So Mr Straczynski... it's now 'after April'...

[Harvey]

JMS hasn't shown any inclination towards rebooting the series in the past. All of his attempts to play in the Babylon 5 sandbox, besides the series (television movies, series spin-offs, books, comics, short stories, proposed feature film script), have been in line with the series' continuity.

Although that doesn't say that he won't reboot the universe, to do so would be a major departure from every other time he's approached Babylon 5. This strongly suggest to me that he won't reboot the series.

In terms of appealing to the movie going audience, if a feature film carried the $100 million price tag previously mentioned, I have to agree that a movie entrenched in the continuity of the series would probably be too full of baggage to attract enough of an audience to result in profitability.

DVD sales are one thing, but a movie that needs to earn about $300 million* at the box office to break even needs to open big and have good word-of-mouth is a completely different animal.

($100 million production budget + $50 million prints and advertising budget) x 2 [accounting for distributor-exhibitor box office split]

Of course, as you say, this is all just woolgathering (good word!) until we hear the official word.

 

[Reverend]

In terms of appealing to the movie going audience, if a feature film carried the $100 million price tag previously mentioned, I have to agree that a movie entrenched in the continuity of the series would probably be too full of baggage to attract enough of an audience to result in profitability.

It really depends on the plot though, doesn't it? If the movie was an adaptation of the Centauri novels, I'd agree. That's a little too hip deep in continuity to be fair to a movie audience. However if (for the sake of argument) it's about an IPX crew uncovering some ancient First One derelict on some distant world and getting more than they bargained for then there needn't be hardly any exposition for everyone to keep up.

Hell, even a story closer to the central characters needn't be such a challenge. If for instance the main character is David Sheridan going on some adventure with the Rangers (set some time after SiL) I can't see as the series would be much of a hindrance.

Tron Legacy is, I think, a good example of continuity heavy storytelling that doesn't require one to have seen the previous movie. There's tons of connections and continuity in everything from the dialogue to the production design and soundtrack that are there for anyone who saw the original Tron to recognise but none of it should distract any first time viewers as there's sufficient exposition to fill in the blanks.

So yes, successful big budget films can be made from looooong dormant IPs using the original actors. It's possible. But as you say, it's all daydreaming at this point.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I think it's premature to comment on a B5 film's budget and or potential success and silly to compare it to anything else (even Serenity of which I do understand the want to compare it to).

 

[Harvey]

Tron Legacy is, I think, a good example of continuity heavy storytelling that doesn't require one to have seen the previous movie. There's tons of connections and continuity in everything from the dialogue to the production design and soundtrack that are there for anyone who saw the original Tron to recognise but none of it should distract any first time viewers as there's sufficient exposition to fill in the blanks.

I haven't seen the Tron Legacy yet, but I think there's something to be said for having to deal with the continuity of one (rather shallow) movie vs. five seasons of a television series with much more depth.

The David Sheridan idea is not a bad one, though. It could make for a nice standalone adventure (or a new series) that could quickly bring the audience up to speed with the universe.

It's all still speculation though, I admit... I suppose an official announcement is weeks (months?) away?

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ As Jan has said as soon as Joe has ink on contacts from the studio

 

[Jan]

I suppose an official announcement is weeks (months?) away?

On April 28, JMS posted that it would be "...at least another few weeks..."

Jan

 

[Mr Awe]

In order to publish more books (or comics), a publisher would have to approach WB and pay a hefty license fee and then find a writer to write the books. WB doesn't go out looking for publishers and JMS couldn't if he wanted to because he doesn't own B5. There's a fan who's approached Dell and Del Ray and they've said they're not interested.

But, you're missing the point, if there was enough demand for B5 product to justify making a movie that costs $100 million, there'd also be more than enough demand to sustain a book series. But, there's just not enough demand for either.

Put another way, if the demand was there to support such a big budget film, there would be more than enough demand for a book series. There would've been a way. The profit incentive would've made it happen. WB wants to make money and would shop it around, but there's no buyers. The demand is just not there!

Yeah, the ST demand is sagging too. That's why the last movie bombed, the series got lower ratings, cancellations, etc. But, you need less demand to keep a book series going because the costs are much lower.

So, this really just illustrates the point I'm making. The book series requires less consumer demand than a big budget film due to lower costs. The B5 franchise doesn't generate enough demand to sustain the book series. So, where do you think that leaves things for a film?

It's a good measure for the B5 world. I hope JMS comes out with something exciting but I'm not expecting a big budget feature film. I suppose it could be a smaller budget TV movie or possibly back door pilot thing. So, interesting possibilities are around. I'm not even sure about those being feasible but I won't rule them out.

Mr Awe

 

[Triple-F]

So, this really just illustrates the point I'm making. The book series requires less consumer demand than a big budget film due to lower costs. The B5 franchise doesn't generate enough demand to sustain the book series. So, where do you think that leaves things for a film?

I don’t know the answer to this. But was there much in the way of a popular demand for Star Trek books before the 1979 release of the first movie.


Though I agree the big budget movie is the less likely possibility as I'd be surprised if a studio would take the financial risk of jumping straight into the most expensive option.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

A reboot series is the only possibility that I can envisage. I can't believe anyone would stump up $100M for this property unless they're completely nuts and have money to burn. Space opera on TV seems to be completely out of vogue at the moment, perhaps never to return. Going down the edgy, dark route of nuBSG doesn't always pay off as SGU showed, and the audience for both series was pretty small. So I'm stumped.

 

[Jan]

I doubt if there was a huge demand for a Green Lantern movie but that one cost $150 million and now you can't escape the advertising in the theaters, on TV and on the web. Movie studios create their own demand, it seems. Publishing houses, not so much.

Jan

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Decent point. But, it ties into the whole super hero genre. You don't really have to know anything about Green Lantern and the history to enjoy a good super hero movie.

What does B5 have to pull in viewers? It's got the nerd baggage. I don't mean it badly because I LOVED B5. Absolutely thought it was great!

I suppose JMS could sell it as a rip roaring space shoot 'em up, action adventure type of movie. But would that still be B5?

Point well taken. A dead franchise can be resurrected. But, they have to market it to the masses. That works fine for super heroes, but B5? Not if it wants to retain any semblance to original. If JMS does not want to retain that, ok, maybe. Be ready for a Abrams style reboot. But, even then ST had more name recognition than B5.

I remain highly doubtful of a big budget B5 movie. If there is anything to this that is beyond print media, I think it'll be a TV movie that might serve as a back door pilot. I don't think it'll be particularly well budgetted either.

Mr Awe

 

[Jan]

I don't have any opinion on what it might be at all. I'm lucky because I'll give whatever JMS writes a fair trial but I don't mind whether it's B5 or not. I loved a lot of what we got in that universe and liked most of the rest but it wouldn't bother me a lot if there were never any more.

Though I was intrigued by the premise of the 'Polaris' pilot script which JMS wrote several years ago. I kind of wish that one had ended up happening. Most people didn't even know that it was set in the B5 universe.

Jan

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Though I was intrigued by the premise of the 'Polaris' pilot script which JMS wrote several years ago. I kind of wish that one had ended up happening. Most people didn't even know that it was set in the B5 universe.

Never heard of that one before. What was it supposed to be about exactly?

 

[Jan]

Though I was intrigued by the premise of the 'Polaris' pilot script which JMS wrote several years ago. I kind of wish that one had ended up happening. Most people didn't even know that it was set in the B5 universe.

Never heard of that one before. What was it supposed to be about exactly?

It was one of two pilots written for the (then) Sci-Fi Channel. They ended up turning it down because it was (honest, I'm not kidding) 'too science fictiony'.

JMS mentioned it in the Movie script book and said:

One of [the pilots for Sci-Fi] was an interstellar take on a mob story called Polaris,

But I'm drawing a blank as to whether or not we ever published it. Reverend? JoeD80? Neroon? Anybody remember? Otherwise I'll look it up later on and report back.

Jan

 

[Lindley]

Though I was intrigued by the premise of the 'Polaris' pilot script which JMS wrote several years ago. I kind of wish that one had ended up happening. Most people didn't even know that it was set in the B5 universe.

I heard about Polaris, but I had no idea it was linked to B5. Are you sure about that?

 

[Jan]

Though I was intrigued by the premise of the 'Polaris' pilot script which JMS wrote several years ago. I kind of wish that one had ended up happening. Most people didn't even know that it was set in the B5 universe.

I heard about Polaris, but I had no idea it was linked to B5. Are you sure about that?

Yep. Note that it's in the B5 universe, though - not actually linked to B5 the station.

ETA: Sorry, the quote from the movie book was incomplete:

One of [the pilots for Sci-Fi] was an interstellar take on a mob story called Polaris,and the other Rangers, both to be set in the B5 universe").

Jan

 

[Reverend]

^News to me. I think I read JMS mention something about Polaris as a pilot script that never went anywhere, but never heard that it was B5 related. As you say though, something need not be on the station, or even have anything to do with galactic politics to take place in the B5 universe. I've frequently said that the Psi Corps books are a great candidate for an adaptation as, while yes they do deal with some issues central to the main arcs, the first book in particular is entierly self contained. Hell, 99% of it takes place on Earth and in fairly mundane surroundings.

As I said before, there's plenty of potential in the B5 universe for any number of stories that have nothing directly to do with one another, or even set in the same time frame. If he felt like it Joe could easily set a tale running in parallel to the main series as he could one between Crusade & SiL or hundreds, thousands or even a million years hence. It's a big universe.

...They ended up turning it down because it was (honest, I'm not kidding) 'too science fictiony'.

How sad is it that I'm not surprised by this? That channel went down the tubes long before it suddenly decided to become dyslexic and develop an inappropriate fascination burly men in spandex sitting on each other's faces. Still I can't help but wonder what planet they find some of these studio execs on. I remember an anecdote from Terry Pratchett about dealing with tome Hollywood types back when they were looking at adapting Mort* for the big screen. Supposedly they loved the book, saidit was "high concept" (whatever the bloody hell that means) but thought it best if they (I'm paraphrasing) "loose the death angle" as it was "a bit of a downer."

In an industry like that you have to wonder how anything even remotely coherent gets made.

*For those that don't know, Mort is a Discworld novel about Death (Discworld's anthropomorphic personification of the grim reaper) training a new apprentice.

 

[Distorted Humor]

Not going to say never, but I think a TV movie/backdoor pilot is something that might happen more so then a 100 million dollar Major movie...

 

[Reverend]

^Oi! Get back on your own thread, you'll get spoiled hanging around here!

 

[Jan]

Just checked the content list I keep of what's been published so far and Polaris isn't on it. Sorry.

Jan