Whedonesque : Comments on 8640 : UIP Mexico drop Serenity.

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October 29 2005

UIP Mexico drop Serenity. Just in case there are any fans in that area. It was due for release next Friday.

gossi | Firefly&Serenity | 00:29 CET | 25 comments total | tags: firefly, serenity

Oh man, and they obviously still plan to release Doom. This sucks. Since when do computer games make good or successful movies? Don't movie executives ever learn? Sigh.

I wonder if I should stop reading any Whedon-related stuff on the net for a while :-/ It already unnerved me somewhat today that the FSK (Germanys film classification board) apparently wanted to categorize the Firefly DVD box as unrated. In Germany this means the DVDs couldn't have been sold over mail order. Luckily FOX filed an objection and it now got a "for ages 16 and up" rating.

And, hey it's always you bringing the bad news, gossi. Do you find some kind of perverse pleasure in this? ;)

PowerToThePeople | October 29, 01:31 CET

Nah, gossi just has ins at Uni. I imagine him drunk and crying as he posts stuff like this :)

zeitgeist | October 29, 01:33 CET

Well, drunk anyway. And maybe dancing in sorrow. ;-)

Lioness | October 29, 01:34 CET

Listening to country music.

ringworm | October 29, 01:40 CET

That would explain the crying. I mean in the Patsy Cline sorta way...

zeitgeist | October 29, 01:42 CET

I'm quite happy today, actually. I don't know why. But I do have beer. Maybe some connection.

ETA: It all started as good news, but it's quickly gone down hill. I've gone from Jane Espenson to Tim Minear in a matter of months...

[ edited by gossi on 2005-10-28 23:48 ]

gossi | October 29, 01:47 CET

No, no no, you mean you've gone from Jane to Marti ;)

zeitgeist | October 29, 01:49 CET

Low blow.

Christopher | October 29, 01:52 CET

Oh man. It's Doom and gloom.
(sorry, slapping myself now)

nixygirl | October 29, 01:57 CET

The German speaking region of the Swiss is also dropping the film. :( A friend of me got the email today, which can be found here

(Its in german though,just scroll down )

Here is hoping that not another country will follow!

Kessie | October 29, 02:37 CET

I didn't think that scene in Serenity where Mal lights a cigar using a burning Mexican flag would go over too well...

Serapion | October 29, 02:45 CET

Nono, that's the American flag you're thinking of Serapion ;)

gossi | October 29, 02:48 CET

Why is Doom released and Serenity not? Considering it's $60 million budget, Doom is not doing any better than Serenity.

vampire dan | October 29, 03:13 CET

This one stings. I wanted to see the film take in $40 worldwide and I thought it was attainable. Mexico contributed $1.5 million to Riddick. Italy and Germany are the big ones left.

IMMORTAL | October 29, 03:14 CET

I suspect Doom is being shown because of "The Rock", ex-wrestler and action hero. He's a bigger name than the Serenity cast. Sad, but true. That's why his movie is getting a boost. It's all about "known" actors rather than taking a chance on something new.

impalergeneral | October 29, 03:20 CET

Wow...part of North America is dropping the film?

Bad times, people. This whole year has been some sort of box office apocalypse, and Serenity doing this poorly and getting most of its international release dates dropped feels like some sort of Bizarro Hell.

UnpluggedCrazy | October 29, 06:06 CET

Doom is awful because of The Rock. He is not an actor, just a former wrestler. I really do not like him.

Serenity has so much more depth to it and originality - and yeah, the cast can actually act. It just annoys me how a lot of people would prefer to see a piece of drivel like Doom - which is based on a stupid video game - than an original film with a great story, interesting characters and unique premise.

Thomas | October 29, 06:29 CET

Doom is actually a really fun and interesting series of video games and John Carmack (founder, id software) is one of the technical visionaries of our times - he is also one of the reasons that the technology for doing sfx for movies like Serenity is so much cheaper and as advanced as it is. I do tend to agree that a Doom movie is fairly silly, however. John runs an aeronautics corporation for (Armadillo Aerospace) fun in his spare time.

zeitgeist | October 29, 06:50 CET

On a lighter note (not that aeronautics aint dandy),
UIP have released the final B.O figures for the 4th week in Oz. Not too shabby. We did better than the US per capita and apparently slightly btter than the UK, maybe just.

nixygirl | October 29, 07:24 CET

I was a little overzealous in calling the game stupid - but the movie execs are for sure. I mean, what movie based on a video game has ever really worked?

Thomas | October 29, 07:44 CET

When do computer games make good or successful movies? Don't movie executives ever learn? Sigh.

Doom is actually pulling in $15 million. That's pretty much what we'd been hoping for Serenity. It's a success. Sad as it may be, the movie executives are probably (financially) making the right decision.

[ edited by Dym on 2005-10-29 06:03 ]

Dym | October 29, 08:01 CET

Yeah, I guess Doom exemplifies the difference between a movie and a film - Doom is the former, whilst Serenity is definately the latter.

[ edited by Thomas on 2005-10-29 06:26 ]

Thomas | October 29, 08:25 CET

Doom actually isn't doing all that well, Dym. $15 million opening weekend might be good for the BDM, but Serenity only cost $39 million to make. Doom, on the other hand, cost $60 million. So, it's in somewhat worse shape than Serenity financially as well as creatively.

StakeTheLurk | October 29, 09:48 CET

And, for the record, here's why DOOM sucks: based on a super cool first person shooter game, the final battle is a moment of hand to hand combat. And anyone who's ever played Doom knows that, short whacking with your mag flashlight, hand to hand combat is the equivalent of failure. That, and, well, there's the Rock and no real directing or acting. Mr Aargh and I did enjoy, however, our running commentary about the movie.

This Mexico news doesn't make me happy. Oh no it doesn't. I will, however, maintain my mostly positive stance on the movie. And all of these threads make me want to see it again. And again. And again.

GrrrAargh | October 29, 18:21 CET

What I don't get is:

a) the per screen average is comparable to that of Wallace and Gromit, and actually among the first 12 in the top 18. So there are 6 pictures ahead of Serenity with a lower screen average.

b) except for Flightplan and History of violence Serenity's BO is the highest of those films released longer than two weeks.

Do the movie executives and theatre managers not see that? Why were so many theatres dropped, when it's actually doing well in comparision?

Harpy | October 29, 22:20 CET

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