Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars.
While some have questioned the prospects of a feature film based on a canceled TV series, there’s no denying the excitement around screenwriter Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars campaign. Starring Kirsten Bell as a crime-solver, the project raised more money than any other film and had the most backers (91,585) in Kickstarter history.
After Veronica Mars was canceled in 2007, Thomas wrote a screenplay for the feature film but was unable to secure financing from Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the Veronica Mars franchise. “Warner Bros. wasn’t convinced there was enough interest to warrant a major studio-sized movie about Veronica and the project never got off the ground,” Thomas writes on his Kickstarter page for the film. But early this year, the studio agreed to let him try a Kickstarter campaign and to distribute and market the film if the campaign was successful. Filming starts this summer, and Thomas expects a limited theatrical release in early 2014. Having raised $5.7 million in April, the Veronica Mars project has set a new benchmark for movies paid for entirely by donations.