Thanks to Kickstarter, 'Veronica Mars' Movie Gets the Greenlight

Well, Internet, you did it. You officially resurrected Veronica Mars. After the Kickstarter campaign started by show creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell set records for the crowd-fundraising website, the next step was for Warner Bros. to officially make the Veronica Mars movie a real thing. According to The Wrap, the studio has given the movie the greenlight, planning to fund the production of the Veronica Mars film with the funds raised through Kickstarter while covering distribution and marketing costs itself.

OK, first off, what Veronica Mars fans accomplished with this Kickstarter campaign is impressive. We've seen fans run campaigns where they send walnuts or other trinkets to studios to save TV shows, but never has a fan base spoken in the one language studios truly understand — cash. As long as Warner Bros. sticks to the money raised through Kickstarter, the studio stands to lose very little by making a Veronica Mars movie.

I'll be curious to see how the movie does at the box office, since Internet buzz doesn't always translate to box office success. I was going to use Snakes on a Plane as an example, but that was more of a joke gone too far. The best comparison is probably the TV series Firefly. I have no doubt that fans of that show could get a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie, but that franchise has already been there ... and Serenity only made $25.5 million domestically.