The kickstarter for the Veronica Mars movie has currently brought in $4.5 million, more than twice the minimum goal for the project.  There's still one week left for people to donate, and Rob Thomas provided an update on where they're currently at.  Thomas says he's finished the first draft of the movie, but still wanted to emphasize that the script was contingent on how much money they raise.  Thomas said that $2 million was enough to get the project a green-light, and because it was a believable goal.  However, he also wanted to make clear that more money means more options like a longer running time, more shooting days, and the ability shoot in Southern California, which is where they shot the series.  However, some of the money will go to fulfilling all of the donation rewards and shipping costs, but Thomas wouldn't provide an estimate on the percentage.

Hit the jump for Thomas' full statement.  He also promises that "in the final week there will be daily announcements and new rewards, plus some more chances at a few sold-out reward levels. He also says to keep an eye out for the official T-shirt designs to be unveiled."

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Here's Thomas' update on the project [via EW]:

I wanted to take a moment to explain something that I could have made clearer at the beginning: $2 million was our minimum goal. It would be enough to get a movie made, but it was never going to let us make the exact movie we really wanted to make, or the one we know you deserve. I’ve spoken to the press a lot in the past month — turns out they’ve been pretty excited about this whole thing — and one thing I’ve explained is that the final script will depend on how much we’re able to raise. $2 million would have been enough to get us back on the screen. When we started, we didn’t want to set our goal higher than that, for fear we might lose our chance to make the movie at all. But because of you, we did go higher. Way higher.

We’re at $4.5 million now. That’s a lot of money. But for a feature length movie, it’s still a pretty conservative budget. Everything you’ve pledged beyond the initial $2 million gives us more options, and for that I’m eternally grateful. More backing means more locations, more sets, more actors, and most important of all, more shooting days.

The bottom line? That extra support will give us the freedom to make the best movie possible.

That additional money could mean the difference between a movie that lasts 90 minutes, and one that lasts 110. It could also mean the difference between us shooting in Southern California, where the series was shot, and in a less expensive location somewhere else.

(To be clear, I can’t make guarantees yet about how long the movie will be, or exactly where we will shoot, and the last thing I want is to make a promise I can’t keep. But what I can promise is this: the more we end up with, the more freedom we’ll have, and the better our movie will be. That’s what this is about.)

That’s a long explanation, but we know we’re asking a lot of you. In return, we want you to know that we’re not going to take all of the additional funds and swim around in a mountain of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. Some of the money we raise will go toward the different rewards and incentives we’re offering, like t-shirts, posters, DVDs, and premiere events. Turns out, a lot of it will also go toward shipping costs to get those rewards out to you. But I promise: after those costs, every dollar we raise will go toward making this movie the best it can be.

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