There’s lots of Firefly fans on the SDMB, so I thought I’d post a little news that I’ve dredged up on the net tonight:
First, the TV series box set is being re-issued in High Definition. That’ll be fantastic. But it also says that Universal may not be finished with this franchise. The box office receipts for Serenity weren’t great, but it’s made a bundle on DVD. From this link:
Also, there seems to be a web site claiming to be run by a production company and trying to get a second season of direct-to-video Firefly: Firefly Season 2.
Fair warning, no one seems to know who these guys are, so it could be anything from a fan’s wishful fantasy to a phishing scheme or something. But it’s well done.
For someone to decide to reinvest in mastering and packaging a new box set, it must be making plenty of coin. Couple that with the movie breaking even or making a little profit, and there may be life in the franchise yet.
Sam, my good friend (outside of GD and the Pit ), I’ll jump to the conclusion that I know some of those people, but what can it hurt to respond to their survey if it helps? I’ll ask around.
Like you, I discovered the series to late and recently bought the box set following my intro through Serenity
Great! And I kick myself knowing that this was on and I never knew about it! I am up to the third episode myself.
Should I mention that Adam Baldwin’s shooting scripts, signed by everybody including Joss, are currently being auctioned off on ebay as a charity fundraiser? Go to www.californiabrowncoats.org for links to the auctions and a mission statement.
A slight correction to my first post - I thought it was the box set being re-released, but apparently the series has actually be re-masterd in Hi-Def to play on UHD, Universal’s HD channel. Whether this means a new HD box set is unclear - however, Serenity was one of the first movies to be released in HD, which also shows some extra studio support for the franchise.
Interesting that the movie has made 9 million in DVD rentals, and has sold 2 million copies. According to the one site, the studio makes about $12 per copy of a new release, so if that’s accurate, the studio made over 30 million bucks just in DVD sales and rentals of the movie, and it’s still selling well. They could actually recoup their production costs just in DVD sales and rentals. Add in the 5 million or so they made with the TV rights, and I’m sure suits somewhere are thinking, “Y’know, if this franchise can cover our costs just in DVD sales, the risk to us of running another sequel is pretty low, and we’ve got a chance to build another blockbuster franchise like Star Trek.”
At least, that’s what I’d be thinking if I were a suit at Universal.
If you were a suit at Universal, we wouldn’t be discussing this. Serenity would have already been green-lighted for two sequels, and the cast and writer/director locked in for a large piece of the gross.
The fact that they make crap like (insert your least favorite series here) and not our crap is beyond me!
Every time I see a preview for something horrendous, like Little Man or Cheaper by the Dozen 2 I have to complain about the injustice of it all. My poor husband, not to mention anyone in my immediate vicinity, suffers from the fallout of this on a regular basis.
As far as Firefly season 2 goes, last I heard of it the people behind this movement did not have the backing of The Big Man. In fact, Joss hadn’t even been contacted about it at all, even though it was stated on the website that they had Whedon’s backing. As much as I would like to see more Firefly (and I would give significant portions of my anatomy to have even a complete first season) I don’t think we’ll get it this way.
In the meantime, thank your deity of choice for Battlestar Galactica. At least there’s some quality sci-fi work out there…
I thought Whedon was completely done with Firefly?
I could imagine that he was pretty sick of all the effort it costs to get Serenity made and the continuous fights with the big wigs.
At least I got that impression from his intro to the Serenity DVD.
Does anybody have any idea what he is up to these days?
He’s got his hands in a few pies. His big project is writing and directing Wonder Woman for Warner Brothers, he’s still working on the script, last I heard. He’s also writing Astonishing X-Men for Marvel Comics. And there’s another horror film he’s committed to make, but I haven’t heard much about that.
), I’ll jump to the conclusion that I know some of those people, but what can it hurt to respond to their survey if it helps? I’ll ask around.