You may as well watch this first trailer for the Veronica Mars movie—your Kickstarter dollars probably paid for it.
The first, most successful, and most highly publicized of the recent crowdfunded film projects, the Veronica Mars movie revives the nearly decade-old (yes, we know, move on) and cultishly beloved TV show that starred Kristen Bell as a teen detective investigating crimes in her hometown of Neptune, California. A decade later Veronica is living in New York with her college flame Piz (Chris Lowell) and leaving her detective life behind her, until her high school ex Logan (Jason Dohring) is accused of murder. And it just so happens to be around the time of her 10-year high school reunion! Which means that not only is the gang getting back together, but Veronica gets to solve a juicy mystery while also landing a punch on an old bully.
If you didn't watch Veronica Mars—and given that it ranked around #140 among all series when it aired, you probably didn't—you'll have to imagine the squeals of fan delight when familiar characters like Madison Sinclair (Amanda Noret) and Cindy (Tina Majorino) appear, and understand that, before they were Schmidt from New Girl or Jane from Breaking Bad, Max Greenfield and Krysten Ritter were beloved by Veronica Mars fans, too. Can their newfound fame, and Kristen Bell's status as a reigning box office champ thanks to her voice work in Frozen, get Veronica Mars the attention in theaters it never found on television?
There's basically no precedent for a movie like this, with characters and stories previously owned by a corporation now going independent and releasing a movie targeted almost exclusively at existing fans. That means that director Rob Thomas, Bell, and the movie's funders (which could include you!) can claim virtually anything as a victory. When the film opens on March 14 in AMC Theaters, it may not even make back the $5.7 million donated to make it, but given that none of those Kickstarter investors were offered a return on their investment, that might not even matter. We're only a few days into 2014, and already the brave new future of film distribution is barreling toward us—in the form of a teen detective last seen on UPN. The future is weird, guys.
VIA Variety