I have a whole list of movies and books that I've never checked out largely because I got asked so many times if I'd seen/read them yet. (HP, yup.)

Which I think one can accomplish more realistically by bringing a friend to see the film.

To this I say: maybe. Will a single advertisement that reaches X # of people do more good than directly bringing Y # of people to the movie, with the assumption that X (Variety circulation numbers) is far higher than Y? What kind of actual take on it do they expect? And isn't Variety mostly for industry people, anyway, who are unlikely to be swayed to going to see a movie by a single ad?

I took a total of 10 people to see it, myself. Paid for all but 2 of them, actually, because most of them were my family or people I owed money to.

I am also proud of the FF ad. Though, given my feelings about the GBAE ad, I'm kind of surprised I ever signed on to do it.

Eh, with the amount they're spending on that ad, I don't the box office rev would be noticeable. Nor do I think anyone who's contributing is going to see the flick less because of it. Maybe a "bring a friend" campaign would be a better idea, though.

I think a better strategy would be for every Firefly fan to tell two friends about the movie. And then they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on....

Kalshane, I think Kristen was talking about specific communities on LJ. Like a message board dedicated to one topic. So having several hits to what is essentially an open community by strangers who have no interest in you or your community, is frankly, really fucking annoying and spam. And also rude.

I agree with you there. I'm not the most of savvy of LJers, but a f-list is different from a community, right? I was referring to the Wank article you linked earlier. A ton of the comments on it were people griping about hearing about Serenity/Firefly from people on the f-list and being sick of it. Which to me is silly for the reasons I outlined above.

I think a better strategy would be for every Firefly fan to tell two friends about the movie. And then they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on....

And the rest are food.

Soylent Green is Browncoats!!!

But I'm not sure I get how the Browncoats are so unavoidable, or how they'd be apparent at all to people who weren't already attached in some way to fandom.

This.

There are craxy people everywhere attached to everything. If I let them dictate my actions or will...then I'm not actually exercising will...am I?

People who have the luxury of getting crazed about essentially nothing of import just make me sad. And those who get crazed about the crazed? Even sadder.

Am I a fan? Yes. Did I organize a LOT of people to see Serenity? Why yes I did, thank you. Am I a Browncoat? For purposes of lighthearted shorthand only.

And as such, I'm not worried about the trilogy. If Joss wants to make them, they'll get made. I hope he does.

Thus sayeth the crazysadly devoted chick who's seen all 5 Prophecy films.

Maybe a "bring a friend" campaign would be a better idea, though.

Maybe an ad promoting a 'bring a friend' campaign...in a publication that reaches a lot of potential friends.

I can see gearing a Variety ad to influence certain industry folk, but beyond the 'biz', who reads Variety anyway?