You know, I hope I'm wrong and Serenity will have the legs to turn a profit for Universal. It's not just the week opening weekend that has me worried. It's the fact that every day this week it's made less and less money. It went from #2 to #3 to #4. These past few days Flightplan has had a higher per screen average, so we can't even hold onto that anymore. I'll be really surprised if the movie pulls in more than $6 million this weekend. It'll end up pulling in little more than $30 million. I had hopes for about twice that before a week ago. I'd love nothing more than for this film to be a word-of-mouth hit, but at this time of year? With Wallace & Gromit and Zorro hot on its heels? Sorry, but I don't see it happening.

I'm glad we got the movie. No matter how much money it makes or doesn't make, no one can take that away from us. I'm just disappointed the rest of the world aren't availing themselves of this movie. Maybe on DVD.

I say at least wait until this weekend before you go calling it a bomb. At least it came in at #2 last weekend, and not 3, 4 or below.

It's almost too bad it couldn't have come out a few weeks earlier, when it would really have had no competetion to speak of. Then, it probably would have debuted at #1. It's timing as much as anything else.

Did anyone else notice the C57D?

Competetion? Last weekend was the first time in about 2 months that I wanted to see a movie. There wasn't a damn thing out. That is how I ended up at Serenity. It doesn't get much more desolate than the release week it had.

Exactly my point. There's hardly been anything, much less anything decent, released in weeks.

Flightplan came out the week before, and had good word of mouth, while the week Serenity opened, so did A History Of Violence and Into The Blue and the new Oliver Twist - all of which featured well known actors, so at least they had that going for them. It's certainly more competetion than most have had for for some time - and that also splits up the descion factor in what people are going to see.

I think Flightplan benefited from the fact that there had been nothing new out for awhile, and because of good word of mouth, that's why it did well in it's second week. It's like this...say you've been checking the movie listings, and like you say, there's nothing that's piqued your interest for awhile. You ask your friends what's good, and they all say go see Flightplan, which you haven't seen yet, because you didn't know if was any good. So even though there may be new stuff coming out, the average person, if they don't know anything about these new movies, is more likely going to see the proven entity than something which may turn out to be crap. Especially these days, when people don't have as much money to carelessly spend on just anything.

I'm just hoping, that they same senario could play out for Serenity this weekend. It probably won't, but it could happen.

I am also suprised this movie isnt doing better. It probably if its luckey only make 25 million in the box office. Yeah i will do good on dvd. But I dont see use getting a trilogy or anything. it sucks cause i dont know why people went and seen Flightplan. I thought that movie stunk. Another movie that I thought was pretty good and much better then critics said was Into the Blue. And that one isnt doing good either

Flightplan was all over the radio and news last week with people working for airlines saying that they were going to boycott the film. I guessed it was because of that.

Flightplan stars Jodie Foster.

das

[QUOTE=RogueScribner]You know, I hope I'm wrong and Serenity will have the legs to turn a profit for Universal. ]

Serenity will almost certainly turn a profit as its DVD sales will be big and it was not an expensive movie to make. It will not be a big hit, though and justify sequels. However, that may turn out to be a blessing. It may just do well enough to make financial success to bring it back as a TV series on Sci-fi. DVD sales will be good, and it does have a stron fanbase. It could be a pretty successfull TV property again.

As to the movie, I don't know wht it is not a bigger hit. In fact, I think it is the best sci-fi space drama released this year. I guess the slight tongue-in-cheek attitude of the show and the fact that it is ciched intentionally in a twisted way, does not appeal to mainstream audiences as much as the dour seriousness and solemness of the SW films.

For the record, I am not a "whedonite" though I did like Buffy and like Firefly a good amount. Empire Strikes Back is one of my 5 favorite films of all time, but I thought that ROTS was just complete and utter crap.

Here's to a return of the Firefly series

I love it how people think there will be another television series. Joss has even confirmed that the Firefly-verse is dead regarding television. Due to the agreement signed with 20th Century Fox, Universal can only make feature films based off Firefly/Serenity. Even if Universal wanted to go the television route and create new episodes for Sci-Fi, they can't. 20th Century Fox has the rights to Firefly on television and they have barely no reason to produce a multi-million dollar an episode show for some basic cable outlet that is not their own. It also doesn't help matters much that Joss is pretty much done with the television medium. Similar to Judd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) Apatow, two of his more recent creations were given abrupt deaths (studio/network politics killed Angel too early and we all know the story about Firefly) and it's just pushed Joss to feature films (Serenity, Wonder Woman, Goners, etc). It's going to be a long while before we see the man embrace television again.

If Universal doesn't greenlight a sequel to Serenity (the film looks like it'll total out around $25 million domestically, who knows how it'll play internationally OR on DVD to warrant a second outing for the studio), the "future" we get will pretty much involving the crew of Serenity will most likely be upcoming comic books and novels.

Just think of Serenity as the overall finale. We got enough closure and hope for all of us to leave on a high note.

Interesting. I wasn't aware of this. I guess SciFi is out which is a shame since it would be a perfect show for them. FX is still a remote possibility I guess. With Serenity dropping to 9th this weekend, I believe we can officially call it a bomb so I doubt a sequel will be made despite what people are saying about DVD sales.

As far as Joss being finished with TV, then I his career might be over if WW and/or Goners flops too. Why would a studio want him for another feature?? TV would be his best bet at continuing a career so I would be willing to bet he goes back to it if he can't make a hit movie.

I wouldn't say Serenity is a bomb, it just underpreformed. The budget is too "small" for the film to be a downright bomb, specifically since Universal will pretty much only be $15-20 million in the red after it's domestic theatrical run (and the film is pretty much guaranteed to make Universal a profit after international gross and dvd sales). If the DVD does gangbusters, then I can see a sequel. If not, at least we got Serenity.

I don't think WW will flop, especially since it's a high-profile picture being produced by Warner and Joel Silver, especially since WB is hoping to be one of it's Summer 2007 tentpole releases.

Goners, however, is a different story.

I'm under the assumption that WW will flop or atleast not do Begins numbers (which were strong in legs, but not strong in looks at first) simply because it's wonder woman... I mean, sure, she's known about, but who really cares about WW?

I'm thinking the same thing. For some reason, female comic book characters have not worked on the big screen (Catwoman, Electra, etc.) It is a huge risk and I don't see it working.

Underperformed?! Call it what you want but Serenity flopped. I was hoping it would do well because I liked the show and the movie but I call 'em like I see 'em. It bombed. People were expecting this film to do 50 mil or more and it will be lucky to do 20. It will probably end up breaking even on DVD but I can't see Universal risking a sequel just for DVD sales. It costs too much to market the film twice.

It'll break even on international at the very least. DVD will be nothing but honey. Though that honey will more than likely not even be a pipe dream in getting a sequel. Atleast this impossible dream of gettinga canceled show to the big screen worked.

I'm with you on the fact that Serenity does provide some closure to Firefly, and Serenity was a kick-ass movie that Firefly fans loved - so it's not all bad news.

However, I wouldn't entirely count out the possibility of a new series. It may be unlikely, but Fox produces TV shows for lots of networks, so producing one to air on the Sci Fi Channel isn't ridiculous. That would depend on how much Sci Fi is willing to pay to air the show. The re-runs of Firefly have been pretty good for Sci-Fi, so they may be willing to pay just enough to get Fox back in the Firefly business. Fox can count on solid DVD sales for the show, so that makes it slightly more likely.

As it stands now, though, it looks like Serenity is the equivalent of a 3 part series finale, more or less (119 minutes as opposed to 132 or so) - and it does make for one hell of a finale!

I'd still like to see another movie or series happen, somehow!

I don't know about that. Internationally it is barely above 1 mil. Not sure where it has opened though. I don't believe Serenity will break even until DVD sales and maybe not even then. Let's face it, for whatever reason, the public as a whole is just not into this show. Time to move on, I guess...

Yeah that seems to be the case. I can't imagine this'll be that successful overseas given the soft reception here.

But hey it's Universal...if they're making DTV sequels to movies like 8MM, and heck making Serenity in the first place maybe they'll let it come back in some form...

$1.5 million for Friday. Which means maybe $4 - $5 million for the weekend, if the numbers don't drop from day to day like they did last weekend. All you "wait until the second weekend" people can relax now. Let the air out. It's not the big success we were hoping for, but that's okay. It's a damn good movie and hopefully people will discover it on DVD. Just don't hold your breath on a sequel or return to television. Ain't happenin'.

It just started to open up internationally. The film opened up in Aussie a day prior to the American release, but it didn't hit the UK until yesterday. As the weeks and months go by, Serenity's international gross will grow.

Those two films mentioned were panned by both audiences and critics alike. Nobody has tried making a good female superhero movie. Maybe Wonder Woman will break the trend, maybe it won't.

Studio projections had Serenity at a $15 million opening weekend (meaning a total domestic gross around $30-40 million). Crazy, hopeful Browncoats had begged the film at $50 million plus. Universal was simply looking for the film to break even. Jesus Christ, while the studios are in the business of making money, as long as they clear the red, everything is golden to them. It looks like Serenity will only put Universal in the red by about $15 million after it's domestic theatrical run ends. Not a whole lot of money, thus defining the film as underpreforming. It didn't tank, flop, bomb, whatever the fuck you want to call it. You can only classify a film as a bomb/tanker/flopper when it puts the studio who financed it in the red and then some.

Example: The Island bombed domestically as it left DreamWorks in the red $90 million.

In Hollywood, $15 million is chump change. $90 million can finance at least 3-4 films that could do double (or more) their budget size.

I am pretty disappointed in the box office. I have tried to fanwank it, but I can't find a way to say it didn't do disappointing numbers. I can't see Universal greenlighting more, and I can't see anyone wanting to donate the time and effort for such box office. Oh well. I agree with the person earlier who said that they can never take this movie from us, and I am damn glad I have it.

I had to wait two weeks to see the movie- it didn't open locally in my town last week, nor did it do so this week- I had to drive to the next town in order to see it, in spite of having two theatres and 13 screens a mere 10 minutes from me....so marketing and the number of screens this movie played on has probably played a small part in the numbers, but I don't kid myself into thinking it's a large number. Still, the last time I had to wait for several weeks in order to see a film was Million Dollar Baby, and I didn't think it was a smart way to make money then any moreso than now. Loved the movie of course, but was hoping for enough of us fans to get the gross high enough for future sequels to be a given rather than a question mark.

The movie is going to make a profit. DVD sales and rentals these days are enormous, and lots of people who won't spend $8 apiece for a family of four to go to the movies will happily spend $3 total for a rental.

Thanks. This should tide me over until I get my hands on the score (which I can't seem to find in any of the stores I've visited).

But.......what? She puts BUTTS in the seats and the movies make alot of profit regardless of whether or not people agree with it........