Neill Blomkamp Pulls Plug on Crowdfunded Movie After One Week

After directing sci-fi films like District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, it would seem as though director Neill Blomkamp could accomplish virtually anything he put his mind to when it comes to delivering audiences ambitious genre projects. Unfortunately, Blomkamp’s effort to crowdfund the resources to adapt the short film Firebase into a feature-length production was abruptly abandoned after earning an underwhelming amount of finances after only a week.

The news was shared on Twitter by Blomkamp’s Oats Studios, which announced, “To all backers of Firebase.. Oats will be refunding everyone who contributed completely. Unfortunately we didn’t raise enough to do something truley awesome. We would rather over deliver than create an average film. We thank the thousands of people who did back us- hang in there.”

The cancellation of the project comes as a disappointment for a variety of reasons. Blomkamp started Oats Studios last year in hopes of bringing the world ambitious short films in the genre realm, delivering content straight to viewers through YouTube, Facebook, and Steam. While many short films suffer from limited production budget, Oats had already demonstrated much higher production value than similar fare.

One unique element of the Firebase adaptation, which already exists as a 27-minute short, was that there was never a target goal set for the project nor were any perks offered. With sites like Kickstarter, portions of the funds raised are set aside to provide supporters with physical benefits, such as posters, t-shirts, or other merchandise. Firebase, however, aimed to use 100% of the funds to create the finished project.

“We want to build a 21st-century studio that is funded directly by fans,” Blomkamp originally shared. “The more people online that support us the more content we will put out. We want to create an ecosystem where we are directly fueled by the community. Our goal now is the next Firebase film. Help fuel us here. We want to grow and expand, but we need the community’s help.”

The disappointment of this endeavor is possible confirmation that, without an expected goal, fans were apprehensive to contribute. Whether the goal was $5,000 or $5 million, fans would have had an idea of the size of the production that was being attempted. Another possible disappointment is that, without any perks other than getting a high-quality film, fans weren’t interested and preferred to also receive a keepsake.

If these theories aren’t frustrating enough, knowing we won’t get this film from Blomkamp is yet another discouraging detail, as he has no other directing project announced.

Do you wish this fundraising project continued? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Twitter, oatsstudios]