Bob:
Well, it’s Veronica Mars Week here at CliqueClack, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the possibility of a Veronica Mars movie. My feelings, which are bound to be unpopular, are ambivalent at best. I liked the show. Would I like to see the characters again? Yeah, I would. I think it would be fun to see where these characters are today and what they are up to. A movie coming right on the heels of the show probably would have been a bad decision, but now a good amount of time has passed. Veronica and crew would be out of college and the story could be taken in just about any direction. It has the potential to be really, really awesome.
When I put on the hat of a movie studio, though, I just don’t get why they would make a movie. While it was on television, the show didn’t get amazing ratings. Each season averaged about 2.5 million viewers per episode. While those are good numbers for a little TV network, it would represent a flop of a movie. Sure, other folks would check out the movie too, but I just can’t get upset at studios for not wanting to finance the film. As much as I’d like to see it, I just don’t think the audience is there to warrant it.
Can you change my mind? Can you talk me into why a Veronica Mars movie would be the best idea ever?
Debbie:
I’m not sure I can because your reasoning is sound, but I’ll use my favorite small-to-big-screen example: Serenity. Here’s where my unpopular feelings come in — I really liked the series Firefly, but I honestly think that what Joss did on the big screen with Serenity was awesome and it served to elevate the series for me. In other words, I like Firefly better now because of Serenity. Not the popular opinion, I know.
Taking that analogy to the Veronica Mars movie possibility, it might be worth doing if it was low budget enough so that new viewers would go back and find out what the series is all about. DVD sales forever…. That certainly happened for Firefly and it was a win-win all around. Now, maybe it wouldn’t function the same way — they’d really have to market the movie well and have a hook (like a science fiction space cowboy movie for example — who wouldn’t want to see that?) to get people who didn’t watch the series to have a reason to go.
Honestly, at the end of the day, I’d be thrilled with a TV movie (or even a miniseries) instead of a big screen version of my favorite blonde P.I.
Bob:
You are absolutely wrong. Well, about one thing at least. I think the popular opinion was that Serenity was a great movie. It was certainly very well reviewed.
As for Veronica Mars, I think you’re right, a TV movie might make the most sense. Is that even more unlikely than a movie, though? It’s just a shame, really, because I think there is a large group of people who may not have seen (or even heard of) the series that I think would really, really like the movie. Who knows, crazier things have happened, maybe the movie will get made some day. With both Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas continuing to talk about it and talk about how much they want to do it, there is still reason for hope.
Debbie:
I just think that most Firefly fans found Serenity to be inferior to the series. The critics were right — a great movie.
And it would be really exciting if Veronica Mars could become one too.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Dec 15, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
Serenity is a fine movie, it’s a horrible Firefly movie, it doesn’t fit with the show, the characters were screwy.
Veronica Mars movie would work fine, but it’s too late now. Right after the show ended would have been bad, but a year or two would have worked. Now it’s just too late. Did you see Wevil on Bones? He is huge. I think the idea of the movie would have been in her senior year of college, I think that would work best. It’s just too late, the characters are just aging too quickly besides Veronica.
However they should be able to make a movie for $10 million, I mean really cheap movie and they should make their money back with DVDs and such.
I think Serenity was great, but it’s not an easy film to watch because it’s kind of heartbreaking to fans (i.e. “I’m a leaf on the wind”). I respect Joss’s choices, but it is hard to watch.
I think a TV movie would be cool. I’d love something out of the box, like a 6-episode mini season that covered their 10 year high school reunion. It may be cliched, but I can see it working. You know, someone kills Duncan and Veronica must.find.out.what.happened. It would be interesting if she and Logan were sort of together and dealt with the strain that the mystery puts on their relationship. I loved the way RT was able to integrate flashbacks into the series, so I think a skip forward could really work.
They can ALWAYS make a Veronica movie, it is NOT to late, never. Take some inovative concept of a crime related story with an a female investigator, then call Kristen Bell and call it Veronica Mars movie. She´s now adult and a cop or a private investigator, why not? If the story is good, there will not only be one movie.
Serenity ist great, the best movie I know. I generally love the parts of sadness in Joss Whedon´s storys. This is one reason what makes them great. Buffy should also have ended after Season 5, but you Americans are so addicted to happy ends (I´m German). :D
The TV series (firefly) was too slow. Nothing was revealed on each episodes that makes me want to watch. The cowboy theme didnt help. I thought it was a big mess however the movie move faster, the past/plot was revealed better, and there is actually action instead of just talk.
The trouble with using Serenity as a comparison is that it may have been a great movie (found it trite, myself), but it was a wide release that flopped badly in theaters. Domestic plus foreign totals didn’t even cover its budget, much less marketing costs. Apparently DVD sales eventually put it in the black, but it’s hardly an encouraging example for a Veronica Mars movie, which wouldn’t have the fanatical Browncoat movement supporting it.
Veronica Mars should only cost about $20 million to make, if that, that’s half of Firefly. There aren’t any real sets that are important, no CGI. It should be able to get made for cheap, even if all it turns out to be is two episodes suck together and released.
Yes, it should sell well as a direct-to-DVD movie, as the Stargate: SG-1 movies did. My point was that a theatrical release à la Serentiy would be a bad idea, though, as that movie was greenlit on the strength of its DVD sales and strong fan following, but failed to attract a wider audience. Firefly would be a cautionary tale for any studio, rather than an incentive to try to profit from another well-loved but niche TV series.