If you are a regular reader, you by now have found out I am a person of conviction. And also a person of crusades for those convictions. I am fearful that favorite things of mine, like TV shows Millennium, Threshold and Night Stalker; and video games WipEout and Shenmue, may go to their graves without the full attention they truly deserve. Well, my fellow readers, I have another crusade to champion – that of Joss Whedon’s great sci-fi movie Serenity.

My friends, Serenity needs your help. After a hard and valiant marketing push by its studio, Universal, Serenity opened to critical acceptance but couldn’t achieve its equal in box office performance. It’s opening weekend bow at $10 million, in a not-quite-wide 2,188 screens (in contrast, the number one movie Flightplan was shown on 3,424 screens*), represents those hard-core fans who connected well with the film’s marketing and advertising. They are the ones who loved the TV show (Firefly), or those who were familiar with the show but were carried to the theater by word-of-mouth from Firefly die-hards. I fall clearly in the second camp. Although I never saw the TV show when it originally aired or when it was released on DVD, I was familiar with it – the hype machine regarding the film’s “phenomenon” in preview showings earlier this year had me hook, line and sinker.

The hype clearly had everyone – media, studio execs, even the show’s creator and Serenity director Whedon – thinking they just might have something big on their hands. Brandon Gray of BoxOfficeMojo.com wrote:

Universal’s head of distribution, Nikki Rocco, was hopeful that positive word-of-mouth will broaden Serenity’s audience beyond fans of Firefly, the 2002 series on which the movie is based. The picture scored an “A” grade from CinemaScore, which polls opening night moviegoers.

But after the weekend tally, an obviously different tone:

“We are satisfied,” Rocco said. “The opening is where we thought it would be. The fan base turned out. We’re hoping more will turn out in the future. I think over $10 million is a lot of business for a niche appeal picture, and I think the ancillary [DVD, etc.] will be spectacular. I’d say over 40 percent [of moviegoers] were the fans. And there was probably another 30 percent that had not watched the show but had heard of it.” Rocco highlighted San Francisco and Seattle among the cities that had strong turn outs, although she would not speculate on whether Serenity was successful enough to merit a sequel.

Whedon wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Forum poster Azeledge quoted Whedon’s passionate words from official Serenity fan site The Browncoats:

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.

So why, as a casual fan, would I jump on the campaign trail for Serenity? Because for one, I always root for the underdog, the one that deserves so much more attention and recognition than it receives. Serenity might not command as much at face value, but when it’s taken in it delivers entertainment in spades. After seeing this weekend’s box office numbers, it seems as if it just never had the audience to experience this firsthand. And two, I’m an advocate for quality and intelligent entertainment. I know that sounds like most everyone would echo this obvious statement, but seeing the junk that Hollywood churns out on a regular basis, Serenity was the shot of creativity the industry desperately needed. Its success might also show Hollywood that other franchises which didn’t receive a fair shot initially might be worth taking another look at.

Laying all that out, it could be a seismic creative disaster if the experiment that is Serenity fails. So if you haven’t seen Serenity, please do yourself a favor and treat yourself to the movie this weekend. Take a friend, and tell a few others. Most likely, you’re like everyone else who is on the fence; but as the end credits roll, the majority of you will have thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

After all, it is for a good cause.

* Box office figures and counts, BoxOfficeMojo.com