Friday, April 27, 2007

Xena Movie FAQ #2536

Another round of questions before I dive into the stacks for my finals next week.


Will 'Football Wives' impact the movie?

There is no 'Football Wives' at the moment to impact anything. ABC is reviewing their pilots for the 2007-08 season and will make an announcement on the fall pickups and mid-season replacements in a couple of weeks.

Even if 'Wives' is picked up, Lucy has stated that it probably won't interfere with the movie.

But the problem though, is that no story (as of January 2007) exists., so it's hard for 'Wives' to impact something that does not does exist.


What can fans do?

Fans can't do anything anymore, really. The studio has extended an offer to Rob on the movie---a direct-to-DVD movie. The ball is in his court. You can write to Universal, but I'm fairly sure it's not going to work.

If 'Football Wives' is picked up and becomes a hit, wouldn't that make Lucy more bankable?

That's a misconception. Being on popular on a popular TV show (that's an ensemble piece which 'Wives' is), doesn't automatically mean $$$$ for a studio. Look at David Caruso. He left his cushy role on 'NYPD Blue' to go into film, only to turn to TV a few years later.

And it also doesn't mean that people will want to see her in other projects. It could be the success of 'Wives' is attributed to another factor. Again, it looks to be an ensemble piece which the focus point of the cast changes from week to week.

Why is the studio not doing a feature film?

There are several problems with a feature length 'Xena' movie. First is the time frame of the movie. Genre pieces are a hard sell unless there is something unique about them. '300' (which I found long and boring) appeals to a certain brand of audience, which is not, sorry to say in tune with the 'Xena' fandom.

Second, tv shows to film generally flop with or without the original cast. You lose your "fans" because of the big feel to it all. Which probably not a big problem for 'Xena' fans, because of the big production quality of the series.

Third, the story becomes an issue. If you do a post-series finale, you run the risk with having to do a lot of exposition to get the audience up to speed. Keep in mind. 90% of the audience probably will have very limited knowledge of the series.

There's a fourth factor, which is the fandom. The fandom, being as polarized as it is at times, creates a problem for the story.
  1. If you do Story A, you piss off Group B.
  2. If you do Story B, you piss off Group A.
  3. If you play devil's advocate and do Story C, you piss of sub-group A.

Everyone wants their story told their way. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You have to find the balance to keep all people happy. Which is to do story C and hope that the fans are happy with it.

To use a quote from the series (with a change or words): You got your movie, stop complaining.

Can we donate money?

No. Purely legal reasons as to why you can't send money in to help finance the movie. That would in a sense, make everyone a "producer" on the film. And we're not talking a couple of thousands of dollars here. We're talking millions and millions of dollars.

I heard that Lucy said there's a 50/50 chance of there being a movie by 2008. So there's a chance.

There's a chance to anything life. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow crossing the street, not the best example, but you get the idea. All movies have a 50/50 chance of getting filmed. It's a crap shoot.

Do you think there'll be a movie?

Honestly? No. I think that all parties involved are focusing on other interests and have moved on to other things. Do I want a movie? No. Yes. No. No, was my original feeling. Yes, for about 4 months in 2005. No since May 2005. I don't feel a movie is necessary, needed or warranted. The story ended. Better to leave it that way.

Would I see it? Probably rent it and then buy it if it was good. (Okay, that's lie... I'd probably buy it!)

What movie would I want? A classic 'Xena' story that is either set during the series time frame (but before the finale) or a story that is completely outside of the series timeframe.

That about does it for this round of FAQs addressed to me through my website.

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