http://www.sliceofscifi.com/archives/dvd_sales_push_serenity_over_the_top.html February 18, 2006 DVD Sales Push Serenity Over The Top /Submitted by: Sevens/ Newsarama <http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=59843> is reporting that the combined sales of theater tickets and DVD sales has turned Serenity out of the red and into the black. The total production costs for the Joss Whedon film was $39 million with a rumored advertising cost at approximately another $10 million making the total out of Universal's pocket at around $49 million. The total U.S. theater box office take was a disappointing $25 million with international theatrical sales fairing little better at $13 million leaving Universal in the red for a whopping $28 million when taking into account that studios receive around 55% of total ticket sales. With that kind of red ink Universal and Whedon have been walking around with all their fingers crossed hoping that the DVD sales would at least allow them to break even and show the pic in the black, even if only marginally. And it looks like all the finger crossing has paid off as the latest DVD numbers look very encouraging. All DVD reports up to January 31st are in and it looks like over 2 million DVD's have been sold and VideoBusiness.com <http://videobusiness.com/>, an organization that tracks video rental information, announced that Serenity has made $9 million in DVD rentals alone. The fact that Serenity has taken Universal out of the red and into the black is great news, but don't cheer too early. According to Universal execs it still may not be enough for them to wager on a costly sequel, even though Whedon brought this one in at $1 million under its original projected cost of $40 million. So kids, perhaps, like Universal and Joss Whedon, we need to start crossing all our fingers for a sequel and maybe, just maybe, like the studio coming out of the red, Serenity Part 2 can come out on the big screen.