Veronica Mars Movie - Kickstarter

[Campe]

That's really good! There is an article which suggests that $1mil will appease the gods at WB. Although the sequel doesn't depend upon that number and Rob Thomas won't talk on that figure. But between rentals and box office receipts, I think this will be a very good weekend for marshmallows.

As for the film itself, I liked it. It was a little over bloated in the cast department but it was nice to see most of these characters back on screen and it was a fun story. Plus you could tell the cast had a great time back in the roles.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The nature of the project was that the talent were working for cost, less or free.

What's Rob going to do?

Turn away free labour?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Well, that was a lot of fun. I hope that there will be more Veronica in the future, hopefully in a Netflix-style series. I will definitely be buying the book.

Happy that they are still using "We Used to be Friends" and sad that it's not the Dandy Warhols.

Yes, the end credits made me very happy.

 

[Takeru]

I agree that a series would be better than another movie, I don't even want 22 episodes, 8 to 10 would be great, one bigger case, a few smaller ones on the side, a few guest appearances of minor characters etc., I really hope they'll do it.

I read that Veronica Mars made 1 million dollars at the box office on friday, that's a ton of money considering it was on less than 300 screens and was released digitally at the same time.

I loved the movie and was excited about the Celeste Kane cameo, she was one of the characters I didn't expect at all and I loved that these got her back. If they do a sequel she should get a larger role, the class warfare stuff is interesting and I always liked her, she wasn't a nice person but interesting and she has lots of history with Veronica and Keith.

Unpopular opinion: I'd be fine with losing Logan, let him be on a ship if there's a sequel and only show up in a phone conversation, if they do a series he should only do a guest spot in the season finale. I'm just not interested in LoVe drama anymore, let them be in a happy long distance relationship and allow Veronica to spend more time with Wallace, I LOVED their friendship.

 

[Tosk]

Unpopular opinion: I'd be fine with losing Logan

Not unpopular with me.

 

[ATimson]

Anyone else find it a bit disconcerting when they cursed. It felt like a "hey, we can curse now, let's do it," thing. It's always weird seeing TV shows become movies and suddenly being cursing (though nothing can top Spike's 1986 "Oh shit!" in Transformers: The Movie ).

Not really. Though that's probably because I thought the lack of cursing on the show was unrealistic.

 

[bigdaddy]

Bad news. Veronica Mars is not in the top 10 and has a huge dropoff throughout the weekend. Not sure how they got Subday numbers when most aren't awake.


11). Veronica Mars (WB), 291 theaters / $1M Fri. / $617K Sat. (-39%) / $375K Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $2M / Per screen: $6,837 to $7120 / Wk 1

 

[ATimson]

Bad news. Veronica Mars is not in the top 10 and has a huge dropoff throughout the weekend. Not sure how they got Subday numbers when most aren't awake.

I think that the digital numbers will be the interesting ones. The rental cost me as much as gas to the nearest theater showing it would have, let alone the ticket; doing the rental was a no-brainer for me.

 

[Campe]

Bad news. Veronica Mars is not in the top 10 and has a huge dropoff throughout the weekend. Not sure how they got Subday numbers when most aren't awake.


11). Veronica Mars (WB), 291 theaters / $1M Fri. / $617K Sat. (-39%) / $375K Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $2M / Per screen: $6,837 to $7120 / Wk 1

In 291 theaters? $2mil is pretty frikkin good! Anyone expecting VM to be in the top 10 this weekend is kidding themselves. The dropoff is not great and could ultimately effect the possibility of a sequel BUT as ATimson says, the digital numbers will be interesting and the true tale of what's going on with the show. I live in the Greater Nashville area and the movie wasn't showing here. I had to rent it on iTunes.

 

[bigdaddy]

Well the problem was the predictions on Friday were for 2.2-2.7 million and be in the top 10. The drop off is very very very bad, to the point I think it could cause issues for a sequel.

 

[Campe]

This is unprecedented though. How do you measure success on a film that has a pretty decent sized fan base, an extremely limited release in theaters and a potentially large following on VOD? You can't base it on box office receipts alone. Plus, WB didn't put much up on the film cost-wise, nor did it have an advertising budget to speak of. Ultimately, wouldn't ever penny that came in on this be considered pure profit?

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Wow the movie is available on iTunes as we'll. I wonder how much it makes on VOD.

 

[bigdaddy]

Ultimately, wouldn't ever penny that came in on this be considered pure profit?

No because making the movie, putting it in theaters, and ads were all taken care of from WB and would have pst more than the 5.7 million.

There is a number in place that would make a sequel happen, and it's not a low number. The sequel would not be paid for by the fans so it needs to be shown that this is actually a franchise and not some one off fluke.

But it will be cheaper than say the Firefly franchise because of no sets or special effects.

But I thought I read somewhere it opens up in more theaters next weekend, so that would be nice. I'd go with my mom (I made her a fan!) if it played anywhere within 50ish miles.

 

[Aldo]

I'm starting to suspect this is how non-Firefly Fans felt when trying to talk about Serenity with Brown Coats.

I asked a simple question, and true I didn't specify, but it was kind of directed at people that, you know, have actually seen the movie and could answer my question.

You're question was does a sequel movie have spoilers for the show that came before it. The answer is "Duh", I don't need to watch the movie to know that. So don't give me attitude because you asked such a stupid question.

It might interest you to know that I did skip the movie, at least until I'm finished with the show. I had a chat with a friend who convinced me that the movie would spoil the show. And oh yeah, he was much more polite about it than you were. It's called tact, look it up.

 

[bigdaddy]

It's called common sense. Look into it.

I wouldn't have been rude, but really, you were being bitchy and lacked any basic common sense. Of course the movie would spoil the show, I don't need to have seen the movie to know that, everyone on the planet besides you understood that.

 

[Aldo]

I had thought the movie might have been a bit more vague about certain things from the series, as I haven't read any reviews that say it outright spoils the show. That's why I just wanted a response from someone who had seen it. But I now realize I might have asked a bit too early on Friday as most of the posters in this thread probably hadn't seen it yet.

 

[Campe]

Ultimately, wouldn't ever penny that came in on this be considered pure profit?

No because making the movie, putting it in theaters, and ads were all taken care of from WB and would have pst more than the 5.7 million.

There is a number in place that would make a sequel happen, and it's not a low number. The sequel would not be paid for by the fans so it needs to be shown that this is actually a franchise and not some one off fluke.

No snark intended, but where do you get your information on the advertising budget or the number needed for a sequel from? You're making claims with nothing to back it up and I don't necessarily believe it. A Forbes article states much differently, particularly for the advertising budget. As this is a lengthy article on the weekend box office, I'll just quote the relevant passage:

The most interesting new release was of course the 291 screen release of Warner Bros.’ Veronica Mars movie. As you know, the film was a feature continuation of the beloved but poorly rated television show. The film version, coming seven years after the end of its third and final season, was funded mostly by hardcore fans using Kickstarter. The film actually debuted in 291 theaters and Video On Demand on the same day, unheard of for a major studio release. Warner had to rent out many of those theaters as the big chains generally don’t play movies that are available on VOD. I don’t have VOD numbers and may not for awhile, but the film’s theatrical release opened to $2 million, or just over a third of its $5.7 million budget.

With $1m on Friday, it’s arguably the least-shocking 2.0x multiplier in modern history. Maybe it has something vaguely resembling legs and gets to $6m, or maybe it’s the most front-loaded movie of all time and it’s done after today. It will be interesting to watch because, again, there is just no precedent for this. Of course, at least some of that $5.7m raised was “compensated” via digital downloads of the film, so that’s a sizable chunk of the VOD audience already accounted for. Again, this is a strange release, completely without precedent in box office history.

There just aren’t a lot of “film continuation of cancelled cult TV show funded directly by the fans and then given a limited theatrical release and same-day national VOD availability” examples to compare this to. Those who wanted to this got the movie they wanted. Aside from complaints about investors being unable to access their digital copy via Warner Bros.’ flawed Flixter program (Warner will refund those who gave up and bought the film elsewhere), this was an unmitigated success for the fans and for the investors. Warner Bros. barely spent a dime on advertising, and yet they will still reap most of the profits. For what it’s worth, considering how many fans already bought the film digitally, Warner better make sure the blu-ray is crammed with special features.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Hell, I live five miles from a theater that's showing it, and I still went with VOD.

Cheaper, more convenient, I can pause when I like, I don't have to turn off my phone and snacks aren't outrageously expensive.

 

[PsychoPere]

Rob Thomas also considers the number necessary for a sequel to be "a reachable goal", while admitting that it's not the "easiest goal in the world."

The main thrust of the article is discussing the type of "feel" that Thomas would want a sequel to have, if one were to move forward.

 

[Campe]

One thing to add on my argument. Most films are distributed digitally. I have a friend who used to manage an independent movie theater and she indicated that typically the price of a catalog title is fairly typically cheap. They send you a hard drive with the film on it usually around the reasonable price of $300. Let's assume that the licensing fee is a moot point as WB is handling the distribution and renting the theaters. A hard drive holding a digital file would cost about $150. Nonetheless, also let's assume that WB has at least 300 of these sitting around. I think it's a fair assumption. So, let's call that a wash. And just say it costs $50 to ship the movies to the theaters. So that's $14,550 for shipping to 291 theaters.

Veronica Mars is showing exclusively at the AMC theaters this weekend. Let's say that renting a theater for 2 hours is $500. Pretty reasonable. But also, assuming that it's going to 291 AMC screens probably would get them a bit of a discount. So let's assume $300 a screening. Let's then assume it shows five times a day per screen. For three days, that puts that cost at $1.3 million. And if they don't get a discount, that puts it at $2.2 million for 3 days. Then let's assume they spent $1 million on advertising. So, we are talking probably $2.3 to $3.2 million.

Also, the Kickstarter campaign was only asking for $2 million which tells me the overall price to make the film was fairly low. While they probably utilized more money towards production, getting $5.7 million probably took some of the money towards things like distribution, advertising and theater rental.

Granted... this is all assumption on my part.