Great job, Internet! (seriously): Veronica Mars movie raises all the money, gets the greenlight
Amid the “Is this the future of TV?” arguments and joking suggestions of other TV shows that could be Kickstarted back to life (“$2 million for a revival of The Cape! #THECAPE”), you may have missed the news that the Veronica Mars movie reached its fundraising goal in less than 11 hours. Accordingly, Variety reports that the generosity of 09ers and non-09ers alike has led to an official commitment to the film from Warner Bros. The studio’s digital distribution arm will bring the cinematic adventures of Veronica, Keith, Wallace, Logan, and whoever else is still hanging around Neptune (Dick Casablancas has either lucked into an online fortune or been buried up to his neck and left to die in the Mexican desert) to a limited number of theaters and unlimited VOD-capable devices in early 2014. Once more, the persuasion/intimidation tactics of Kristen Bell win the day!
Meanwhile, the Kickstarter continues to rake in money; as of this writing more than 43,000 backers have donated nearly $2.7 million to the cause. In an email sent to those donors this morning, Veronica Mars showrunner and future director of Veronica Mars: The Movie Rob Thomas expressed his gratitude, all the while pledging to take the crowdsourcing international. (Good news for Canadians who want so support proud son of the Great White North Enrico Colantoni after decades of assuming he was a savory Italian entree.) Thomas also suggested that new high-end rewards will be introduced to the fundraising efforts, as offers like a walk-on roll in the film were snatched up alarmingly quickly by the members of a fanbase who would gladly spend more than $10,000 to breathe the same air as Bell. All similar and future pronouncements from Thomas are presumed to be made from within a Scrooge McDuck-style vault/swimming pool, which might not stop filling up until its contents can theoretically pay for movie versions of Veronica Mars, Party Down, and both iterations of Cupid.