(Figured this was an interesting enough topic for its own thread; we can leave the VM stuff to theirs...) As cool of a developing story as the VM movie is, I personally don't think I'm enough of a fan of anything to pay $35 for a digital download to a movie that doesn't yet exist, except perhaps a Carnivale movie or (maybe) a Vorenus and Pullo Rome spin-off flick. Of course, both of those, however stripped-down, would entail far more production costs than a contemporary, low-key story like VM, but now that Kick-reviving dormant properties is a thing, studios may be more open to chipping in production costs as part of the deal, whereas the VM project was undertaken with the understanding that if only the bare minimum of $2m was met, that - minus the costs of the rewards - would be the only production budget they'd get. Which got me to thinking: how much would I and all of you contribute to various stuff, and for what rewards? - I'd pay $20 or so for a paperback Carnivale novel written by Dan Knauf... maybe $30 for a hardback. No more than $15 for an ebook, probably. - I'd pony up $10 for a digital download of the filmed-but-cut ending to the The Golden Compass movie, the effects for which were apparently mostly if not completely done, provided said effects were finished to at least dvd quality. Maybe $20 for a download of that same footage re-edited into the movie, so long as the last-minute Bolvangar/Svalbard switch, done after said ending was cut, was also reverted. - LEGO could probably get me to pre-pay $75 for a TNG bridge set with crew. I'd want to see CG mockups first, of course. - $50 each for dvd sets of Early Edition seasons three and four. $25 each for downloads of same. - $5 for a digital download of The Mummy, without the FX painting over of Weisz's soaked nightgown. Sure, she's bared all several times elsewhere, but not in one of my all-time favorite movies. ... Let the offerings begin!
Digitized copies of the original raw unmixed instrument/vocal tracks (from the 24-track studio tape) of classic albums like: Metallica - Ride The Lightning Metallica - Master of Puppets Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (Mainly to do my own remixes). I would be willing to pay $20-$50 per album for something like this as a kickstarter.
Movie, schmovie. Anything that would interest me, would have to be a TV series. But I don't want anything revived, except maybe Star Trek as a series but do we need to kickstart something that obvious? I'd rather be surprised by something new and different. Bonus points for space opera or historical drama.
I'd actually pay a $100 for each blu-ray of the unspecial editions of the original Star Wars trilogy. (maybe not kickstart but if they were guaranteed somehow)
Juding from the responses so far, what people really want is a way to get existing content, but in a format of their choosing.
I'm following the lead of the first post which is what I think it's asking. EDIT: never mind, yeah, I'm not expanding on an existing property... It'd be the mouse now, wouldn't it?
I really don't like the whole kickstarter thing. To me when it involves pre-existing Hollywood type projects it comes across like fans ponying up their own money to give to an NFL team so they can sign a FA... Sure it's a team you like, but why should you be giving money to someone or some corporation which already has made and will make millions? As far as I understand kickstarter the money that is funded is basically a donation. You do not get that money back. If the project funded makes 10/20/30 times the intitial investment through kickstarter that kickstarter money still is not returned. The only one who makes a profit is kickstarter itself(taking 5% of the funded money) and the owner of the project for whatever they make once the project is created. Something about all that just seems wrong to me.
That's why the projects on kickstarter that feel the most fair are indie films in which the only return likely to the filmmakers is in the form of the kickstarter money itself--hence it's like a preorder.
Sooner or later, the kickstarter "bubble" will burst. All it will take, is some high profile botched up project or non-delivery.
That's not what kickstarter is supposed to be. It was never intended as a place for Hollywood insiders to do anything. This Veronica Mars thing seems aimed at two ideas: 1) convincing Warners that there's a market for it and 2) PR boost for the movie when it finally appears, whether actually in theaters (has anyone checked with the theater owners whether they would even agree to show a niche movie on anything but a token basis?) or just digital version sold/streamed online. Both 1 and 2 are things studios already do, on their own dime. If there's a market for something, the studio should do the research to find that out. And they are definitely responsible for marketing their wares. I anticipate this will inspire astroturf kickstarter campaigns (I'm assuming VM is not that). It would be very easy for a studio to already have a greenlit project, but do a phony kickstarter campaign to get fans to do a lot of their PR work for them.
Obviously not as good but I've seen a video on youtube where a guy took all the material available and put together a video of what the oriiginal ending would have been like. Might be worth checking out if you haven't seen it? I don't mind when they have a tier like $20-25 with a DVD as a reward so it's like you are basically pre-paying for a movie you are interested in.
As far as resurrecting a dead property: I think Firefly, Deadwood or Carnivale miniseries could probably get $50 from me, maybe $100. Movies are far less interesting to me however, when I mostly just want to spend more time with the characters. I would pay similarly for adaptations of some favorite books.