Serenity Ressurection?

Despite some disappointing box office figures – it didn’t do too bad, but disappointing performances in some countries led to others cancelling its theatrical outing altogether – the brilliant “Serenity” looks set to spawn a sequel.

That’s the good news. The bad news? It won’t be in 35mm.

According to IGN FilmForce, Joss Whedon’s space-serial might continue as a telemovie series, with “Serenity 2” going straight to the tube – the SciFi Channel, in fact.
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The film almost broke even at the box office. The last I heard it hadn't quite made the $40 mill it needed to cover cost. The DVD sales will bring it over the top I'm sure, but it's still disappointing to most fans to say the least. I confess to seeing it twice myself....

The Firefly series was cancelled before it's prime. I never bothered to watch the series myself, only because at the time I could never seem to find myself watching TV when the darn thing was on. I was only initiated to the Firefly series myself about a year back by a friend. When the DVD of the Firefly series sold like nuts, I'm sure it was a no brainer to those idiots at FOX that they had screwed up. Obviously there was a market for this stuff. Hence the Serenity movie. A movie that had it all going for itself - just like the Firefly series did.

So what happened? My guess is that most people that were likely to watch Serenity are no longer regular movie goers.

The theatre business is dying. Every year they struggle. The truth is that the advent of DVD players has changed the market. By selling itself as a "movie theatre experience in the comfort of your own home" DVD players have changed the dynamic of cinema. Many wait for the movie to come out on DVD to see it, because it's cheaper, and the experience is exactly the same.

In short there is nothing unique about the movie going experience anymore. Theatre execs tried to stem the tide by distinguishing themselves a few years ago. They added arcades and high quality restaurants in theatres with the hope that these efforts would make the movie going experience unique again... Even I have to admit being taken by the effort. There is one theatre in Toronto that I go to just for the experience... All of this has done nothing in the end to stem the tide though.

Serenity shouldn't be wasting it's time with TV. If anything Firefly's high DVD sales that spurred it's creation into the Serenity movie should be taken as a sign to movie execs and Joss Whedon himself... A Serenity sequel should go directly on DVD release.