Do you remember the t.v. show Veronica Mars? It premiered in 2004, starring Kristen Bell as the teenage daughter of a private detective who follows in her dads footsteps. I know reading that basic synopsis many people will roll their eyes, but the show was a fantastically put together noir story, with far reaching plot points left dangling for years at a time, rightfully garnering a large fan base, including Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith who were both given guest star roles, and earning critical acclaim. It lasted for three seasons, cancelled even though it maintained steady ratings. Since it's cancellation, fans have been clamouring for a return of the character, with creator Rob Thomas revealing that he had written a script for a movie, that was never picked up. But now, thanks to the fans, a Veronica Mars movie is now happening.
Yesterday afternoon, the Veronica Mars Movie Project appeared on crowd funding web site Kickstarter, posting a goal of $2 Million to give the movie the green light. The usual incentives were offered, including $10,000 for a speaking role, and the fans responded. Responded hard! The project has broken Kickstarter records for reaching it's goal in under 10 hours, and it is still going. At time of writing it is at $2,554,909. With the movie greenlit, production is set to begin in the Summer, with a release planned for 2014. While Warner Bros. still own the rights to the character, the show was aired on their station The CW, they gave Thomas the go ahead to Kickstart the movie, and since they rejected plans before for a Veronica Mars movie, citing that there wasn't enough interest in it, I expect them to be watching this very carefully.
So, is this the a viable option for future movies? This marks the second time a movie has been funded through the site, with David Fincher's animated adaption of comic book The Goon, also going forward thanks to the site. So are we looking at the start of new way of making movies?
