Spike Lee has exceeded his $1.25 million Kickstarter goal to crowdfund his next joint, about humans who are addicted to blood (“Funny, Sexy and Bloody. A new kind of love story – and not a remake of Blacula,†he wrote when the campaign launched). Lee’s Kickstarter has hit $1.29M with four days to go, marking the third-biggest film project to date on the fundraising website behind the Veronica Mars movie’s $5.7M and Zach Braff’s $3.1M. Lee’s success marks a subtle shift in the burgeoning era of celebrity Kickstarters, which routinely have earned scrutiny from critics who accuse them of stealing limelight from smaller campaigns — a backlash Wish I Was Here producer Stacey Sher called “excruciating.†But while Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and Braff mostly appealed online to established fanbases to raise their budget dollars, Lee waged an unabashed PR campaign in traditional and broadcast media, including an appearance on CNN, to promote his fundraiser. “I’m bringing to Kickstarter who’ve never even heard of Kickstarter,†he said in an interview last month.
