"Serenity" (Firefly movie) delayed to September

Cafe Society
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Originally scheduled release date: April 22. The “Matrix” slot, so named because the first Matrix movie had a lot of success opening a couple of months before the first “Star Wars” prequel.

New release date: sometime in September. Apparently the “XXX” sequel and a bunch of other stuff is trying to take advantage of the same slot. “Serenity” will now be released in the “Sky Captain” slot, which worked so brilliantly. :frowning:

This is according to Joss Whedon, who posted a note on Whedonesque.com announcing the change. There’s some followup discussion there also.

I’m very bummed out, obviously.

See, I can’t stop watching “Firefly.” I’ve been through the DVD set, beginning to end, three times in the last three months. Whenever I decide I’d like to watch some television, “Firefly” is almost always the best thing on. It never stops being fresh; I continue finding small details and surprises in the shows.

Plus I’ve been having fun speculating about the movie. Joss has said he designed the movie story very carefully, in order to set up the world and the overall plot such that a first-timer wouldn’t be lost, but that fans wouldn’t feel like it’s too repetitive. He says, rather vaguely, that he’s going to cover some previous events in different ways, as a means of catching up newbies. (I suspect this means he’s going to show us how Simon got River out of the “school,” which in the pilot episode is dismissed with a quick “money, and luck” explanation. It’d make a lot of sense to make this an early centerpiece of the film; it’s new material for fans, and it’s highly expository for new viewers. Just speculatin’, like I said.)

I even invited a bunch of friends over starting in January to go through the episodes, one per week, leading up to the movie. Some of my friends know and love the show. Some will be coming to it fresh.

Now… not so much. Maybe I’ll do it anyway. Maybe I’ll wait. Maybe I’ll do it twice, once when I had originally planned, and then again starting in August.

Anyway, thought y’all should know.

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Well, crap.

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Well put.

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I was thinking “Aw, hell,” but Miller may have said it best.

But I hadn’t even been sure of the April release in the first place, so I guess I’m not that upset.

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Another April down the tubes.

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This is horrible news for me, i’m looking more forward to the Serenity trailer than i am for then entire Revenge of the Sith movie…Five more months to rely of the Firefly DVDs for my fix, darn it all!

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Sadness.

I was just thinking about Serenity earlier this morning.

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So what you’re saying is that I need the Serenity to accept the delayed openings I cannot change, the Courage to watch the DVD’s I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference?

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For your edification, Adam Baldwin posts a couple of times in this thread (starting at post number 221) about the new date. He talks about how he ran into Joss and chatted about it earlier today (yes, today: ain’t the Web amazing?), and in general he seems to think it’ll be a net positive. Mostly because they can pimp the movie by attaching the trailer to all the big summer titles, instead of relying on spring television ads.

Still bummed.

Gonna go home and watch “Objects in Space” tonight for the whatever-th time.

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April is the cruelest month, after all.

I’m disappointed, but I hope Adam is right about the heavier promotion. That would be pretty great for them…

Still. :frowning:

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Does that sound right to you?

Well, look on the bright side - at least they didn’t decide to send it straight to DVD.

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In the spirit of corporate synergy, they should be able to stick a trailer in front of the new Star Wars film. That can’t do anything but help it. it’s something of a myth that there are times when films can’t do well; films usually make more in the summer for various reasons, but quality films (read: commerical) will always find their audience. It’s all about getting people to the theater on opening weekend; from then on, it’s all up to word of mouth.

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I wish it was original with me, but at least I can agree:

Grrrr, Argh!

You know, I’m older than Joss, but I’m still getting some life lessons from him. The way he announced it was classy.

Back to the DVD, too, once I get through Buffy Season 7. And then there is Angel Season 5 in Feb., I believe. And then the long dark period until Autumn. For once, it is going to be shinier in Autumn than Spring.

I just learned this week that efulgent means shiny. I’m slow sometimes, but at least I got there.

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Gee, and here I was grousing that there was too much good stuff coming out in April and May and I was going to blow my budget. Now, problem solved. I can wait until September.

I feel everybody else’s pain, though.

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Well, on a personal level, I admit I’m bummed.

But overall this delay could be a good thing. Think about it.

If they put it out in April, up against a lot of other competition, Serenity might do well. I’d like to think that it would, but you can never tell with movie audiences.

Or it might get lost in the shuffle.

But with a kind of “stand-alone” debut date, it might get the new-audience recognition that might just re-start the TV franchise.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Rupert Murdoch, seeing the box-office success of Serenity, bowling with the bloody, severed heads of the FOX programming execs which messed with and ultimately tanked Firefly.

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Incidentally, the teaser trailer for Serenity was supposed to be attached to Elektra (the Jennifer Garner action flick following on the awful Daredevil, but directed by a different guy, Rob “X-Files” Bowman) in January. I’ve been running around looking for any clue about whether this will still be the case, or if the delay means everything is delayed. Nothing yet. I invite anyone who’s interested and who has equally powerful google-fu to join the hunt.

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Jewel Staite’s blog, filled with words of reassurance.

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Another classic Sci-Fi TV show made into a movie.

Seems like it was only about a couple of years ago that I was enjoying this on FOX/TV…

;j

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I just hope people don’t take the ‘It was pushed back, so it sucks’ stance that comes up so often.

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I haven’t associated a re-scheduled release date with bad news in the past. The choice of a release date can be a delicate thing, and the powers that be want to get it just right. And if they are going to promote it more, that’s good too.

However, if they refuse to let audiences see previews, that’s a bad sign. But I doubt that will happen . . .