We are of course still awaiting the much promised second wave of screenings and what kind of money they will produce for the BDM.

Waiting for what???

crossoverman | October 24, 10:51 CET

So Australia is the first market where we beat Chronicles of Riddick and all other markets look promising aswell. The quest for a $57 million+ abroad has begun in style.

Djungelurban | October 24, 11:51 CET

There is a second wave of screenings which will start in the next week or two, where all the independent and inner country cinemas will be getting the BDM in Australia.

nixygirl | October 24, 11:54 CET

>So Australia is the first market where we beat Chronicles of Riddick and all other markets look promising aswell. The quest for a $57 million+ abroad has begun in style.

Not so much, Djungelurban.. I think you've missed the news over the weekend that UIP are dropping the movie in some other countries.

[ edited by gossi on 2005-10-24 10:33 ]

gossi | October 24, 12:31 CET

The list of second run outlets for NSW QLD and WA is now available at Serenityoz.

purplehazel | October 24, 13:07 CET

No gossi, I read that too and while that is a serious bump in the road, those market would have generated 2 million tops and the other market seems to compensate for that. OK, maybe "in style" was a bit too optimistic but atleast it's looking pretty good.

Djungelurban | October 24, 13:35 CET

Djungelurban, I'm pretty sure it's more areas than that.. I'm trying to clarify today, it's quite hard as not everybody at UIP knows what the other areas are doing unfortunately. It'll probably take a few days to become clear, although we should know what Germanys plans are later today - they will set the benchmark for the rest of the openings I think.

gossi | October 24, 13:41 CET

Fingers crossed that Germany keep it!!!
Also ask and you shall recieve. Notice how quickly UIP put up the second wave screening? Looks like they're still lurking!
I don't care what anyone says UIP in Oz have been absolutely fantastic and worked their behinds off for us fans. I love them for that!

nixygirl | October 24, 14:02 CET

UIP Germany *ARE* keeping it. I've just had two emails from people who called UIP Germany directly, and it looks like I was completely wrong - they still plan the full release. This is a great sign, it looks like only the smaller countries are pulling out (although obviously I feel sorry for fans in those smaller countries!).

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Serenity lately, and one thing is for sure: in all these countries it opens, the same thing happens; it drops about 50% the 2nd week, and keeps dropping.

You can blame the marketing all you like (I don't think the trailers were great), but the fact is the movie just doesn't do that great with the general public. Certainly, there is some word of mouth (the midweek UK figures were impressive) but not enough unfortunately.

UIP UK and Oz were both fantastic with the fans I think (I mean, beers with Joss, hello?). It was by no means a standard film launch here or in Australia, I'm not sure it'll ever be repeated, and it was great experiencing that.


ETA: For anybody interested, the UK dropped from 355 to 200 screens this weekend, and finished 11th. Spin wise, it did well per screen compared to the competition... But the screen droppings for family friendly films in the UK will kill this off.

[ edited by gossi on 2005-10-24 12:32 ]

gossi | October 24, 14:28 CET

WOOT!! Great news there Gossi! I totally agree with you on UK and Oz UIP. They totally ROCK!

nixygirl | October 24, 14:41 CET

Yesss. Great news for our German friends! And great news for the rest of us, too. Here's hoping Serenity won't be dropped from other European or international countries.

GVH | October 24, 15:17 CET

Gossi, Sorry, but here in the NYC Metro area the general public has never heard of this movie. I am surrounded by the general public at work everyday and trying to talk up a movie like this when they have never heard of it through advertising is a lost cause. Everybody just looks at you with a confused look, shruggs and says, "Never heard of it."

One of the many things I noticed that I have not said before is that the TV ads blended into the background. The only reason I noticed them was because I would suddenly realize one of the BDH was on the screen. That was what caught my attention. If that was all that caught my attention, what was there to catch the attention of the general public who have no idea who these characters/actors are?

After that I started noticing how other movie ads made my mind tune in. There was something different about them that made them stand out from the other commercials. Serenity ads did not do that.

The other thing was that they did not advertise to the general public. They advertised to a very specific group. IMHO the general public quite honestly is not going to go to a movie based on the opinion of that group unless it has reinforcement some other way. Ads using mainstream reviewer's comments after it opened might have helped, but there was no advertising from what I saw after it opened .

Oh, and I never did see a poster in real life...at all. Even in the two theaters I saw the BDM in. (sigh)

newcj | October 24, 15:20 CET

newcj - welcome to the world of a sci-fi genre canceled TV show movie with a small budget and no stars. Nobody is going to pay attention to it, especially when it has no simple premise and 9 main characters.

The movie had 0 movie posters in bus stations here, or on the streets - the only posters were on the tube in London. Very few TV adverts at all (nothing like the US adverts). And it opened #1.

The advertising was certainly confused across the board, but the movie was also confused. A great movie, but a marketing persons nightmare.

[ edited by gossi on 2005-10-24 13:56 ]

gossi | October 24, 15:54 CET

I agree that it was an extremely difficult movie to market. That was one reason I generally kept my mouth shut with only an occasional mention that I was not thrilled with the trailers or the poster. I figured they must have something up their sleeves.

Now I feel like they were unfocused and never had any plan to try to get the mainstream into the theaters. It reminded me of when I play a game like tetrus (Yes, I'm old. I've admitted that already.)If I make a decision and then suddenly realize that there was a better one and I try to switch, then realize it is too late and try to switch back, I end up with neither good choice and usually something really bad.

I have no idea what happened with the marketing, other than it did not catch anyone's attention, there was no follow-up and it seemed to be aimed at people who were already going to go see it. I am sure various people did what they thought best for the movie, but in a lot of cases it reflected a very narrow view of its appeal.

I also realize the possibilities for the marketing were limited because of everything already mentioned. I'm not sure whether they realized the range of demographics that would like the movie, or wether they simply did not care. Maybe they were actually trying to leave room for people outside the males 15 to 40 (or whatever) and that is why the ads were so...uninspired. I don't know. What I do know is that everytime something came out and I watched it or saw it, my heart sank because IMO it did not capture the movie.

newcj | October 24, 20:17 CET

I think another lesson of this is that one or two weeks is not enough time to build word of mouth -- especially unsupported by media (TV/radio interviews, mainstream newspaper/magazine articles). More hindsight here -- but perhaps a few more free screenings, sneak previews specifically for non-fans would have been in order.

bobster | October 24, 20:33 CET

There's a fascinating read on the fff.net board from a marketing specialist with no film background but who knows much about how to get the most out of a project dollar and how much of a real chance there is for Serenity and spinoffs.

Go here to read Tiredoldreaver's primer

Drifter | October 24, 22:28 CET

There is a second wave of screenings which will start in the next week or two, where all the independent and inner country cinemas will be getting the BDM in Australia.

So that should rustle up, what, a few hundred bucks?

crossoverman | October 25, 11:09 CET