If you guessed that a Mystery Science Theater 3000 crowdfunding campaign would rake in a lot of cash… well, you guessed correctly. Joel Hodgson’s quest to revive the poke-fun-at-bad-movies show has ended its campaign with nearly $5.8 million raised through Kickstarter, making it the biggest crowdfunded video project so far — it just edged past the $5.7 million of the Veronica Mars movie. Between this fundraising and the $425,000 raised outside of Kickstarter, you’re going to get 14 new MST3K episodes (including a holiday special) next year.
So how did they do it? Nostalgia helped, no doubt, but this was also a textbook example of how to run a crowdfunding campaign. The team didn’t just set its goals and call it a day. It conducted frequent rallies to spark interest, and drip-fed news (such as the roles for Jonah Ray, Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt). In short, it wasn’t at risk of falling off the radar. Loyal fans kept getting reminders to pitch in, and even the casual observers got a pile of reasons to contribute.
Source: Kickstarter