"Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell on Friday had their first chance to address investors — the fans — with a first-look preview trailer and news of what their favorite teen supersleuth has been up to since the show ended in 2007.
You know the lore: Thomas has been wanting to stage the show's bigscreen return for years. He posted the project on crowdfunding site Kickstarter — and promptly broke all kinds of records as it soared well past its funding goal of $3 million.
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And just because the budget is small doesn't mean they didn't pull out all the stops. Friday in Hall H was one legit Netpune reunion: Thomas, Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, Jason Dohring, Tina Majorino, Chris Lowell, Percy Daggs III and Francis Capra all made appearances.
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Kicking off with a fan appreciation video and then a preview trailer, it's revealed Veronica has finished a degree in psychology and went on to law school. When we meet her in the movie, she's a New York City lawyer.
"It has A 'Godfather 3' theme to it," Thomas said. "Veronica has not worked as a private detective since the last time you see her on season 3. The movie pulls her back."
Everyone seems to have lost touch since the events of the show.
"Our characters are seeing each other for the first time as we're seeing each other for the first time," Tina Majorino said.
"It wasn't tough to bring her back out of retirement," Bell said about returning to the role after all these years. "There's something about Rob's writing that I just get and can memorize really easily. Veronica's voice is in my head."
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Thomas had two goals with the film. First, to please the fans, which he thinks he has done.
"I'm giving the fans what they want to see," he said. "I know the pleasure zones for 'Veronica Mars' fans and I'm giving them that."
The second goal? To expand the audience and make more movies. He said that while there are "Easter eggs" all over the movie for the series' fans, it doesn't really revisit the happenings of the series. It only asks new fans to accept that Veronica had this strange life as a teen detective.
"I want this to be a 'Bond' franchise," he proclaimed.
The movie, which wraps on Monday, is slated for an early 2014 debut. It will be quickly followed by the first of two Veronica Mars books penned by Thomas, which take place after the film's action.