Since Veronica Mars ended in 2007, fans of the popular television show have been waiting for the series to get big screen treatment.
On Tuesday, March 13, fans' wishes came true. EW.com reported that Veronica Mars television series creator Rob Thomas and series star Kristen Bell began a Kickstarter fundraising campaign that would guarantee production and distribution of the movie if at least $2 million is collected from the public by April 12.
Thomas explains that Warner Bros. owns the rights to Veronica Mars and they were on board with the project as long as there is enough fan interest to warrant a movie. According to Thomas, if 80,000 of the show's 3-million viewers chip in around $25.00 each, the fundraising goal will be reached. At the time this article was written, the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project already received over $400,000 within a few hours. Why should fans be asked to fund this specific project when Warner Bros. likely has money in the bank to produce the film themselves?
Without asking for any fan support Warner Bros. recently greenlit a movie version of HBO's Entourage which ran from 2004-2011. If Warner Bros. is concerned about fan interest, they should have a look at Kristen Bell's Twitter account which boasts over 970,000 followers versus Entourage star Adrian Grenier's over 268,000 followers. The number of Twitter followers a celebrity accrues is an indication of their popularity among fans. If the Veronica Mars movie would have been produced without a Kickstarter project, surely the stars of series and the Warner Bros. publicity team would have enough influence to spread the word about the movie without asking for donations.
If the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project successfully reaches the $2 million mark, it would be a nice gesture and great PR move for Warner Bros. to give the money back to fans and produce the project regardless. Clearly at that point there would be enough public interest for a Veronica Mars movie without having to take the hard earned dollars of movie-goers.
