Veronica Mars: Thomas Still Wants to Make Movie. Really?

Do you remember back to June 2007 when the fan-favorite Veronica Mars TV was cancelled? Well, shortly after the CW network killed the show, Mars creator Rob Thomas said that he was interested in making a movie about the young detective. The idea sounded great but pretty unrealistic. Well, apparently Thomas hasn’t given up on the idea.

EW’s Michael Ausiello reports that Thomas and star Kristen Bell recently ran into each other and discussed the feature film idea once again. He’s also apparently talked about it with Mars executive producer Joel Silver. Unfortunately, these discussions don’t mean the project’s going to get moving any time soon. Thomas says, “It’s very tough to focus on it right now with two pilots on my plate [the remakes of Cupid and New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune] but as soon as I have any free time, that’s my top priority.”

Though it’s nice that Veronica Mars hasn’t been forgotten, is it really realistic to expect that a movie will ever be made? After all, the series attracted an average of only 2.65 million viewers each week in its final season. Why the jump from low-rated TV series to a big-screen feature film? Will a studio honestly consider gambling $40 million on a Mars movie? Not likely. After all, only a handful of extremely successful series have made the jump to feature films and succeeded — Sex and the City, The Simpsons, and Star Trek come to mind.

Dan Kois of New York Magazine suggests a much more reasonable alternative. He suggests filming a group of mini-Mars episodes on a limited budget. They could then be distributed online and via DVD (ala Joss Whedon’s successful Dr. Horrible). That sounds like a much more realistic idea, would surely succeed, and might even inspire more trips back to Neptune. Stay tuned!