it's impossible to ignore you

[dtissagirl]

A couple of people on my flist have just discovered that UIP pulled Serenity from several international markets, I might as well copy and paste what I said about it somewhere else.

Comments

[amezri]

I'm a HUGE Firefly and Serenity fan. Having said that, I totally agree with your analysis. I have friends who are all still very hopeful Serenity will do well (and maybe in the long run it might on DVD), but in the eyes of the Studio, it was a failure.

To use your X-Files example, by the time the film rolled around, the series had been on air and syndication for a while and had enough buzz that people who didn't watch the show at least were aware it was around. Firefly didn't even have that. Combined with crappy marketing, it was sort doomed from the start.

I think the really, really sad part is that many fans have gone to see the film 3 or 4 times and... those are still the numbers.

Meh. At least we got one movie.

[dtissagirl]

I'm pretty sure it can have profitable DVD sales, but yes, for Universal, it WAS a failure.

Actually, I didn't mention it before, but it kind of hurt the movie that it was made by Universal and not FOX. 'Cause Universal couldn't care less about Firefly. FOX, OTOH, could've done something like 5 months of straight Firefly reruns prior to the movie. Or give away movie tickets with the DVDs -- that's some incredible mouth-to-mouth marketing.

[paratti]

Aren't Fox the big winners in all this? They'll have shifted piles of Firefly DVDs at marginal cost, all on Universal's marketing money and cast and fan effort.

[dtissagirl]

Yeah, FOX profited on a new *significant* rise-up of the Firefly DVD sales [they even got to the Top 10 list at Amazon!] without having to spend a single penny to market it.

I keep wondering why the hell didn't Universal try to get a *distribution* deal with FOX. They do this kind of shit all the time for international markets, but the one time it would actually be perfect, they let it pass. And the movie has just been pulled of another bunch of markets this week. It's really a shame.

[ex_stormwin]

*nods*

This is an excellent post, and I agree with a lot of your points. It also didn't help from a marketing perspective that I only started seeing commericals for the movie a week before its release. Most other movies here in the states will promote for up to a month beforehand.

I'm thinking DVDs is where the test of relative success for the movie will lie.

[dtissagirl]

Yes, the marketing was kinda lame. It's funny -- some of the marketing ideas were great: the preview screenings, those viral marketing videos, songs available for purchase online, etc. But fact is all of it only reached fandom -- which was gonna watch the movie regardless. Regular Joe didn't hear a pip about the movie.

[ex_stormwin]

And really, Regular Joe wasn't going to see it unless he had a fanboy/fangirl friend. My one friend probably wouldn't have seen it had his BF and I not been fans, and same goes for my BF and his seeing it :P

[_jems_]

I hadn't even heard that because I, of course, stay away from any and all Serenity-related posts. So I went to check, and of course it's been pulled from theaters here. *headdesk

[protoainsley]

Oh, no! I've been looking forward to hearing your reaction to finally seeing it on the big screen. Bad UIP! Bad!

I thought the TV commercials were really, really bad, particularly from the POV of someone with no idea about the 'verse. Having seen the movie twice, I still don't see how they relate to the appeal of the movie at all. But it could be that it appeals to me on a different level than most people.

Perhaps it's because I don't watch the right shows, but I saw almost no marketing at all. I saw commercials twice, once after the movie was released.

[dtissagirl]

Someone from Universal should have sat Joss and the cast down and told them to STFU about how Firefly had been an amazing experience and how it was such a shame that it was cancelled blah-dee-dah.

And it's not that I don't agree with them -- because I do very much so, but that's not the way to market a movie.

As for the DVD, well, it's official now that it's coming out December 20 in the U.S. I'm assuming it won't be that long to reach international markets, because UIP has already spent money to make posters, subtitle trailers, all that stuff -- they gotta use it somehow, and I bet it'll be to promote DVD sales.

[xsomethingbluex]

I thought something like this had happened. I was planning on seeing Serenity again last week, but its been pulled from our local cinema after barely three weeks :(

I completely agree with you though, damn shame. It opened here in the UK at no. 1 in our charts... For completely selfish reasons, I hope the DVD comes out so I can buy it :P

[dtissagirl]

Well, the DVD is a go for the U.S market, and very soon: it'll be released December 20. I think it won't be much longer for international markets -- my guess would be early next year.

[muzakgurrl]

Siiigh. It's all so true. Thanks for explaining it in all the technical terms. *g*

I especially agree with you that the marketing was very, very bad. Not only was it a bad idea to tie the movie to the canceled show, but the previews themselves weren't so hot either. When I saw the preview, the only parts in it that really got me excited for the movie were moments with the characters, because I already *knew* the characters. Every time I watched it, I was afraid that all non-fans would just think "eh, weird space movie." So...bad, Universal! Bad dog.

[dtissagirl]

It's almost as if they were somehow convinced that *fandom* would get enough people to see the movie. Which I can't say is what happened exactly, but I do have a feeling that at least Joss believed in it [I got that from what the little video of him they showed before the movie] -- that fandom could somehow rally people to see Serenity.

Obviously, it didn't happen -- as it shouldn't. Mouth to mouth only works for the *second* wave of movie goers. It's kind of naive to believe that it will work as the first.