It was good news and bad news for “Veronica Mars” this weekend. The “marshmallows,” as the film’s fans are called, turned out in droves to support the Kickstarter-funded film, driving the box office to a healthy $2 million from 291 theaters (265 in the U.S.).
But the bad news is that fans who contributed $35 via Kickstarter to get the movie made in exchange for a “free” digital download of the film, experienced some technical snafus due to problems with Ultraviolet, the digital “locker” system and Flixter, the movie app owned by Warner Bros., the film’s distributor.
After backers took to social media to gripe about problems downloading the film, Warner Bros. issued a statement Saturday: “The vast majority of ‘Veronica Mars’
backers who attempted to redeem their code had a successful experience. A
communication was sent to all backers yesterday from (the film’s director) Rob Thomas telling
them to get in touch with ‘Veronica Mars’ technical support if they were
experiencing problems.”
Backers were also offered the opportunity to receive refunds. “Backers who had technical issues were assisted directly by the
‘Veronica Mars’ customer support team while those who expressed a
preference to have the film on a different format received the
communication below offering to reimburse them for the cost of
purchasing the film in that format. We are, of course, working diligently to ensure that all the ‘Veronica
Mars’ backers have a great experience.”
“Veronica Mars,” which was released day and date, marks the first time
one of Hollywood’s major studios distributed a movie in theaters and
digitally at the same time.
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