10 Movies Everybody Wanted (But Nobody Watched)

Joss Whedon's cult sci-fi TV series Firefly wasn't given much of a chance by Fox, who aired the original run of episodes out of order and then unceremoniously cancelled the series in December 2002 after just 11 of its 14 episodes had aired.

Both fans and the show's cast, led by Nathan Fillion, were devastated, and despite a concerted effort to get the series picked up by another network, it went nowhere.

Yet due to strong DVD sales, Whedon was able to get a follow-up film greenlit at Universal, with Serenity being released in 2005.

Firefly fans, who typically refer to themselves as "Browncoats," helped spread word about the film online in an attempt to accentuate its modest marketing budget.

But alas, when Firefly hit cinemas it failed to break out into the wider mainstream, just barely recouping its $39 million budget.

Given Firefly's mighty home video sales it was no doubt a disappointing result for Universal, who quite understandably figured they'd at least turn a decent profit off the lower-budget sci-fi production.

You can blame the lackluster marketing - which fans, bless 'em, tried to bolster - or the fact that it was the glorified series finale to a cancelled TV show, but Serenity deserved to do so, so much better than this.