If you're going to bet on which project made writer and director Joss Whedon more money, would you bank on a record-breaking superhero blockbuster featuring a cast of actors who starred in their own superhero blockbusters, or a cult independent Web musical made on a (comparatively) shoestring budget? If you placed your confidence in option A, you're dead wrong: according to Whedon, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, not The Avengers, is his (very tiny) jackpot.
Whedon let his financial fact slip at the kick-off event for PaleyFest on Oct. 9. — which coincided with the Dr. Horrible reunion and was celebrated with a screening of the 45-minute Internet showstopper — which included a Q&A panel after the viewing. Variety first reported on the story.
To put it in context: originally conceived as more traditional, TV-oriented fare, the superhero-flavored Dr. Horrible came to life during the infamous 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, wherein financial support for any creative project was more or less an impossibility — especially for an out-of-the-box project like Joss Whedon's future show tune-singing sleeper hit. Even though he was able to bring on talent like Neil Patrick Harris (who stars as the titular supervillain — and the musical's true hero), as well as the Whedon School of Critically-Acclaimed Television alumni Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.
Eventually, Dr. Horrible debuted via Hulu in 2008, and the rest is history — which is what makes Whedon's admission all the more flabbergasting. Translation? It's implied that Whedon made a paltry amount from Dr. Horrible — which means the executives behind the first Avengers movie probably paid the renowned creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly less than peanuts, which seems even more erroneous, given that the Marvel/Disney film grossed $1.5 billion.
The bright side? Whedon made some serious dough for The Avengers: Age of Ultron (though, despite rumors at the time, it was not to the tune of $100 million).
As for a sing-along sequel to Dr. Horrible? "They're exactly where they've been for a long time," Whedon says, which is more or less a state of limbo: though a story, outline and songs are in place, the director has had his hands full with other projects. Despite this, Dr. Horrible 2 hopefuls shouldn't despair — his little-musical-that-could is obviously near and dear to his heart, which means the dream may not be entirely dead.
"There's nothing I've done that I enjoyed more, that I cared more about that I thought would disappear more quickly than Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog," Whedon said. "It came from a political place and a whimsical place ... that's been the benchmark of everything I do."
Check out the trailer for Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog below.
Via: A.V. Club
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