Open-Source principles applied to films?

Joss Whedon, producer of the foolishly cancelled Firefly series (which was absolutely amazing, and so stupidly cut short by Fox) is taking a novel route to the release of Serenity, the film that (hopefully) ties up the loose ends of the series.

Rather than keep the movie under tight wraps before the September 30th release, instead he’s presenting a set of mini-previews around the States. What’s novel is that anyone can see these early production runs – so early that some scenes just contain placeholder special effects and temporary music, and the fans can give feedback and help make the final release a success.

This feels like an application of the open source movement’s mantra: release often, release early which helps refine great software like the Firefox browser in the face of MS’s bloated Internet Explorer. The early reviews of Serenity are good, hopefully this’ll beat the usual pap that comes out of Hollywood.

Very cool, I for one can’t wait to see Serenity.