It's not a myth if you believe it. :)

mister0 | June 28, 02:44 CET

Sadly, I'm going to have to miss this one. I'm on a budget right now and I've already seen Serenity on the big screen seven times.

TheJoyofZeppo | June 28, 03:50 CET

I've already seen Serenity on the big screen seven times.

I'm around 40 or so. Yikes.

The One True b!X | June 28, 03:58 CET

Why do you think it's a myth bandofBuggered? I've personally heard Joss say that if it wasn't for the sales from the DVD Universal wouldn't have believed it could make any money off the movie. Did Joss lie? Do you think Universal shelled out $25 million dollars on a lark?

Just curious.

firefly4ever | June 28, 04:45 CET

firefly4ever, the movie was greenlit in June of 2003. The DVDs didn't come out until December of 2003 and no one knew how successful they were until much much later. The story about the fans and DVDs causing the movie to happen is a manufactured myth by Universal's marketing staff. It has been repeated so many times that folks accepted it as fact, but it simply isn't true no matter what Joss said or didn't say.

And the movie cost well over $40 million, not $25.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2008-06-28 02:03 ]

IrrationaliTV | June 28, 05:02 CET

I keep this on a stickie on my computer desktop:

JOSS WHEDON: "I’m privy to the essentials. Ultimately how good the DVDs sold certainly helped. But nobody ever said to me 'Ok we need a number on the DVDs before we greenlight the movie.’' I was already into the script, I was giving it to them, the timing was fortuitous and if nobody had bought the DVDs they might well have gone, 'Well gee I don’t know.' At the same time, everybody knew that nobody saw the show so we didn’t really know what a big fanbase there was.

I don’t think Universal gets enough credit. People assume they decided to do it after the DVD sales. But they’d been in it for almost a year before that. Based on the shows, the cast and the world they said 'Yeah there’s a movie in there.' ” - Joss Whedon, Interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, 9/30/05

P.R.N.

QuoterGal | June 28, 05:02 CET

Ta, QG, for getting to that before me! Mebbe I should write you songs more often! :)

I do like the myth, for what it's worth; I think it's a happy "the little guy wins" story.

BandofBuggered | June 28, 06:35 CET

Trilogy, oh Trilogy. I want my trilogy! Don't stop at one, don't stop at two , gorram it , give me three.

Pretty please?

madmolly | June 30, 08:59 CET

Ah, if wishes were horses, madmolly! Btw, sorry you couldn't make it to the screening; I even asked for you there so's I could put a name to a face.

BandofBuggered | June 30, 09:28 CET