Firefly

Serenity Might Fly Again?

Loni Peristere, visual-effects supervisor for the SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that there’s hope for future flights of the cast and crew of the movie, which just came out on DVD. Director Joss Whedon-who also created the canceled Fox TV show Firefly, on which the movie is based-expected that the movie might draw the low numbers it did in its theatrical release, Peristere said in an interview. But he added that the movie’s sales on DVD, which came out on Dec. 20, are running neck-and-neck with the hit comedy Wedding Crashers, which bodes well for a possible Serenity sequel.

"We kind of expected this from our audience," Peristere said. "We did so well on [Amazon.com] with the Firefly box set and the performance of that helped us get the movie made. We wish the audience would get up and go to the theater, but it shows that they like to keep coming back and revisiting the world Joss created." Serenity made $25 million at the domestic box office after it was released Sept. 30.

Whedon and his crew are waiting to see how well the DVD numbers go before proceeding with a Serenity sequel, Peristere said. "We really hope to return to this work," he said. "We love the characters. It’s fun storytelling, and we all love using our talents. ... It all depends on Joss. He’s not giving up on the characters. He had incredible writers who had a million stories to tell, and we’re all just hanging out and seeing what the world has to give us, and given the opportunity we’ll make more."

In the meantime, fans of both show and movie can enjoy the DVD’s various extras, which include an Easter egg: a featurette about the making of the Fruity Oaty Bar commercial that appears in the film. "In the main menu, if you play around with the buttons you’ll find a featurette of the Fruity Oaty Bar," Peristere revealed. (From the main menu highlight "play," then press left, which will highlight a marker on the right side of the menu; press enter to see the featurette.) "It’s all a lot of fun," he said.