Now there's a first.
Veronica Mars — the TV show turned Kickstarter project turned fully-funded movie — finally hit the big screen this past weekend. In a bit of a rare departure from the standard "movie treatment," Warner Brothers also made the movie available to rent or buy on the same day as its official theatrical release.
However, Warner Brothers decided to go with its Flixster digital download service to distribute said film to the Kickstarter donors, which has apparently caused a bit of ire among fans who were hoping to have their digital copy of the film delivered in a more universal fashion.
In other words, a number of those coughing up $35 or more to the Kickstarter project for access to a digital copy of the film upon its release were only given the option to download the movie from Flixster.
"As a quick aside: we've read all of your comments since yesterday's update. We know that some of you have strong opinions about the decision to provide digital versions of the movie through Flixster," wrote Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas in a Friday Kickstarter update.
"As you'll see in the original FAQ on our Kickstarter page, we've always planned to include Flixster as a digital distribution platform. But I also know that many of you use iTunes, Amazon or other platforms, and would prefer to claim your digital copies on your favorite service, so we hoped we'd also be able to arrange for more options. Unfortunately, it just wasn't possible. In the end, Flixster was the best option for getting the digital movie reward out to all of you, worldwide, at the same time," he added.
If this sounds a bit like the opening to a "we're sorry, but you're stuck" letter, you'd be right. However, there's a bit of a twist to this ending: According to Thomas, fans can now email Warner Brothers customer support to express their dissatisfaction with the studio's Flixster decision. When they do, the [email protected] email address sends back a form letter giving annoyed backers one of two options to pick from.
In the first, backers can tell the customer service reps that they'd like a $10 rebate to their pledge — "the value attributed to the digital download," says the email — and they'll receive it after about a week or so of the request. Secondly, if backer would still prefer to have the digital movie on a service of their choosing, they can download it and send a copy of the receipt to said customer service email. Once they do so, they'll receive a full refund for the cost of the movie via Amazon payments.
"Thanks so much for being a backer of this project. We hope once you watch your digital copy you will be proud to have helped make this film possible," the email reads.
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