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Let's discuss the Box Office: Chud and Joss himself!
Devin Faraci from Chud vs. Joss Whedon, they kinda argue online about the Box Office, the fans and the movie! It is in the form of 3 mesages. |
REQUIEM FOR THE BROWNCOATS
10.02.05
By Devin Faraci
 It’s like the battle of Serenity Valley all over again. The numbers are in and the Browncoats lost – Joss Whedon’s Serenity underperformed at the box office this weekend in a pretty big way, making it incredibly unlikely that there will ever be a sequel.
Across America something under 1 million fans are scratching their heads, having believed that their base was bigger and their voice was louder. In the following days they’ll begin assigning blame, trying to figure out why the movie didn’t make enough money. In the end they should just be happy that they got the film, and more than slightly ashamed that they conferred a weird group identity upon themselves.
I had long said that the film wouldn’t open. I wanted to be wrong – while Serenity isn’t one of my favorite movies of the year, and I think it’s guilty of some very lazy writing from a usually un-lazy writer, it’s the kind of movie that deserves to do well. I never connected to the whole Firefly universe the way I did to the Buffy universe, but I could appreciate the characters and some of the weird snippets that made it special. And Whedon is a guy who should get some mainstream success one of these days.
But I was right, and I think the film didn’t open for a number of reasons, and Universal, who is sure to get most of the Browncoat scorn, was the least of the movie’s problems. First of all, the name of the film is terrible. Serenity carries no meaning and evokes no imagery for the casual filmgoer. I imagine most people thought that the character of River was Serenity, and I can’t blame them for that. What should the film have been called? Beats me, but Firefly wouldn’t have worked that much better in my opinion.
The ads did suck, that much is true. But I do believe that Universal poured money into their ad buys – I couldn’t escape Serenity ads this week, and I don’t watch a lot of TV. The film had full page ads in a number of my local major papers, including the Times. The problem with Universal’s campaign is that they tried to position Serenity as a cultural phenomenon, something where the underground was bubbling up to the mainstream. And the mainstream didn’t buy it – Serenity is a geek thing, and the mainstream is picky about what geek stuff it’ll take to.
Some fans will be mystified at how well the film was reviewed in comparison to its shoddy box office. Welcome to my life. I can’t tell you how many times I see films that are great, and that great reviews, only to have them sink upon release. The fact of the matter is that the audience isn’t looking for a good movie – God knows the continued success of Flightplan proves that. But that's the story of the movies, and that's the story even around here - many a weekend has made me sad as the discussion thread for a piece of shit blockbuster gets ten times the replies as the thread for a gem of a smaller film.
In the end, though, I just don’t think this should have ever been a movie. This concept, the world of Serenity and Firefly, was custom made for TV. With 9 leads and a potentially complicated main mystery, there was too much for a two hour film. At the Serenity junket in LA a few weeks back, Whedon said that this film brought the story where the TV show would have gone. I think that a TV given 5 seasons to tell this story would have made it work. As it stands, everything is too squished in. Whedon needed to either drop his original story and come up with something more suited to a two hour film, or he needed to not worry about that story at all and just tell a rollicking tale in the Serenity/Firefly universe.
Now what? It’s over, most likely. The movie was made largely because of DVD sales of the TV show box set. Even if the movie does gangbusters on DVD, no one is making that mistake twice. The film will, most likely, make some money overseas (although I tend to think not in non-English markets) and will definitely earn a bunch on DVD, but domestic box office is generally what it’s all about. As for a return to TV, I don’t know if Whedon and company would be willing to go back after taking their shot at the majors and missing.
At the end of this weekend, I wish the Browncoats would take a moment from their finger pointing and take a long hard look at themselves and ask if their in-your-face evangelizing didn’t hurt this film more than it helped. I believe there is a huge awareness of this movie, and I believe there are many people who are predisposed to seeing scifi films who stayed home this weekend. The question has to be, “Why?” I think that more and more the actions of small, hardcore fanbases – like Trekkies and the increasingly marginalized Star Wars fruitcakes – are becoming distasteful to the more mainstream genre audience.
 Joss Whedon:
Posted: 03 Oct 2005 10:20 am
Post subject: Well. Here I am.
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So I was flouncing (that's lurking but fancier) about WHEDONESQUE (for which I have forgotten my password yet again) and I couldn't help but see the little CHUD.com hate-bomb that Devin wrote. I don't mind that he doesn't love the film, but things like "It failed in a big way" and "It's over" are about as charming -- and journalistic -- as "I was right." I am being totally realistic when I say the weekend grosses did not meet expectations -- but those expectations were based on models that don't apply to this situation because, seriously, nothing does. The industry is not calling this a failure, just a slightly soft version of a normal opening in a generally weak weekend.
Now I did meet Devin, and he's not a dumb guy. But he seems to have a real animus against you Browncoats, and that's the thing I wanted to comment on, 'cause that doesn't sit well with me. He actually blames you guys for making sci-fi fans stay away from the movie. Says you should be ashamed for having adopted a name, that you will start finger-pointing and bickering now that you've 'caused' the 'failure' of your film. He blames other things as well -- the title, the ads -- but that's fine. If one --ONE -- of you guys reads that column and takes it to heart I'll not sleep. You guys did an amazing thing this weekend -- and the exit polls showed how much you guys were out there, and how much business you dragged in with you. Not to mention everything you did for the months - sorry, YEARS -- before it opened. I'm crazy proud of you. Yes, there is an exclusionary element to some fandom that is inevitable, but this group has fought that as well or better as any, and maybe I'm a nerd, but being compared to a Trekker (or even a TrekkIE) doesn't offend me a bit.
We all know this remains an uphill battle. We all know that next weekend is crucial -- and a lot of it will rest on us. A lot will rest on the studio reaching people we can't. And factors we can't see coming. But I don't especially appreciate people calling Time of Death while I'm still operating. I don't like smug defeatism. And nobody disses the 'coats without me wading in. That's all.
The question remains: Did Early die out there in space, or did some passing ship show up at the last second? There's no answer yet, but I sure as hell know how I'd write it.
-j.
HOWDY, JOSS
10.03.05
By Devin Faraci
I find myself in a weird position this morning. It seems that my editorial from last night about the box office take of Serenity (and I think it’s important to stress here that it’s an editorial, an opinion piece) has attracted the attention of no less a luminary than Joss Whedon himself. This is sort of a weird position because I’m actually a pretty big fan of Whedon’s work – I have a “Once More With Feeling” poster framed in my living room and I made sure I got out to Los Angeles for the Serenity junket (Universal wouldn’t pay my way) because the opportunity to meet and interview the man was too much to miss out on.
Now that I’ve established something of my geek bona fides in this matter, I want to address some of the brouhaha that has arisen from the piece, and the points that Joss makes (for the text of his remarks, visit this site, or check out this thread on our message board).
 I’m not a box office expert, and Joss has access to Universal’s best number crunchers and executives, but from where I’m sitting this thing looks like it’s essentially over. Going by the standard situation, Serenity is in for a 40% drop next weekend (and that’s really generous, as films – especially genre films – have tended to drop more than that in the second weekend this past year or so), which means it’ll likely take in 6-7 million. Joss is right in that this was a soft weekend – per screen averages were weak across the board, it seems – but I don’t know if that’s due to some exterior force or just people didn’t see anything they wanted to go to the movies for this weekend. The month of September certainly wasn’t that soft a month, even with a couple of hurricanes being a major outside force that could have affected box office.
Again, I’m no expert, but it looks like 30 million is where this thing might come to a rest. If I’m right that’s too bad, as I said in the original editorial. The film deserves to be a success. I have nit-picky issues with it, but I gave it an 8 out of 10 in my review, and I stand by the fact that it’s as good a sci-fi adventure film as we’ve seen in a long while.
The thing that really stuck in Joss’ craw, though, was my dismissal of the Browncoats. He doesn’t cotton to me laying the blame for the film’s weak take at their feet. I wouldn’t cotton to that either, if I had done that. I do wonder why the film couldn’t bring out a genre core audience (the people who probably helped the just as hard to market Hellboy to a 23 million dollar opening weekend – now some of that may have been release date, to be fair. I am becoming a believer lately in the idea that the traditional “time of year” ghettoes don’t apply anymore – look at how strong January and February have suddenly become – but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an aspect of that at play in Hellboy’s modest success), and the thing I kept returning to in my head is that the “Browncoats” are seen, by many other genre fans, as overzealous.
There’s no way to quantify that. It’s a purely speculative thing on my part, based on talking to people and visiting other internet forums. And I base it partially on the fact that nobody likes an evangelizer. Nobody wants to invite the Jehova’s Witnesses in to bullshit when they come a-knockin’. You want those people off your doorstep, and ASAP.
And further, I can tell you as a passionate Buffy and Angel fan and defender that there is a sizeable portion of the fandom that just reacts incredibly negatively to Joss and his works. I have taken a tremendous amount of guff for my unabashed love of those two shows (including lots of homophobic emails, weirdly), and it’s often from people who have never seen the programs. Hey, it happens, and fandom’s a weird place at best.
Again, it’s not the scientific method, but those are the factors that came into my opinion that the Browncoats kept the core genre audience from seeing the film this weekend. (And in fairness, someone asked me just how big that core genre audience is, and I have to admit I don’t know. I do feel like it’s bigger than 10 million dollars, though) That has nothing to do with the mainstream’s reception of the film, and that’s important to note. And it’s important to note that I don’t necessarily think there was some angry “To hell with the Browncoats!” revolt in the wider fandom. I think there may very well have just been a fatigue. After the preview screenings months ago, and the interim attention from those fans, Serenity felt like a movie that had already happened.
As for the idea that I don’t like the very concept of the Browncoats – guilty as charged! I don’t like any self-identifying pop-cultural group. I find it bizarre and troubling. Trekkies make me feel creeped out, and that was before seeing the excellent documentary about the phenomenon. I am a fan of Buffy and Angel, but I wouldn’t include myself in a fan group. I love Lost and watch it religiously, but I wouldn’t consider myself a Lostie. I don’t like to categorize myself by my musical tastes or my reading material or the sneakers I wear. The desire to be included in a group, the desire to become part of a big pop cultural movement like that – I don’t get it. And I sort of feel like it’s something Mal Reynolds would look upon with a raised eyebrow as well, but then I didn’t create the guy.
Finally, Joss worries that the Browncoats will take to heart the few sentences in my editorial that ask them to look into the mirror and ask if they helped or hurt this film in the genre audience. Do the Browncoats need this pat on the head? We’re all grown ups, more or less – does the opinion of one guy (the poorly written and barely properly spelled opinion of one guy, no less) have the ability to wound that badly? Looking at my inbox, and reading over the replies at Whedonesque, and seeing Joss’ response, I guess the answer is yes. My intention wasn’t to wound but to call attention to how marginalizing rabid fanbases can be.
Joss, thanks for the concession that I’m not a dumb guy, and I’m sorry that the big damn movie didn’t open to the numbers it deserved. You seem trapped in this place where your fans are loyal to the frightening extreme and the media loves you, but the mainstream hasn’t figured it out quite yet. I do hope they wake up, and I do hope that next week I’m writing an editorial eating every single one of these words, as Serenity’s word of mouth causes the film to buck all normal box office trends. I like a happy ending as much as the next guy, and I think this property and its creator deserve it.
| | [by roadi (Chud / Browncoats) ] [0 comments]
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