Spike Lee Hits Kickstarter Campaign Goal

Although he was criticized for hitting up his fans for money, director Spike Lee managed to achieve his $1.25 million Kickstarter campaign goal with time left the spare.

The award-winning filmmaker caused a bit of controversy when he used crowdfunding to help finance his next motion picture. Lee said that every drop of money he received through Kickstarter would go directly into the new movie. According to the director, he wasn’t going to take a fee for his work.

Some of Spike Lee’s opponents were very vocal about his use of Kickstarter since he has made a crazy amount of money in Hollywood over the years. However, this didn’t stop the man from reaching his intended goal.

The as-of-yet-untitled movie raised $1.29 million with four days left to go. The movie falls behind Veronica Mars and Zach Braff’s next movie in terms to success. If a few people had problems with Lee’s crowdfunding efforts, they were drowned out by the masses.

Spike Lee’s movie will tell the story about people who are addicted to blood. Although the flick is supposed to be funny, sexy, and bloody, the filmmaker insists that he’s not doing a remake of Blacula. That’s a shame considering this writer would have gladly contributed to that endeavor.

As controversy surrounding his Kickstarter campaign started making the rounds, the director came to his own defense. Lee explained that he put up quite a bit of his own money to bring Red Hook Summer to life.

“The truth is I’ve been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter, there was no Internet. Social media was writing letters, making phone calls, beating the bushes. I’m now using technology with what I’ve been doing,” the filmmaker wrote.

He continued, “I had to do a pre-Kickstarter campaign to get my first feature SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT done way back in 1985. The budget was $175,000. I Had to do a pre-Kickstarter campaign to get Malcolm X finished in 1991 when the production ran out of money,”

Lee’s upcoming film, the remake of the South Korean classic Oldboy, is set to hit theaters this November. It’s unclear when production on his new feature will begin.

Are you surprised that Spike Lee hit his Kickstarter campaign goal? How do you feel about the acclaimed director using crowdfunding to finance his projects?

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]