Serenity Continues To Be Mistreated

Hey guys, it's Donnie...I'm just about ready to join the consensus on Joss Whedon's Serenity. I think that it's gonna kick nine kinds of ass as a film, but I think it's only going to see mediocre returns at the box office. I think that the "Can't Stop The Signal" screenings were a good way to get positive word of mouth on the street, and getting SciFi Channel to air all the original episodes of Firefly IN ORDER (something Fox never even did) along with BTS footage leading up to the movie's release on Sept. 3o is a pretty smart move as well. However, I don't think that either of these maneuvers is going to make any kind of major step towards winning over people who are unfamiliar with Firefly and are gonna be alienated against spending $400 in gas money to go watch a movie based on a TV show they've never seen before.

Universal hasn't really started it's major marketing campaign yet. I've seen the preview in theaters a few times, but I've yet to see any TV ads. Which leads us to the posters...which blow. The domestic poster is the bluish one above while the international poster was just released (below) and, as you can see, it continues the trend of sucking balls. I know that River Tam is the crucial character for the movie's plot and everything is going to kind of center around her, but you know what? My old roommate was right. She's far from the most interesting character present and she's even kind of annoying.

I don't know why this marketing campaign seems to suck so hard. You've got an outerspace western for chrissakes. You've got SO MUCH IMAGERY TO PLAY WITH it's downright mindboggling. And the best you can come up with is blue floating heads and poorly rendered figures standing on the sand? Seriously, I just don't understand these things sometimes...

For the love of all that is holy, please ignore all this shitty advertising and check out this movie on September 30th. It's gonna be really really good. (if you want it to be even better, watch Firefly on SciFi Channel Friday nights @ 7pm. Or go buy the DVD set. It's only one season and it's really good.)