BLOG: The Veronica Mars Kickstarter: This Changes...What?

When I was a kid, I remember catching "Son Of Kong," the 1933 sequel to "King Kong" on television.  Specifically, I remember being infuriated at the ending.  Spoiler alert:  Little Kong dies.   Why, I angrily questioned in my kid brain, did the big monkey have to DIE at the end of each movie?

I swore that when I grew up I'd remake "Son Of Kong."  Little Kong will live and everyone will be happy!

Turns out that dream isn't so far-fetched anymore.

Fans of the cancelled television show "Veronica Mars" contributed over $2 million to a Kickstarter effort to persuade Warner Brothers to greenlight a "Veronica Mars" movie.  Kickstarter is a for-profit company that raises funds for creative projects by promising rewards (such as autographs) to people who decide to contribute to a specific project.

Fans of movies now can not only buy a ticket to their favorite movie, they can fund their favorite movie.

So this changes everything, right?  Well...maybe.  As this article points out, $2 million won't a movie make--even "low-budget" films cost around $20 million these days.  And Warner Brothers now must judge whether a fervent fan base translates into a profitable movie (I'm a "Firefly" fanatic and that...didn't quite work out).

I do think that many a Hollywood type will try this funding method in the future.  Sure, its for the craft...but, let's face it, the crew of Veronica Mars now has the opportunity to grab another paycheck.

It's these type of news stories that allow us to take a moment to contemplate just how fast technology is changing our world.  My three-year-old daughter referred to Facebook in a conversation recently.  I realized that she will grow up in a world in which Facebook, tablet computers, and smartphones will have ALWAYS existed.