SyFy Will Make Movies

LOS ANGELES — Syfy, the cable channel behind such series as "Warehouse 13" and the "Ghost Hunters" reality shows, is getting into the movie business.

The channel, part of NBC Universal, said Wednesday it will join with sister company Universal Pictures to release one to two films a year with budgets between $5 million and $25 million starting in 2012. The joint venture will be called Syfy Films.

The company will make movies in the science fiction, fantasy, supernatural and horror genres that are meant to be new franchises outside of ones that are already on television.

That means that it won't get involved in the "Battlestar Galactica" movie that is in development at Universal and which has "X-Men" director Bryan Singer set to direct. "Battlestar Galactica" was hugely popular on the Syfy channel from 2004 to 2009.

"First and foremost we're looking for new projects," said Syfy president Dave Howe. "A Bryan Singer blockbuster movie is not within the remit of this partnership."

Howe said there is plenty of opportunity to make sci-fi movies without resorting to huge budgets. He cited movies such as "District 9," "Cloverfield," "Paranormal Activity," and "Pan's Labyrinth," as models. "That's a level and quality of production values that is very achievable with what we're working with," he said.

Syfy Films will get a marketing push by having advertisements on the channel. Universal, which sold its horror label Rogue Pictures to financing partner Relativity Media LLC last year, will distribute the films.

Syfy is the second best-rated channel among the NBC Universal stable, behind only USA Network, and is distributed in 72 territories around the world.

Cable TV company Comcast Corp. is set to take 51 percent control of NBC Universal in a merger deal that is awaiting government approval. Current owner General Electric Co. would own a 49 percent stake in NBC Universal that will be gradually unwound.

Comments

[tomas66]

10:50 AM on 12/18/2010

all i know is that Red: Werewolf Hunter is on sy fy this afternoon and i'll watch it again, check that, nap while watching it! that seems to be my lazy saturday afternoon routine, napping while watching sy fy. :)

[faustbos]

04:04 AM on 12/18/2010

oh yeah? if fox is giving misinformation, then why do so many watch it, huh??
oh wait,,,, answered my own question.

[faustbos]

04:08 AM on 12/18/2010

oops how did i end up on this thread hehe..

for canceling sg universe.... a curse on all them all

[MikeyJaii]

01:28 AM on 12/18/2010

Oh my god.. this made me laugh so hard I'm just choking. SyFy animation graphic is the worst!! And actor.. don't even mention it, horrible!!

[RMac]

11:10 PM on 12/17/2010

..."Ghost Hunters" reality shows...

What? Should those be in such close proximity?

[Dosadi]

05:45 PM on 12/17/2010

Best line ever on Sci-Fy "The dead are easily confused."

[Eric from Pullman]

05:00 PM on 12/17/2010

As long as we're not talking about things like "Sharktopus."

[Dosadi]

05:44 PM on 12/17/2010

MegaShark versus Giant Squid or whatever is why they are in trouble.  They had a good format then went into the tank by showing too many Steven Baldwin reject movies.

[MikeyJaii]

01:28 AM on 12/18/2010

My god, amen to that.

[JamesAndre]

04:40 PM on 12/17/2010

I guess dragging down a genre in one medium wasn't enough. "New projects." More like no one will let them near any successful franchise after watching them kill them off one after another.

What kind of channel starts in a genre, buys the best properties and then ends them, then changes their name so not to be too closely associated with the very type of content they were created for?

[George McQueen]

03:15 PM on 12/17/2010

Let's just hope they don't bring their special effects team from their tv shows to the movies! LOL!

[Max Shaw]

11:10 AM on 12/17/2010

If their TV movies such as 'Sharktopus' or 'Mega Piranha' are any indication, then I have no faith in SyFy actually making 'real' movies...And they should have never changed the name. Yeah. I said it.

[faustbos]

04:11 AM on 12/18/2010

i have no faith in them. how can i?? they have no faith in their own product. or perhaps no faith in their viewers.... or maybe no respect in them.

[FiredUpRTG]

10:45 AM on 12/17/2010

Yes, there are a lot of bad scripts out there, but let's hope they won't be lazy and simply bring comic books to the screen. Would like to see some original material come out of Hollywood for once.

[savroD]

08:42 AM on 12/17/2010

I'm a little leary here. Since BSG, it's been all downhill for SyFy. They seem to be focused on the supernatural garbage like Ghosthunters and Trueblood wannabe shows. Look, because they censor, they'll never compete with HBO, Stars, or Showtime. If anyone had half a brain there, they would see it. Also, I would prefer they stick more to science fiction; however, I do realize that the scriptwriters of today seem really lame and unable to come up with new ideas. That being said, I emailed them some time back with a new science fiction idea I have that would blow away everyone and be this generations StarTrek, but with the realism of Battlestar. I even hoped my email would get in the hands of Ron Moore, who did BSG. I received nothing. I should probably turn it into a script and send it to them; however, I'm afraid someone might see the novelty of what I want to do and steal it. Anyway, I wish them good luck and can't wait for the BSG movie!

[Dosadi]

05:49 PM on 12/17/2010

The dropped Caprica right when people were starting to get into it. They just dropped Stargate Universe right when it was about to get into alien contact, solving the riddle of the universe and making Rush into a hero. Now we are about to get more Ghost Hunters?  Get real, rename yourself SCI-FY and get back to basic science fiction.  Leave the fake paranormal junk to others.

[Mike Clark II]

08:29 AM on 12/17/2010

they actually did thisyears ago. USA films was a branch of USA network. so this is their second foray into it. good job.

as long as i see sharktopus in 3d, i will go see EVERY movie they make

[ZombyWoof]

07:57 AM on 12/17/2010

The headline should read “SYFY will make bad movies”

As a longtime fan of science fiction in it’s many forms I have found the Syfy (formerly Sci-fi) channel, with a few exceptions to be a huge disappointment and this includes some of the series that so many find entertaining and well made.

One huge exception to this was the reboot of Battlestar Galactica which in my opinion is an example of what can be achieved when all involved, from the cast to the writers take Sci-fi seriously. If you look back on some of the great Sci-fi films you will find that they have this in common. As an example: At face value, a creature with acid for blood that burst out of people’s bodies stalking seven blue collar astronauts sounds like a b-movie ready to be loaded up with gags but in Ridley Scotts hands that became ALIEN.

It seems to me that the SYFY channel still views Science Fiction as a genre for juveniles and childish adults who fantasize about being Jedi Knights or serving on the Enterprise and quite frankly some Science Fiction fans don’t help matters much.

They used to have a decent website (Sci-fi weekly) which was an excellent source for information and reviews on books but now, unless a book makes a huge splash elsewhere or is adapted for TV or the Screen it will not get mentioned in SYFY.com

[Mike Clark II]

08:33 AM on 12/17/2010

syfy made changes for one simple reason, its more or less a network which brings people into the genre which is considered "nerdy". battlestar galactica was as far from sci fi than i could imagine. it was basically titled "political/religious/economic problems in space" and that is what it was. and i LOVED IT! it came at a great time (post 9/11, bush administration) where we thought as a world we were vulnerable. the shows ghost hunters, warehouse 13, eureka? they are all sci fi based. they all introduce people to the world of science fiction. their movies? their movies basically are a shoutout or paying homage to a time when sci fi movies were basically insane fluff. i hope this venture lasts.

and do not tell me you do not laugh at sharktopus.

[multidoc]

08:51 AM on 12/17/2010

Those perfectly awful SyFy-original-movies have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a long time. I hope we can count on them to keep delivering the same lack of quality in their venture into "prime time".

[ZombyWoof]

01:20 PM on 12/18/2010

I must respectfully take issue with your characterization of BG as just being "political/religious/economic problems in space" and not Sci-Fi. If you look at what is regarded as great Sci-Fi you’ll see that the vast majority have one thing in common; they reflect the human condition in its various forms. Every great Sci-Fi tale regardless of how exotic or alien the setting, is in some way an echo of what concerns us on some level in one or more ways such as philosophical, psychological, existential etc…

No matter what one thinks about what role Sci-Fi story telling ought to take the one universal rule that’s as true for Sci-Fi story telling as it is for any other genre is that the story must be compelling to some degree. Even when Sci-Fi fails to do this it is usually a matter of bad execution because the elements are still there and I would have found Sharktopus funny were it not for the fact that Sci-Fi is littered with this stuff.

I don’t find SYFY completely lacking, I just think that any channel can show Sci-Fi, horror, thrillers etc… but any channel that actually names itself after one of those genres really should make an effort to show more quality programming. I’m sure SYFY can probably solicit fan fiction that is far superior than their beast of the week movies which they could probably get produced at a reasonable cost.

[MAJEST1C]

07:48 AM on 12/17/2010

I don't get Universal network executives. They approve show ideas on spec and it's clear that shows like sci-fi shows have to grow a fanbase some times. Then as soon as they don't put Instant Hit numbers on the board they cut them, usually after panic floating them all over the schedule and confusing everybody about the airdates/times. Syfy has a real bad habit of moving shows around all the time and breaking them into 8-12 episode "half" seasons then waiting 10 months to air the second half of the season or the next season. SGU was a great show with lots of potential. Caprica was a meh show with some promise and a good cast. They both fell victim to the machinations of the SyFy "Business Model" Sanctuary was putting up the same numbers until they moved it to Fridays to get the WWE Bump.

With this many ways to fail engineered into their programming, it's no wonder that their highest rated program right now is the incredibly cerebral WWE Smackdown on Friday night.

[SlimPickins79]

02:29 AM on 12/17/2010

SGU was just cancelled..guess this is where the money is gonna go ;o(

[JamesAndre]

04:44 PM on 12/17/2010

They completely destroyed that franchise. They should have stuck with Atlantis. At least there was something to work with there.

[SlimPickins79]

04:56 PM on 12/17/2010

meh...i still need to go back and watch the later seasons of Atlantis. SGU was getting a lot better towards the end of season 2.