Kristen Bell Wants To Finance the "Veronica Mars" Movie... if Warner Bros. Allows It

[JamesG]

Kristen Bell Would Finance a "Veronica Mars" Film ... If Warner Bros. Lets Her
by Chris Harnick
posted Sept 23rd 2010


Good news! Kristen Bell wants to finance a "Veronica Mars" film.
Bad News! Warner Bros. won't release the film rights.





Bell, series creator Rob Thomas and a small army of fans have campaigned for a film since the show's cancellation in 2007, but Warner Bros. has been the reluctant party.

"It's a business and the sad truth is that ... they're not going to relinquish the rights to something and let us do it," Bell told the The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere of her new movie, You Again.

"We really have to do it with them because they own it."







Bell, Thomas and super producer Joel Silver took a pitch to Warner Bros., but the studio came back saying the number of viewers who would see a film just wasn't large enough.

Fans, meanwhile, counter that statement on Twitter on a daily basis.



"At this point, Warner Bros. can make it, but like any studio they have research that tells them whether or not they'll make their money back," Bell said.

"And that's what we've been told: That it's just not there. So my duty, because I wanted this movie made from the minute our show got canceled, is to a) do it before I'm 40; and b) to prove to Warner Bros. that there is an audience.

You already have three million who watched it every week, hardcore fans that will see it -- you can only build from there."












"Veronica Mars" fans have always been a small but dedicated force.

They raised money to fly a plane over the headquarters of The CW to show their support for the low-rated show, and when the series was canceled after season 3, they sent thousands of Mars Bars to the network in an attempt to reverse the decision.




After the show's cancellation Thomas toyed with the idea of doing a "Veronica Mars" comic book and fans floated the idea of a direct-to-DVD flick, but no headway was made.

However, Bell is open to other options -- she told The Hollywood Reporter she'd do a Web series -- but thinks the fans deserve more.


"I don't speak for anyone else but myself," Bell said, "but I think that they want it grand because it is deserving of being on the big screen. I think that maybe our creators would settle for a web series, but I think that we all really want to push for the movie if it can happen."



Earlier this month Bell took to Twitter to rally the fans and encouraged them to sign petitions and join the Facebook group of fans who have pledged to see a film if its made.






In April, Thomas told TV Squad that not all hope for a "Mars" flick was lost and that he was exploring other options, such as going the indie route.

However, all that is moot if Warner Bros. won't give up the rights.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/23/kr...ilm-if-warner/