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'Veronica Mars' Film Is Happening

'Veronica Mars' Film Is Happening; Campaign Tops Goal

(CBS NEWS) – "Veronica Mars" fans just bought themselves a big-screen version of the cult favorite TV series.

A crowd-sourcing campaign on the Kickstarter website to raise $2 million for the project hit its goal in less than a day.

"Veronica Mars," which starred Kristen Bell as a young sleuth, ended its three-season run in 2007. With Bell's help, series creator Rob Thomas started the effort Wednesday to make a big-screen version.

More than 33,000 contributors had pledged $2.1 million as of Wednesday evening, and the total was still growing.

"I love you guys. You are all SO spectacular. I am speechless," Bell tweeted.

"My mind is blown. I've been fantasizing about this and had to tell myself, 'Stop it, Rob, you're being silly. You're setting yourself up for disappointment,'" Thomas told Entertainment Weekly. "And now today has exceeded the wildest pipe dream I let myself entertain. Holy cow. We better make a good movie. These amazing fans have stepped up. We better deliver."

In his online pitch, Thomas promised, "The more money we raise, the cooler movie we can make."

The movie is the fastest project yet to reach $1 million on Kickstarter, hitting the mark in 4 hours, 24 minutes. It's also the most-funded film or video project to date, according to a spokesman for the site. Previous top movie fundraisers are the planned "The Goon" ($442,000) and "Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa" ($406,000), both animated.

Thomas said "Veronica Mars" owner Warner Bros. has given the project its blessing, and Bell and other cast members are ready to begin production this summer for a 2014 release. A studio spokesman said a limited release, meaning it may not be on thousands of screens or in every city, is likely at this point.

The fundraising campaign, which was confirmed by Thomas' representative at United Talent Agency, ends April 12.

"You have banded together like the sassy little honey badgers you are and made this possibility happen," Bell said in an online message, promising the "sleuthiest, snarkiest" movie possible.

Bell is back on TV in "House of Lies," the Showtime series starring Don Cheadle.

She and several "Veronica Mars" cast members appear in a lighthearted video on Kickstarter in which they mull the prospect of reuniting.

The series averaged between 2.2 million and 2.5 million viewers in its two-year run on the now-defunct UPN and final season on the CW network. Those modest numbers are overshadowed by the intense fan devotion that has kept dreams of a movie alive.

Missed "Veronica Mars" the first time around? All three seasons are streaming on TheWB.com.

(Copyright 2013 by CW Bay Area | CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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