Serenity trailer (aka the Firefly movie)

[metadigital]

It would be the condition of the sale.  If there are to be rewrites the only person who does the rewrites will be me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You kinda have to actually sell something you've written and have a "career" before you can start making 'conditions' on your sales

 

If you're afraid of re-writing... writing may not be for you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What Darque said. There are two methods to get your script made into a production:

1. write/direct yourself, taking on all that pressure and resonsibility AND RISK, or
    
   
2. sell it to someone else and lose all control over the finished product.
   

There are pros et contras for both, obviously; not least of which is that if you like to write, then you are probably more interested in cutting and running (with a fat cheque) to keep writing. But, hey, it's your dime.

...

As to the movie Serenity... it was... ok. (now that I've seen it)

 

I'm guessing you have to watch the series to actually get the full effect?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I haven't seen the series (well, not much of it, if I have; I can't remember anything specific but the name "firefly" does ring a bell ...) and I thought the film was very good.

 

I liked:

• characters written with depth (mostly; "Wash" might well have been called "washed out so thin that no dye remained", for example);
  
• plausible over-arching story (the old philosophical debate of the good of the many greater than the good of the few: aka hedonistic economics);
  
• realistic CGI and effeccts: no over-use, just enough to get the job done (unlike Troy or the SW prequel trilogy);
  
• realistic setting:
  1. far enough into the future that the technology didn't look too "fanciful", still had combustion propelled muntions (guns with bullets), for example, and characters were injured and ammunition was not limitless;
     
  2. all the worlds (as I understand it) were in one solar system, meaning that the distances a ship had to fly between them did not require faster-than-light travel, with journey times still measured in hours or days rather than years;
     
  3. no sound in space; sound was audible in the upper atmosphere, which is fine;
     

  [*]the same "lived in", beaten-up quality that the original Star Wars first gave to the world, where the future wasn't all brand-new, clean and perfect; and, my favourite

  [*]a film where the audience wasn't talked down to, there were many things not completely explained in the standard Hollywood dull and predictable detail-for-the-cheap-seats manner.

So, even though I went into the film with mild expectations, I was pleasantly surprised and quite pleased with the result.

 

I would definitely recommend it, and I may even go and watch it again.

 

[Reveilled]

One of the biggest appeals for me as an amateur (and maybe someday professional) linguist, was that after several hundred years, the language wasn't exactly the same as it is today. I didn't realise until after the film that most of the words I didn't understand were Chinese, but I think the inclusion of Chinese words into the English spoken by the characters was about as well as one could reasonably expect a film to model the evolution of language (expecting a different grammar is too much for anything other than books, I think). Language was one of those things that always nibbled away at the back of my mind in Science fiction film and television (Stargate being the absolute worst offender here, despite it being otherwise a good show), so my geeky side was impressed by Serenity here.

[Judge Hades]

Well, in the television the Alliance government was composed of a merger of the United States federalism and Chinese communism.

[kumquatq3]

I would definitely recommend it, and I may even go and watch it again.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yea! No one dies!

 

 

 

BTW, the international numbers won't save this movie (sequel). I hope I'm wrong. I'm all but sure I'm not.

[Reveilled]

I would definitely recommend it, and I may even go and watch it again.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yea! No one dies!

 

 

 

BTW, the international numbers won't save this movie (sequel). I hope I'm wrong. I'm all but sure I'm not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If we're lucky, though, the DVD sales just might.

[Oerwinde]

I would definitely recommend it, and I may even go and watch it again.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yea! No one dies!

 

 

 

BTW, the international numbers won't save this movie (sequel). I hope I'm wrong. I'm all but sure I'm not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If we're lucky, though, the DVD sales just might.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

DVD sales is what got a Hulk sequel greenlit, as well as a Punisher sequel. I think Hulk lost something like 30 million, and Punisher lost something like 15 when it came to the Box Office, but DVD sales pushed it well into money making territory, so if we're lucky, the same will happen with Serenity. Especially since it looks like they're going for a double dip type thing. Joss Whedon doesn't seem like the kinda guy who would skimp on the DVD, but the one scheduled for release in December is pretty weak. So I'm expecting an unrated extended directors cut type thing next year.

[kumquatq3]

Hopefully you guys are right, but that means weez gots a long time to go before we get news.....if ever

 

Estimated gross as of Sat: $17,594,000

[Darque]

Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I think it was a pretty good movie.

 

Not the have all - end all that some have made it out to be, but a pretty good movie that was well worth the money. I'll probably be picking up the Firefly set for more "depth" and I'll most likely get the DVD when it's released.

 

As for a sequel... I'm guessing it'll depend on how wonder woman does.. if it tanks I'm betting Joss will go back to his own properties.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Like getting his ass in gear for the Spike telemovie.

[Surreptishus]

If that happens you'll have t wait at least another year. Spike is Brainiac for the moment.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Not General Zod?

[General Zod]

Not General Zod?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Spike will KNEEL BEFORE ZOD.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

The gross intake in the cinema is becoming less and less important to how a movie does overall. I think next year,sees for the first time movies released at the same time on DvD as they are in the cinema.

 

I'd much rather curl up on the sofa and watch in the comfort of home, or invite a bunch of people around than have to put up with the waiting, watching pointless trailers, awful food (not to mention high priced awful food) and all those other annoying things.

 

With some of the kit you can get these days, the line between home and cinema is becoming ever more blurry even if you dont have a 20 foot screen at home.

[metadigital]

Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I think it was a pretty good movie.

 

Not the have all - end all that some have made it out to be, but a pretty good movie that was well worth the money. I'll probably be picking up the Firefly set for more "depth" and I'll most likely get the DVD when it's released.

 

As for a sequel... I'm guessing it'll depend on how wonder woman does.. if it tanks I'm betting Joss will go back to his own properties.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Another point I forgot to mention, in my list of virtues, was the depiction of a truly Lawful Evil character.

 

Notice how lawful, even in defeat, no cheap shots, fully cognizent of his role and part in the universe ("I am a monster. There is no place for me in the new world, any more than there is for you ...") and content with it.

 

Also the captain "Mal" was drawn well, as the "reluctant hero" type, though there were subtle degrees of reluctancy and heroism, cf. Jane, for example.

 

It was a good SF film because the SF didn't get in the way of the story; a facilitator, it was merely there to help explore some other (always) more interesting sociological commentary.

[kalimeeri]

Theatres are in decline. Hollywood doesn't seem to have any original ideas or creative writers left. Instead, we get a constant barrage of poorly-written or poorly-disguised remakes. In addition, most people would rather watch movies at home (how many family trips to the theatre=the purchase of a big-screen TV?) because of the expense and lack of a pause button. It seems there's always someone coughing, talking, or fussing with big hair in front of you, or someone who refuses to leave their three-month-old baby at home. How does that get fun, when you paid to watch a movie?

 

Considering just the majority of critical reviews, I think Universal would be crazy not to do a sequel. If they don't pick up the option, someone with a little more vision surely will, the same way New Line kicked arse when they jumped on LOTR after Miramax turned it down.

 

I think they know what they have in Serenity. Not a flash in the pan, but an idea that will gain momentum more slowly, like Raiders of the Lost Ark (which only made $8 million its first weekend.). And I wouldn't be surprised to see a new ride at Universal Studios, 'Fun with Reavers'.

[Judge Hades]

One thing that caught me was the connection between the Operative and Sheppard Book. It was very subtle and if you haven't seen the TV series you would probably not see it but I think that Sheppard Book was in the same "career" as the Operative before he retired and became a Sheppard.

[kalimeeri]

Here's a linky to an interesting article from MSN about box-office performance, a sort of requiem to the movie theatre:

 

http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=11722

[metadigital]

One thing that caught me was the connection between the Operative and Sheppard Book.  It was very subtle and if you haven't seen the TV series you would probably not see it but I think that Sheppard Book was in the same "career" as the Operative before he retired and became a Sheppard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Reminded me of Ultima III, when I answered all the fortune-teller's questions truthfully and was incarnated into the world as a shepherd!

 

But yes, that wasn't all-that-subtle; it seemed pretty obvious to me ...

[Judge Hades]

It would be cool if they made the sequel and the Operative joins Mal's side. *tee hee*

[metadigital]

I thought they were going to do that at the end. If I have one complaint, it's that the operative was too nice at the end. I thought they were about to kiss!

[Judge Hades]

Just because he was a monster doesn't mean he can't be nice.

[Oerwinde]

Serenity opened at #1 in the UK this weekend.

[metadigital]

See? British film goers are the more discerning patrons ...

[Darque]

Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I think it was a pretty good movie.

 

Not the have all - end all that some have made it out to be, but a pretty good movie that was well worth the money. I'll probably be picking up the Firefly set for more "depth" and I'll most likely get the DVD when it's released.

 

As for a sequel... I'm guessing it'll depend on how wonder woman does.. if it tanks I'm betting Joss will go back to his own properties.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Another point I forgot to mention, in my list of virtues, was the depiction of a truly Lawful Evil character.

 

Notice how lawful, even in defeat, no cheap shots, fully cognizent of his role and part in the universe ("I am a monster. There is no place for me in the new world, any more than there is for you ...") and content with it.

 

Also the captain "Mal" was drawn well, as the "reluctant hero" type, though there were subtle degrees of reluctancy and heroism, cf. Jane, for example.

 

It was a good SF film because the SF didn't get in the way of the story; a facilitator, it was merely there to help explore some other (always) more interesting sociological commentary.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree, the Operative was very Lawful Evil

[kumquatq3]

Serenity opened at #1 in the UK this weekend.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

numbers? I can't find any.....it seems to have opened too low to make the top 20 films international.....

 

Well, it's some where above 20 million (worldwide) now

 

talk for a sequel was 50 domestic or 80 worldwide?

 

ya....um...

Edited October 10, 2005 by kumquatq3