"Their reaction was, if you can show there`s enough fan interest to warrant a movie, we`re on board."
Los Angeles (ANTARA News/Reuters) - Fans of defunct TV show "Veronica Mars" turned out in droves to raise $2 million in record time on Wednesday to fund a long- hoped-for movie version of the mystery series about a young, female private investigator.

More than 31,000 people pledged amounts ranging from $1 to $10,000 on crowdsourcing site Kickstarter.com, less than 24 hours after the campaign was launched.

The TV series` creator Rob Thomas said he had struck a deal with Hollywood studio Warner Bros. to make a movie based on the show if he was able to raise $2 million by April 12 through the campaign.

"Their reaction was, if you can show there`s enough fan interest to warrant a movie, we`re on board," Thomas wrote on the film`s donation page, adding that, if successful, the film will be released in early 2014.

"Veronica Mars," starring Kristen Bell, ran from 2004-2007 on U.S. television networks UPN and CW and told the story of a high school student who moves on to college while moonlighting as a private investigator working on complex mysteries.

Thomas said he wrote a feature film script soon after the TV show was canceled in 2007. But he said Warner Bros. declined to fund it at that time, saying it wasn`t convinced there was enough interest to warrant a major studio-sized movie about Veronica.

Bell, who has signed on for a film version, promised on the Kickstarter website that if the $2 million goal is reached "we will make the sleuthiest, snarkiest, it`s-all-fun-and-games" movie possible.

The campaign hit the $1 million threshold in four hours and 24 minutes on Wednesday, setting a new record as the fastest Kickstarter fundraising pitch to $1 million, Kickstarter said.

Popular Kickstarter drives, known as crowd funding, allow people to raise money for projects within a certain time frame as long as they offer gifts in return for donations.

For the "Veronica Mars" movie project, a pledge of $10 or more got backers a copy of the film`s shooting script while those pledging $25 or more will receive a custom T-shirt along with the script.

One donor pledged at least $10,000 and will receive a speaking role in the film.

Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.
(Uu.H-AK)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013