Subj : Re: Serentiy Garners $10.1M weekend
To   : alt.tv.farscape
From : Ken McElhaney
Date : Mon Oct 03 2005 13:25:43

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape


Steve Brooks wrote:
> Trouble wrote:
> > http://www.boxofficeguru.com/weekend.htm
> >
> > "Generating the best opening among all the new films was the science
> > fiction adventure Serenity with an estimated $10.1M. Launching
> > moderately in 2,188 locations, the PG-13 film averaged a respectable
> > $4,635 for Universal. Directed by Joss Whedon, Serenity connected
> > with a sci-fi fan base of those who followed Whedon's short-lived Fox
> > television series Firefly. However, the crowd was not big enough to
> > push the film to impressive heights. The $39M production appealed to
> > an adult male audience with 52% of the crowd being age 30 and older
> > and a very high 61% being men. Exit polls were encouraging as 88% of
> > those polled marked the space flick "excellent" or "very good." As
> > expected for a sci-fi flick, Serenity was the only picture in the top
> > ten to see Saturday sales fall from Friday."
> >
> > 10.1 of 39 in one weekend... they're sure to make some of that back on
> > DVD sales.
> >
> > Also note the parts on the site about historic box office lows, bad
> > quarters year over year etc... and in that context our movie is doing
> > pretty well.
> >
> > It was only showing on one screen at the theater where I went, and it
> > was packed.
>
> It's great that a $39M SF movie can gross a third of its production costs on
> the first weekend. Maybe we'll get a year or two where some of the suits in
> Hollywood get their heads round the idea that a good script is as valuable
> as expensive SFX and even more expensive star actors when it comes to
> turning a profit. Hell, maybe JMS will get another chance to make TMoS.

There's an interesting program on AMC called "Sunday Morning Shootout"
where a lot of Hollywood brass shows up to get interviewed.  A few
weeks ago they had a duo formerly from Sony pictures who stated that
Hollywood wasn't interested in "cheap" movies ("Serenity" would
qualify) because they can only generate tens of millions of dollars.  A
more expensive pic (like "Spiderman 2") can generate hundreds of
millions of dollars. Therefore, for "cheaper" films like "Serenity" to
change the Hollywood mindset, it's going to have to make over $100
domestic. And while you can argue "DVD rentals/sales" bit, those are
generally proportional to the theatre take (i.e. the more the movie
makes at the box office, the more DVDs it will sell).

Now, I don't agree with, nor do I wish to argue, the pros 'n cons of
the current Hollywood mindset.  However, until things change potential
pics like a "Farscape" movie are probably a few years away at best.  It
would've helped had "Serenity" pulled in a bigger take or at least beat
"Flightplan", a film that's gotten a mixture of reviews.

Another problem is that Hollywood has gotten burned from overfinacing
some bigtime sci-fi flicks and are now more judicious with the mula
("The Chronicles of Riddick" was pointed out as the big mistake).  So,
for all you "Farscape" fanatics, buy up those DVDs.  

Ken

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