Posted on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 by Angie Han
With coffers stuffed by more than double its initial $2 million Kickstarter fundraising goal, the Veronica Mars movie project has finally begun casting characters other than, well, Veronica Mars. Jason Dohring has officially signed on to reprise the role of wealthy bad boy Logan Echolls, becoming the second returning actor (after lead Kristen Bell) to join the project.
There was never much doubt Dohring would return, especially after he showed up in the pitch video for Kickstarter. (Enrico Colantoni and Ryan Hansen also appeared, but neither has been set as of yet.) But it’s still great to hear, not least because Logan is central to the film’s plotline. Hit the jump to keep reading.
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Posted on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 by Angie Han
If you’re one of the 60,000 or so backers of the Veronica Mars movie project, you’re probably starting to get a little curious about what your money’s actually going to buy. Sure, we know it’ll be a feature film featuring Neptune’s sharpest P.I., ten years out of high school. But which of her old friends and nemeses will we see? How much sex and violence can we anticipate? Is this the end of Veronica’s journey, or just the beginning?
Series creator Rob Thomas has all the answers, and while he’s not ready to give everything away he’s happy to drop a few hints. And he may slip a few more in a Twitter live chat tomorrow morning. Hit the jump to learn the latest details on the project, and get more info on the Twitter event.
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Posted on Tuesday, March 19th, 2013 by Angie Han
Veronica Mars‘ successful Kickstarter campaign opened up a whole new route for TV makers hoping to revive their cancelled series, and Chuck‘s Zachary Levi, for one, hopes to take advantage of it. Meanwhile, one TV maker who wants to stick with a more conventional approach for his next project is Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas himself, who says Party Down will likely take a more conventional path to the big screen. Hit the jump to read more.
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Dave, Devindra, and Russ Fischer chat about the important Side by Side, debate the Veronica Mars kickstarter project, and take a look at the polarizing new film by Park Chan-Wook, Stoker. Special guest Stu VanAirsdale joins us for this episode. Be sure to check out Stu’s take on the Veronica Mars Kickstarter, Alan Sepinwall’s interview with Rob Thomas as well as Mat Honan’s take on why Kickstarter is not the future.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993.
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Posted on Friday, March 15th, 2013 by Angie Han
It took Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell several years to get as far as a Kickstarter campaign for the long-awaited Veronica Mars movie sequel, and fans less than twelve hours to scrape together the necessary $2 million budget. Now, just as promised, Warner Bros. has officially greenlit the movie. All that’s left for us at this point is the waiting. By Thomas’ own estimates, Veronica Mars won’t hit theaters for another year or so.
On the plus side, though, that means there’s plenty of time to revisit the original series before picking back up with the Neptune crowd. Hit the jump to find out where you can stream it online for free. Plus, learn more about how exactly Warner Bros. plans to make the movie.
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Posted on Friday, March 15th, 2013 by Angie Han
Joss Whedon has already admitted that a Firefly Kickstarter campaign isn’t likely to take flight anytime soon, but some of his colleagues sound a little more eager to take advantage of the new studio / crowdfunding hybrid model introduced by Veronica Mars.
Bryan Fuller, of Pushing Daisies fame, has already reached out to Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas to find out “how this thing works,” while Terriers‘ Shawn Ryan and Men of a Certain Age‘s Mike Royce have voiced their interest in the topic on Twitter. And since Thomas says Warner Bros. views his film as a “test case” for the new model, there’s reason to believe Ryan, Royce, and Fuller may actually be able to revive their beloved series if Veronica Mars proves a success. Hit the jump to keep reading.
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In less than twelve hours, Warner Bros., Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, and their Veronica Mars movie changed the movie business. Yesterday morning, Thomas and his cast asked fans to donate two million dollars to revive the canceled television series Veronica Mars as a feature film. Fans have hoped for such a movie for several years. Thomas and Bell had previously been unsuccessful in attempts to persuade Warner Bros. to fund the movie. They even talked about paying for it themselves.
It took about eleven hours for donors to pledge two million dollars. Now, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution has greenlit the film, and will pay for the marketing and distribution. Whether the studio will also contribute funds to the production cost remains to be seen. (Update: The Wrap says no; the outpouring of fan and media interest is likely to drive the budget funds higher without any extra capital required from the studio.)
So what did Veronica Mars fans say this week? Individual donors who gave just a little bit get to see a movie they might have thought wouldn’t ever materialize. Seems like a good deal.
Collectively, the fanbase sent a thundering message to studios. It said, loud and clear, that it will give up large sums of money, with no traditional investment ties, to fund a geek-oriented project. There will very likely be further developments in what could be known as the Mars model, with other producers and studios attempting to find similar fundraising success. As the Veronica Mars counter ticked quickly up to $2m, we watched the business change in real time. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, March 13th, 2013 by Angie Han
Update from Editor Peter Sciretta: In less than 12 hours from launching the kickstarter, Rob Thomas has raised over $2,000,000 for the Veronica Mars movie, hitting the goal of the project. Of course, they have 30 days left to go, and will still need the fans to help raise more money to allow them to do more in the story. $2 million might sound like a lot to many of you, but consider they lose an estimated $400,000 to Kickstarter fees and taxes. They will likely have to pay 20% in fees and taxes of any future raised funds too. And they also need to pay for the various rewards to those who have and will fund this project, which includes shipping posters, t-shirts, dvds and box sets. The film will likely have to be a union production, and while its expected the actors will be working close to scale (and participate in the back end) it still will be very costly at the absolute minimum level. Basically I’m saying, just because they’ve hit the goal doesn’t mean you shouldn’t “donate.” Do you want to see a good movie? Haven’t donated yet? You still have 30 days… The original story from Angie Han can be read after the jump.
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