Veronica Mars Movie Pulls in $2 Million at Box Office as Digital Download Problems Plague Backers

Backers who helped make the movie possible had major problems when trying to see the film at home

The Veronica Mars movie didn't exactly crash the box office, but the fan-funded film made it into the Top 10, landing at No. 10 with $2 million. The movie, which was funded by fans via Kickstarter, revived the beloved cult-hit TV series that ran from 2004 to 2007 on UPN/The CW. The Veronica Mars movie also hit video on demand and services like iTunes and Amazon same day as its limited theatrical release in AMC cinemas.

Warner Bros. was happy with the opening. "Our result starting with our Thursday fan events was $260K. You add that together with our weekend for a total of $2 million from 291 theaters? That's pretty significant," Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president of theatrical distribution at Warner Bros., told Entertainment Weekly.

So what now? Will there be a Veronica Mars sequel? Those conversations have yet to happen; series creator, movie director and co-writer Rob Thomas said there is a magic number he's discussed with Warner Bros. about returning to Mars for more adventures.

"Do I still hope Veronica Mars does well in movie theaters, and sells a hundred billion copies on opening weekend? Of course I do. And is there a number I've discussed with Warner Bros that would make it easier to start talking about a sequel? Of course there is. The more audience we can show for Veronica Mars, the better the odds that we'll get to do this again in the future," he wrote in an email to fans on Friday. "Most of the time, when you direct or produce a film, you spend opening weekend watching the box office returns, because those—for better or worse—are considered the biggest measure of success…I'm still watching those numbers, but I have to be honest: for me, that feels a little bit like playing with the house's money. If you're happy, we've already hit our mark."

But a small(ish) box office is the least of the problems for fans who have been waiting for the day Veronica Mars returned to life. The mystery of the digital download, that's the next case for Veronica Mars. If fans pledged a certain amount to the Veronica Mars movie, they were promised a digital download of the film close to release. That download was available day of…if you could get it to work.

The digital download was distributed by Flixster because "in the end, Flixster was the best option for getting the digital movie reward out to all of you, worldwide, at the same time," Thomas told backers in an email.

But some couldn't get Flixster to work (either to stream or download the Flixster app to their computers) and/or were dissatisfied with the service. If you contact customer support about digital download issues, you have three options presented via email from Veronica Mars movie customer support.

Option 1: If you wish to use Flixster and need help with technical issues, customer support will do their best to help you ASAP.

Option 2: If you wish to download Veronica Mars from another service, such as iTunes or Amazon, go ahead and then email the receipt to Veronica Mars customer service and you'll receive a refund for the full amount paid.

Option 3: Receive a $10 refund (the amount pledged via Kickstarter to get a digital download) through Amazon Payments.