As everyone who has ever chugged a bottle of syrup knows, Super Troopers is basically The Godfather of bro comedies from the early 2000s. It has heart, it has laughs, and it manages to appeal to both fans of saying “meow” at inappropriate times and fans of jokes about marijuana. Unfortunately, the movie industry has changed a lot in the last 14 years, and even a certified classic (of the bro/stoner movie genre) like Super Troopers just couldn’t get made today in the traditional studio system. That’s what Broken Lizard—the comedy troupe that made Super Troopers—says, at least.
That won’t stop the gang from getting back together and making a sequel, though, but since nobody was actually willing to pay for them to make a sequel, they’re turning to the bros and stoners who made the first movie a hit. The Broken Lizard crew (which consists of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske) has set up an Indiegogo page to raise money to make Super Troopers 2, and if they manage to pull in $2 million by April 24, then the movie will get made. If they don’t, it won’t. Fox Searchlight has agreed to distribute Super Troopers 2 (if it gets made), but it doesn’t intend to pay for it at all. In other words, the entire fate of Super Troopers 2 is resting on the shoulders of bros and stoners. Also, to put that $2 million in perspective, Veronica Mars raised $5.3 million a few years ago, and Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here pulled in $3.1 million.
Interestingly, Super Troopers 2 is using what Indiegogo calls a “Flexible Funding” model. That means, unlike Kickstarter, Broken Lizard will get all of the money that people pledged even if it doesn’t reach the goal. That seems to go against their whole pitch, but maybe they’re just very confident that they’ll make the money they need. As of this writing, the campaign has already raised over $715,000 of the $2 million it needs, so it’ll probably reach the goal and this won’t end up being an issue. But still, if Broken Lizard takes your money and runs off, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
The Indiegogo campaign has all of the usual crowdfunding rewards, from posters and tickets to a chance to be in the movie and get high with Broken Lizard, but you’ll probably have to hurry if you want to beat the bros and stoners to the good ones. You can donate to the campaign yourself by clicking this link.