10 Things You Didn't Know About Firefly

Re-watching the big screen outing of Serenity in 2020 is not only recommended at any opportunity, but is also a great example of effects standing the test of time.

After a discussion with Universal on bringing back the crew for one final outing, Whedon was told that in order to realise his vision, he would need a budget of at least $100 million. Universal were understandably hesitant to plough that much dough into a cult favourite that was cancelled after one season. A new approach was needed.

After some time away, Whedon returned to Universal with the idea of a built for purpose movie which would free up cash for production and also allow the space scenes to be made with no change of script.

To ensure that this approach would be a success, all parts of the movie were created firstly on storyboards. A technique commonly used but never in so much detail that only what was needed would be produced.

The cost of production after storyboarding the whole movie screen by screen? A mere $39 million. To date Serenity pulled in $40.4 million at the Box Office, not much of a profit at all but a massive improvement over a potential $61 million loss..