Watch this movie (Serenity)
As some of you may know, I am a huge FireFly fan and I loved the movie (Serenity). For those of you who haven't watched Serenity yet, here's a link for the first 9 minutes of the movie. I hope that it will pique your interest. And if you can't find anybody to go to the theatre with you, I'm not adverse to seeing it for a second time.
Although I've been bursting at the seems for a while, wanting to chat somebody up about the movie, I will continue to refrain from posting any spoilers on this blog. Call me up or msg me if you want to talk Serenity, because I certainly do. (I'm like a leaf in the wind... [sniff])
I will however raise some issues I have with the marketing of this movie. Put quite plainly, it sucked.
Edit: Moved rant to comments section. I don't like long posts. And no, I'm not subtley trying to get people to post comments; I'm trying to artificially increase my site hit numbers :P
So to end this overly long post, watch this movie. I guarentee it's better than the trailer implies. Previous knowledge of the tv show is not required for enjoyment, although it would make certain scenes more powerful.
1 comment:
Here's what I cut out from my original post:
For a fan such as myself, the trailer filled me with all kinds of joy, but I can see how it does little to convince people unfamiliar with the brand to give it a chance.
Spaceships, strange girl with super powers, cheeky one liners. Doesn't really stand out much from other sci-fi action films does it? The one-liners and catch phrases used on promotional materials is something I had a particular beef with.
"I aim to misbehave"? Oh please. Heard on its own, it's such a cheesy one liner that is made even more rediculous by the serious delivery. However, when viewed in the context of the movie and the revelation that occurs immediately prior to said quote, the subtext makes the line quite clever and effective.
"You can't stop the signal"? It doesn't make sense in the confines of the trailer, let alone the entire franchise. While the first line (misbehave) can be derived from knowledge of the television series if you think about it hard enough, this line (signal) has no anchoring reference in the trailer, tv show, or comic book mini-series. Again, in the context of the movie, this line makes sense. But the way it is presented in promo materials makes it seem so disjointed from everything else.
Both of these lines will make sense AFTER you see the movie, as you gain the proper subtext. However, this depth is not conveyed in the trailer.
So now you may say that they were promoting this movie just to the fans, that's why it may not be as appealing to people unfamiliar with the franchise.
I say if that's what the marketers were thinking, they're fucking idiots.
This is a movie based on a tv show that, while a critical success, was cancelled three years ago due to low ratings. Do you really think there's enough of an interest there to sustain a $40 million hollywood production? Sure, powerful DVD sales prompted the green-light for this movie, but the movie doesn't even share the same name with the tv show due to licensing issues.
Even though this is a "small budget" movie, for it to be a box office success you NEED the interest and acceptance of the mainstream public, which is mostly unaware of this franchise.
With an opening weekend of $10 million, the only way it looks like this movie is going to be a commercial success is through strong word-of-mouth causing continual, if not overwelming, ticket sales.
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