'Veronica Mars' Movie Brings in Thousands on Kickstarter

Three seasons and a movie? Cult TV favorite Veronica Mars may be getting the big screen treatment - if you pay up.

The Veronica Mars Movie Project hit crowd-funding site Kickstarter this morning, and has received a flood of early support.

"Here it is. Our one shot to see a Veronica Mars movie happen," show creator Rob Thomas wrote on the project page. "Kristen [Bell] is in. I'm in. Let's do it!"

The Kickstarter project has secured more than $400,000 in just several hours. Thomas wants to raise $2 million in the next 30 days.

A Veronica Mars film has been on fans' minds since the TV series was canceled in 2007. There were a few false starts along the way, but funds and scheduling issues have delayed the effort. Thomas, however, recently discovered the wonder of crowd funding. (Which begs the question of what this could mean for Thomas's future Party Down movie plans.)

"I started doing the proverbial back-of-a-cocktail-napkin math," he wrote on Kickstarter. "The average pledge on Kickstarter is $71. Hell, if we could get 30,000 people to give the average donation, we could finance the movie, particularly if the cast and I were willing to work cheap."

The crew is dangling plenty of incentives in front of fans, including a limited-edition Veronica Mars The Movie t-shirt ($25 or more pledge), a DVD of the film ($50 or more), and a Veronica Mars movie poster ($75 or more). Diehard fanatics can shell out $200-plus for a cast-signed movie poster, an outgoing voicemail message recorded by a cast member, tickets to the movie premiere, and even the chance for Thomas and Bell to follow you on Twitter for a year.

One budding thespian has already paid $10,000 for a speaking role in the movie, while two people shelled out $6,500 to name a character.

"This is it," Bell said, addressing the audience in an introductory video. "This is our chance to make the Veronica Mars movie happen. If we reach our goal, we'll shoot the movie this summer."

"But when we hit the magic number, don't stop donating," Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars) urged.

"That extra cash will be our car chase and nudity fund," Ryan Hansen (bad-boy Dick Casablancas) promised.

"There'll be brooding in more exotic and expensive locations," said Jason Dohring (Veronica's ex Logan Echolls). "In space, perhaps."

"So check out the cool as hell list of rewards, and donate now," Bell continued. "In addition to making the Veronica Mars movie happen, you will also be part of the largest Kickstarter project of all time, in the entire universe [in the film category, according to Thomas]. See you at the premiere party."

If the project is successful, the movie will be released in early 2014. Stay updated on the Kickstarter page, or follow the Veronica Mars movie on Facebook and YouTube, and join Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell on Twitter for more details.

UPDATE: In less than a day, the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign topped $1 million, which a Kickstarter spokesman confirmed is the fastest a project has ever reached that number. The previous record was held by the Kickstarter for the new Ultima game, Torment: Tides of Numenera, which reached $1 million in about seven hours. The Veronica Mars project hit $1 million in 4 hours and 24 minutes, Kickstarter said.

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