Mini-Wank: Your fanaticism killed the Box Office
There appears to be a slight mini-wank between one of the writers over on CHUD.com and the Browncoats (fans of the TV show Firefly and movie Serenity). And Joss Whedon himself - the creator of both - has just waded in.

The box office numbers for the weekend are in and Serenity, (the movie based off of the canceld TV series Firefly), took in $10.1 million, slightly below the predicted $13 to $17 million weekend. However, this news caused CHUD.com writer Devin Faraci to call out the Browncoats for being "evangelical" about Fierfly/Serenity; to the point that it turned people - who weren't rabid fans of the show or anything else Joss has written, but who liked Science Fiction stories and may have gone to see the movie - off to it, and that's why the movie "flopped." (Requiem for the Browncoats)

At the end of this weekend, I wish the Browncoats would take a moment from their finger pointing and take a long hard look at themselves and ask if their in-your-face evangelizing didn’t hurt this film more than it helped. I believe there is a huge awareness of this movie, and I believe there are many people who are predisposed to seeing scifi films who stayed home this weekend. The question has to be, “Why?” I think that more and more the actions of small, hardcore fanbases – like Trekkies and the increasingly marginalized Star Wars fruitcakes – are becoming distasteful to the more mainstream genre audience.

Joss himself wrote a reply to it over on the offical Serenity fan board (which is copy-pasted over onto Whedonesque), in which he says yes the numbers are soft, but it's the next few weeks that are critical for the movie. And that he wont stand for any bashing from anyone about his - and the show's/movie's - fans.

We all know this remains an uphill battle. We all know that next weekend is crucial -- and a lot of it will rest on us. A lot will rest on the studio reaching people we can't. And factors we can't see coming. But I don't especially appreciate people calling Time of Death while I'm still operating. I don't like smug defeatism. And nobody disses the 'coats without me wading in. That's all.

ETA: And CHUD.com writer Devin Faraci has now replyed to Joss' reply:

. . . . and the thing I kept returning to in my head is that the “Browncoats” are seen, by many other genre fans, as overzealous.

There’s no way to quantify that. It’s a purely speculative thing on my part, based on talking to people and visiting other internet forums. And I base it partially on the fact that nobody likes an evangelizer. Nobody wants to invite the Jehova’s Witnesses in to bullshit when they come a-knockin’. You want those people off your doorstep, and ASAP. . . .

. . . .Again, it’s not the scientific method, but those are the factors that came into my opinion that the Browncoats kept the core genre audience from seeing the film this weekend. (And in fairness, someone asked me just how big that core genre audience is, and I have to admit I don’t know. I do feel like it’s bigger than 10 million dollars, though) That has nothing to do with the mainstream’s reception of the film, and that’s important to note. And it’s important to note that I don’t necessarily think there was some angry “To hell with the Browncoats!” revolt in the wider fandom. I think there may very well have just been a fatigue. After the preview screenings months ago, and the interim attention from those fans, Serenity felt like a movie that had already happened.

As for the idea that I don’t like the very concept of the Browncoats – guilty as charged! I don’t like any self-identifying pop-cultural group. I find it bizarre and troubling. Trekkies make me feel creeped out, and that was before seeing the excellent documentary about the phenomenon. . . .