hold out much hope for the Serenity sequels. I thought there were several million fans out there for the TV series, but I guess not. Looks like US take will stay under $30M
Compare the box office performance of movies like Doom and you will see that Serenity did fairly well. For a movie based on a defunct Fox television series that didn’t even last a whole season, Serenity had solid sales during a severe box office slump for the industry in general. In this economic climate there is no telling whether there will be a sequel or not.
But none of that matters. It is an amazingly good film that, by anyone’s analysis, should never have been made. What is amazing is that it got made at all.
I look forward to purchasing the DVD and watching it with my son.
I do agree the Serenity is not that entertaining. And to say that it failed to sell tickets is an understatement. A lot of movie goers have anticipated a nice film. Perhaps too much expectation made the film plunge down the box office. As an anticipted movie Serenity was not able to deliver the good.
One hopes for breakeven with DVD sales, and possibly a direct-to-DVD sequel … for films are Whedon’s only major creative outlet not blocked by Fox. (Never mind that Fox should owe a portion of its Firefly DVD profits to release of Serenity.) Yet after these box office patterns, will any film producer be willing to invest in Whedon’s vision again?
Boggs, I very much disagree. Not that reviews mean much, but Serenity’s reviews were overwhelmingly favorable. The problem wasn’t with the film itself – by any objective standard it was excellent: unusually intelligent, character driven and unconventional (when the captain did not kill the operative, Whedon violated a sacred action movie formula to the utter delight of people who watch these things carefully. It hasn’t happened since Ridley Scott’s Black Rain).
The problem was sales. This was a movie based on a frequently preempted, untimately cancelled, television show with no box office stars attached, broadcast on a little network. Other than the amazing efforts Whedon and the cast did to promote the film at conventions, there was virtually no advertising (just compare Chicken Little’s four-wall advertising campaign).
Taking all of this into considration it is remarkable how much money Serentity made, and it is poised to make much more in DVD and video rental/sales.
And this, Tenebris, is why it is impossible to say whether there will be a sequel or not. The old chestnut that a movie has to make back three times it’s production budget to be profitable is simply outdated. That rule of tumb was coined before DVD,cable and computer/digital cost saving production mechanisms. Granted, Serenity’s box office didn’t quite reach the reported 39 million dollar production costs (as of Thursday, November 3rd, combined domestic and international box office totals were $34,951,319). But compare what has happened so far with Doom. It had big stars, a built in audience and an enormous advertising push. But, with a reported production budget of $60 million (very low for an action/adventure) it has only earned $31 million world wide, is 13th at the box office and only took in $515,000 on Friday, November 4th. There is simply no way Doom is going to be profitable without huge DVD sales, especially considering the enormous amounts of money spent advertising Doom.
It is unlikely there will be a Doom sequel. Serenity, however, offers interesting positives for financing. We know that, despite no stars and no advertising, it drew a significantly large audience. And an unusual number of people who saw it liked it enough to see it again. If you can bring production costs down – and it can be done – then you have a money maker.
And let us not forget Whedon himself. Like Peter Jackson – a virtual unknown who persuaded a studio to finance the production of all three Lord of the Rings movies at the same time – Joss Whedon has proven that he is more than a creative visionary: he is a genius negotiator. I’ve spent significant time trying to figure out how he did it.
Never underestimate what someone like Whedon can achieve.
I had never even heard about firefly/serenity until one day my father told me to go see serenity. He told me that it was based off of a series and that I should check it out. A week or two later I was absolutely bored and I decided to go see a movie. At the time, there was nothing of interest. Until I ran across the title “Serenity.” I was like: what the who. So I rolled myself an L and headed to the theater.
With in the first 30 minutes of the movie I was smiling from ear to ear. I enjoyed the movie so much that immidately after the movie was done I stopped at the movie store and bought the DVD series. About 10 minutes ago I finished the last episode of the series. Now I can safely say that I am really upset. WHY IS THERE NO MORE?????? 🙁
The point of my story is: I had never heard of the series/movie and if I did I would have been a fan a lot sooner. It was only as a result of my dad being a huge scifi fan that I even got introduced to this wonderful scifi story.
I disagree with none of what you have said, Paul … except to note that genius negotiator notwithstanding, creative ability notwithstanding, sheer accomplishment notwithstanding, Whedon has been blocked far more often than not, increasingly so since 9/11 (which is not a coincidence), in ways that may never allow him to return to television; and which might require considerably better than breakeven even post-DVD before another major film producer is willing to touch his work.
I wish I could share your final assessment. Indeed, I hope for you to be right. Yet what is critically acclaimed and generally understood to be original, let alone unconventional, tends to carve out a small, faithful niche of those willing to experience new things … but only that small, faithful niche, in a world where ratings are interpreted selectively. In your experience, is this willingness to explore new territory typical of most people? let alone most production companies?
Tenebris, I attempted, in part, to show that this isn’t new territory. It is all about money, and Serentiy is poised to make money – not a lot, but enough to justify future financing considerations.
As for Whedon being blocked – all creative personalities are blocked. But accomplishment has nothing to do with creativity or even competence – just look at all of the junk being heavily financed and all the incompetents earning good livings in “Hollywood” to realize how little excellence count for. Saw II is a huge hit.
The successful realization of creative vision has everything to do with politics and little else. Whedon has demonstrated political sophistication sufficient to accomplish a great deal. With Serenity, he has demonstrated admirable skill in the one ability that is the most valuable of all – the ability to persuade.
I teach negotiations. I am considered an expert. I could learn a great deal from Whedon.
And yet we talk, not at cross purposes, but at skew-line understandings of the situation … in part, I suspect, because I happen to think that all creative personalities are not inherently blocked (Jackson!), and that it is not all about money. If it were, Angel and Firefly would still be on television, and we would not be having this debate.
Sheer curiosity: what manner of negotiations do you teach? (ie. business, crisis resolution, labour, counselling, political …?)
Firefly was awful. Serenity was better, by far, but such a box-office dud. Don’t expect a studio to pour more of its money down a stinkhole. The thing is dead now.
I too am dissappointed….and I can’t help. I didn’t discover the show until about a week ago…and now the movie isn’t playing anywhere that I can watch it, so I can’t contribute to the box-office sales.
I downloaded the episodes thanks to some word-of-mouth referrals on This Week in Tech podcast. I have to say that I am amazed and will be purchasing both the box set and the movie here shortly before christmas.
If you want to see my rant about how great it is (writing, acting, casting, cameras, special effects, etc) go to Amazon and I’m pretty much another fanatic at this point. However, I urge to PLEASE VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS. I downloaded the show….not entirely legal…but I’m going to be buying the DVD set because of it…because I realize how good the show was and I’ll do anything that I can to potentially help bring it back.
So for anyone listening, spend the 23 bucks at Amazon.com and buy the DVD set….it’s so worth it…I can’t believe a show like this got cancelled….and the story is so incomplete and there are so many secrets/mysteries to unfold….argh…
why did I have to watch it so close to finals week…I’m addicted…obsessed….and you will be too. But it’s a good thing. I promise.
Whedon will be back, Firefly will be back. Neither the movie nor the series were abject ‘failures.’ The fan base is a quite respectable size and the quality of the series more than adequate. The problem is the entertainment industry’s narrow focus on major’ properties. Television series have to draw over 10 million viewers per show or more, major movies have to break the 100 million mark, the only way to accomplish this is through large scale advertising, marketing pushes and creating vanilla fair. LOTR was an exception we are not likely to experience in a long long time in terms of a major entertainment property establishing a high qualitative standard with broad public appeal.
Enter, the Long Tail. Amazon.com is demonstrating that so-called fringe media properties, books, music, and soon movies and television series, can be financially viable by adjusting their marketing model. Television channels and movie screens are finite in number, but infinite ether can be had across the Internet for a fraction of the price with enough financial rewards to justify properties like Firefly, ten-times over.
Consumers are so far ahead of studio management on this issue it’s not even funny….
Firefly will be back. By the time studio executives have pulled their heads out of their rears and realized there are other avenues to reach audiences Josh and his crew will be back in business.
Until then.
I just wanted to say that Firefly has got to be the best show ever made, ever. I absolutely love that show and after I finished the 15 episode DvD set I wanted to kiss the man who let me borrow it. Shortly after that I bought my own.
Like just about everyone else who posted I think that we will more than likely see a sequel to the movie in either movie or tv format, but it will probably be a few years. Joss, not Josh, is the type of guy who likes to give his fans what they want and what they want is a continuation of the crew’s story. Joss also, however, does things on his own time, and from somewhere I heard that Joss had said, “Firefly is something I’d like to come back too, but I have other things right now.” So it’s all up in the air.
I also wanted to say for those of you who think downloading the movie or the show is good, please buy it also. If you download it, and watch it, and like it. If you want to see more, just telling people you liked it will do nothing, spend the little amount of money it takes to buy the DvD and please don’t download the movie. The movie companies look at downloading as saying that people didn’t like the movie. Just a thought. Other than that I hope and pray we’ll get a sequel.
Later
I bought the series DVD on Friday after it was recommended to me by a co-worker. It blew me away and I can’t stand to think it’s over. Even my wife, who’s not into sci-fi, is crushed after finding out we won’t get another season of Firefly. I do believe I may be obsessed, and my hunger is far from satisfied. I will spread the word until everyone I know buys a copy of the series and movie.
Well, I have seen this movie over 6 times in the theatre and I got the DVD for Christmas. But I have to say, Serenity was sold out at my Best Buy by my house and I live in the city near DC. So, I’m sure the DVD sales will push this one over!
I absolutely love the series and the movie… I’m an addict.
It was a very entertaining movie.I’m glad they could get all the original characters back.The engineer is now a part of the cast of Reunion on Fox I think.I was very sad to see Fox dump it because I watched it every week.Although it didn’t do too well I heard that they signed up for 3 movies if it did well enough.
Just got finished watching the movie DVD tonight. Had consumed the TV series DVD’s over the last few days. What a great series. I can only hope that SiFi channels decison makers will commission another season and a movie sequel. This was an intelligent effort that other offerings can’t even measure up to.
Fairly new fan. While looking for something new on amazon, I came across Firefly. I had never heard of it before, but from reading the reviews, it definitly sounded like something to get. So, I took the leap and purchased the series. I have to say, it was a great buy. I can’t put it in words, as well as others have, but the show/movie definitely has a warmth to it, that grows on you. I wish I would have known of the series/movie earlier, I would have done more for my part as well. However, I have all the DVDs now and know what others will get for gifts, if they don’t already have it.
Saw the film before purchasing the Firefly DVD set.
Loved the film. Do i want more? Yes please. High Quality effects, story, editing – great characters obviously.
Personally I thought the film was better than the series – it had high impact value, and for someone who hadnt seen the tv series the movie for me showed how well formed the characters were / are.
If you want a real “blockbuster” film to make more profits, all you need do is pre-market – you’ll get huge 1st weekend box office that way.. and when people see how good it is you’ll make even more.
Not enough dough spent on publicity – it’s as simple as that.
In Australia absolutely no advertising for this film. I’d never heard of Firelfy and I’m a sci fi fan!
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