Alright, if you’ve totally missed the internet today, we have some news for you…

Warner Bros has officially given Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas (not the guy from Matchbox 20) the OK to start work on a Veronica Mars film! And Kristen Bell is on board!

Awesome, right? Well…that’s where it gets weird.

The only way that WB will greenlight the project officially is if they raise $2 Million on Kickstarter.  Now, in less than 24 hours, the project has earned $1.7 Million (at the time of this writing), so it’s a fair bet to say that the project will go on, which means everyone will get their film, plus their goodies (like t-shirts, digital downloads of the films, DVDs, blu-rays, etc.)

But now, it’s time to be “that guy”.

Could this be the start of a bad thing?  You take a property with a huge cult backing and essentially hold it for ransom - making the fans pay to support or initialize the production of the film, project, etc? Isn’t that what studios are for anyway?

Sure, we are currently within a strange era of media where if people want something made, people can support its creation through site such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.  However - when big huge media like Warner Bros is using it for, essentially startup funds and market research, isn’t that abusing a system designed for the Davids, not the Goliaths?

Furthermore - will this cause every lost cult TV show, movie or project to turn into a system of beggars? You’d have to think that the producers of projects like Firefly and Rob Thomas’s own Party Down, among countless others, have to be eyeing the results of this project - if just to follow through and “get theirs”.

Will this lead to a world where instead of a studio taking a risk and supporting original ideas, they make it the general audiences responsibility, if not “fault” to greenlight the future of these projects?

Imagine if tomorrow, this is how Warner Bros decides which DC Comics movie to produce after Justice League. It’s a ridiculous concept on paper, but it’s a reality we aren’t too far from.

This is an exciting day for Veronica Mars fans, and this isn’t intended to ruin any parades - but think about the other message your money may be sending. Just some food for thought.

Source: Kickstarter.