Why it will be unlikely to see a B5 movie

[Za_Ha_Dum]

Joe,

After your statement and others point of view, I am more and more convinced that the only solution for a B5 Feature Film would be a partnership with George Lucas. He has the money, has experience in sci-fi, has the studio for special effects (back bone for any sci-fi).....

Don´t some of you guys have good relationship with ILM crew or George Lucas himself?

Regards,

Cadu
Zahadum

 

[hypatia]

Maybe one day we will get more B5 as a straight to DVD or another set of TV movies, or even a new series. I'm not sure that cinema is the way to to anyway...

Neither was I. As fun as the Star Trek movies could be from time to time, the series beat them all out in terms of quality, interesting stories, and especially character development.

Well, Wrath of Khan might have given TOS a run for it's money.

But as much as I'd vastly prefer a new B5 series, I do understand the idea was to reward the cast since movies are where the big bucks are.

 

[Za_Ha_Dum]

I do understand the idea was to reward the cast since movies are where the big bucks are.

For sure, the cast really deserve it. They are part of the B5 arc soul.......

 

[Shaal Mayan]

Maybe one day we will get more B5 as a straight to DVD or another set of TV movies, or even a new series. I'm not sure that cinema is the way to to anyway...

Now that's an idea I hadn't thought of and it makes perfect sense to me .If JMS comes to a point where B5 won't get made into movie in any capacity I can't help but wonder if he would consider either a made for tv miniseries or direct to DVD movie as possible alternates I wonder if he has considered this.Cause DAMN it I want an ending to Crusade I would prefer it to be in the form of a series of course.But I would like to see Crusade finished in some way and Rangers which I enjoyed as well not to mention the teep war are all possibles for a tv movie as I mentioned above .



As for the Mongoose publishing line I am keeping my fingers crossed that they and JMS can come to some form of an agreement .I think maybe JMS jumped the gun a little too soon and he didn't know that much about Mongoose and that they were a small outfit.So maybe the silence is a good thing either way it goes we will know.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Doctor Who came back. Star Trek came back.
Babylon 5 will come back when JMS finds a way to comment on the War on Terror and the studios accept the war is going to be a long one.

The Rangers or Earthforce (Gropos) could end up fighting terrorists.

 

[Jan]

.If JMS comes to a point where B5 won't get made into movie in any capacity I can't help but wonder if he would consider either a made for tv miniseries or direct to DVD movie as possible alternates I wonder if he has considered this.Cause DAMN it I want an ending to Crusade I would prefer it to be in the form of a series of course.But I would like to see Crusade finished in some way and Rangers which I enjoyed as well not to mention the teep war are all possibles for a tv movie as I mentioned above .

JMS has said repeatedly that, if somebody comes to him with the wherewithal to make new B5, he's there to listen. Until that happens, though, what would be the sense of thinking about it? He doesn't control rights to any part of B5 except the movie rights. Any- and everything else would *have* to go through WB.

Jan

 

[Shaal Mayan]

Doctor Who came back. Star Trek came back.
Babylon 5 will come back when JMS finds a way to comment on the War on Terror and the studios accept the war is going to be a long one.

The Rangers or Earthforce (Gropos) could end up fighting terrorists.

WHAT THE ???!!!!!!!????

 

[Shaal Mayan]

One more thing about Firefly/Serenity and Joss Wherdon (did I spell his name right?)Anyway I am trying not to bash either him or the show cause I have never seen either one .I t just makes me angry why an established like can get a movie just because he is successful in Hollywood and JMS can't .How can a man either be known as a failure or a success in Hollywood if he has never been given a chance to prove himself ?

 

[Shaal Mayan]

[quote ]JMS has said repeatedly that, if somebody comes to him with the wherewithal to make new B5, he's there to listen. Until that happens, though, what would be the sense of thinking about it? He doesn't control rights to any part of B5 except the movie rights. Any- and everything else would *have* to go through WB.


[/quote]

Thanks for the disappointing news Jan I knew that he had the rights to the B5 movie but I thought it hadn't extended to the series as well .Pity a man who is a brilliant storyteller can't do something with a show that he created and can't do something with it.Ah that's hollywood for you so I am taking it to mean when JMS signed on the dotted line he signed away the rights as well.

 

[KoshN]

I'm not sure that cinema is the way to to anyway...

Neither am I, especially since movies (1.5 hrs. to 2 hrs.) do not play to JMS's strengths, which are longer stories that take place over the course of an entire TV season (16.13 hrs per season, at 44 minutes per episode).

 

[Jan]

Thanks for the disappointing news Jan I knew that he had the rights to the B5 movie but I thought it hadn't extended to the series as well .Pity a man who is a brilliant storyteller can't do something with a show that he created and can't do something with it.Ah that's hollywood for you so I am taking it to mean when JMS signed on the dotted line he signed away the rights as well.

WB owns Babylon 5. JMS has said that he has to be consulted in anything to do with B5 but that doesn't mean they can't do whatever they want. It also means that if JMS wants to do anything in the B5 universe himself, such as write a short story, he has to have permission from WB.

The only aspect we know of that JMS has power over B5 is the movie rights. If he can put the money together and find a distributor, he can make a B5 theatrical film without WB's consent or participation. He can also publish the scripts he wrote *as* scripts (not stories) because of the separation of rights established in the Writer's Guild of America contract which WB is bound by.

Jan

 

[Sindatur]

Jan, does "Movie" have to be <u>Theatrica</u>l?

Or could JMS get away with self financing (or financing) Straight to DVD Movies? What would happen if he started to make a theatrical movie, and it got downgraded and ended up not being released in theatres, but went straight to DVD?

 

[RW7427]

Well, whether it was theatrical or just on DVD and it had the original actors playing Sheridan, Delenn, and etc, you betcha I'd watch it!

 

[Jan]

Jan, does "Movie" have to be <u>Theatrica</u>l?

What JMS posted in February was:

(It's worth mentioning that I, not WB, own the rights to a B5
movie. When we were negotiating the original B5 deal -- by whose terms
I will never see a dime in profit -- the one thing they did let me have
were the movie rights, figuring they'd never be worth anything in the
long run.)

I don't know how something direct to DVD would be defined by that contract. Has a 'real' movie ever been done direct to DVD, though? All I recall is some pretty mediocre animated sequels.

Jan

 

[Sindatur]

Well, one example, although it was an awful movie, I believe it was originally intended to be theatrical, but, they had to settle for straight to DVD is Starship Troopers II.

 

[raw_bean]

Hollywood is notrious still for taking into account first week takings, DVD and overseas box office do not seem to figure as highly on the success-o-meter. Not sure why.

Maybe one day we will get more B5 as a straight to DVD or another set of TV movies, or even a new series. I'm not sure that cinema is the way to to anyway...

Hollywood generally maybe, but film studios have shareholders like any other public company, and all *they* care about is profit, regardless of the source. Lots of films get made that don't have a hope of turning a profit without DVD sales.

As for what format you'd like to see more B5 in, as has been noted by others, a movie is the only format JMS holds the rights for. And personally, though I'd love for another 5 year arc in the B5 universe, we've got one of those already. It's a shame about Crusade, but I'd personally love to see a B5 production with the scope and majesty of a reasonably budgeted movie. With Firefly and then Serenity, I was thoroughly impressed with the series, and blown away by what they managed to put on screen with the film. Now, B5 being as amazing as it was al those years ago, just IMAGINE what could be done with a similar budget to Serenity.

I'd pay for a ticket just to see an establishing shot of the station on the big screen, and I'd pay double *just* to see the Garden done properly. Can you imagine? :^)

 

[hypatia]

I thought part of the "situation" was that WB won't get any money for a B5 theatrical movie.

Thus, they have no motivation to make one. No more motivation than any other studio.

No, I fear B5's best chance for a Telepath War film with the original cast (or as many as possible) has past. Although I'd have assumed the same about the first Star Trek (TOS) movies, those circumstances were different.

Isn't another part of the problem the sheer expectation level when it comes to profits from movies anymore? That's not going to work in B5's favor.

It's really a shame, IMHO, that every major movie out of Hollywood has to be a mega-block-buster movie anymore.

 

[Shaal Mayan]

No, I fear B5's best chance for a Telepath War film with the original cast (or as many as possible) has past. Although I'd have assumed the same about the first Star Trek (TOS) movies, those circumstances were different.

Isn't another part of the problem the sheer expectation level when it comes to profits from movies anymore? That's not going to work in B5's favor.

It's really a shame, IMHO, that every major movie out of Hollywood has to be a mega-block-buster movie anymore.

I have to agree with Hyp post about the money angle and not neccarily about the film industry it seems every turn the only thing that matters to any company is making money the more the better.But especially the film industry if it doesn't have "name" stars in they are not interested .I can tell some movies I have seen that I have seen that have nobody's in them and have enjoyed just as much as the big money makers.Until Hollywood gets off it's high horse of the money angle then B5 has no chance of ever coming to the big in any form. Trek has always breed more trek.You know I was thinking of with the disappointing numbers at the box office of Nemesis I had hoped then that maybe B5 could get finally get a chance to get in movie theaters of telling the teep war boy was I ever daydreaming on that one. You know Of getting the public at large interested in a new show other than trek it's shame that trek owns the scifi conglamorate.Boy I need to getoff this board I have said it before and I will say it again .Every time I watch it I always get in a ranting mood every single time I watch Crusade and I think of it's demise .
Bye Bye.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Doctor Who came back. Star Trek came back.
Babylon 5 will come back when JMS finds a way to comment on the War on Terror and the studios accept the war is going to be a long one.

The Rangers or Earthforce (Gropos) could end up fighting terrorists.

WHAT THE ???!!!!!!!????

TV follows real life.

Babylon 5's plot came from World War 2, The Cold War and the unpleasantness in Yugoslavia.

To predict the plot of epics for the next few years look at the major stories in the US press for the last few years. The long running story has been the War on Terror. Even if the USA proves to be a quitter terrorism is not going to go away.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

The theatrical release of Serenity made $30 million. The DVDs will produce more money.
Can JMS make a Babylon 5 movie for $30 million?
Possibly by avoiding major stars.

p.s. Some thing for Shaal Mayan to think about. Who is the head of the Rangers?