Kung Fury, 2015
Country: Sweden
Genres: Fantastic, Action, Comedy
Miami, 1985. The most dangerous criminal of all time, Adolf Hitler, nicknamed Kung Führer, appears in a coastal city. Supercop Kung Fury decides to travel back in time to Nazi Germany to kill Hitler and end the Nazi empire.
Perhaps the most famous crowdfunded film in the world remains the comedy action film Kung Fury. The project’s author, Swedish director David Sandberg, began raising money on the Kickstarter platform in 2013 and ended up raising over $600,000, triple the amount originally announced. Such a huge budget allowed the filmmakers to go full throttle and invite iconic actor David Hasselhoff for one of the roles, who also recorded the title theme of True Survivor for the film.
The film premiered in 2013 as part of the out-of-competition program at the Cannes Film Festival. It was later made freely available on YouTube, where it was viewed more than 30 million times worldwide.
Iron Sky, 2012
Country: Finland, Germany, Australia
Seventy years ago, the unscathed Nazis flew to the moon. Now that their gigantic revenge fleet is almost complete, they decide to give Earth another blitzkrieg. The American government and ordinary citizens of the United States have to fight an unequal battle against the representatives of the Fourth Reich and save the world.
Another record-breaking fundraiser hailing from Scandinavia is Finnish director Timo Vuorensola’s absurdist comedy action film Iron Sky. It took six years to create it, and originally the film was not planned to be shot with public funds. Only after several unsuccessful attempts to raise funding by traditional means the director posted several teasers on YouTube, which attracted public attention. As a result of the campaign launched, more than 1.2 million euros were raised.
Veronica Mars, 2014
Country: USA, UK, France
Sheriff’s daughter Veronica Mars previously investigated the most mysterious crimes in the city of Neptune. After leaving for New York City and getting a job as a lawyer at a good firm, she was sure she’d broken out of the loop. But it’s not that simple. Her ex-boyfriend Logan Echols is accused of killing his girlfriend. Deciding to help him, Veronica returns to Neptune and begins her own investigation.
Shortly after the closure of the popular CW series, the author of the adventures of the schoolgirl detective Rob Thomas planned to make a feature-length sequel. But the management of the studio Warner Bros. did not give his project the green light. Therefore, to realize the idea, he turned to fans and was heard. Launched on Kickstarter campaign turned out to be one of the most successful in the history of cinema. In a day the authors collected 1 million dollars, and in a month – 6 million. This money was more than enough to shoot the movie, but the result was not successful. Despite the praise of critics and fans, the picture failed at the U.S. box office, earning only 3.5 million dollars, barely covering half the budget.
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, 2014
Country: USA
Dr. Hess Green comes into contact with a strange artifact brought back from Africa and soon learns with horror that he has been cursed. Now the hero experiences an irrepressible and constantly tormenting thirst for blood. However, he has not become a vampire, he has no fangs, and he is not afraid of sunlight. Soon the hero meets a strange yet beautiful woman who explains to him what happened to him.
Perhaps the most amazing story happened to Spike Lee, who in 2014 conceived of making an unofficial remake of the iconic 1973 horror film Ganja and Hess. The original film went down in history as one of the first “black horror films,” and starred Dwayne Jones of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. To realize his idea, the director organized a successful fundraising campaign on the Kickstarter platform. As a result, Spike Lee raised $ 1.4 million, of which $10,000 was donated by Steven Spielberg himself.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, 2014
Location: USA
In Bad City, vampires, prostitutes, drug addicts, pimps, loan sharks, and more. A girl dressed in black rides a skateboard and seeks out new victims under the cover of night.
The film was the debut of British-American director Ana Lily Amirpour. The experimental black-and-white Iranian vampire western was made for only $60,000 raised on the Indiegogo platform. The producer attributed the success of the crowdfunding campaign to the inclusion of unusual bonuses in the standard set of contribution acknowledgements. Potential investors were offered to name the streets of the fictional Bad City, where the film takes place, in their honor. And invested more than $ 5 thousand promised a trip to the festival, along with the crew. Agreed, not a bad investment.