When Vampire Academy opened in seventh place at the box office, with just $4 million in its opening weekend and a total worldwide gross of $15 million, its chances for a sequel weren't good. But for fans of Richelle Mead's series of novels, there's hope of the second book, Frostbite actually making it to the big screen. But you'll have to pay to make it happen.
The Vampire Academy producing team have launched and IndieGoGo campaign in an effort to get a sequel made. According to the campaign page, they have successfully funded the majority of the Frostbite movie, but in order to get a green light to move forward with the project, they need to raise $1.5 million. The campaign launched August 6, and at present it's just over $167,000 (11% of its goal):
Incentives for the campaign range from updates, photos, a PDF of the script, a digital download and other perks, to being cast as a background extra or a visit to the set and a walk-on part with lines. That last one has already been snatched up, at the cost of $10,000.
If the film gets funded, they're anticipating a 6-week shoot in Europe or Australia, and they note that the actors' busy schedules means they can't guarantee that all of the original cast will return for Frostbite. There's no mention of Mark Waters returning to direct the followup, and it looks like they're working with a screenplay written by Piers Ashworth, which is a change from Vampire Academy's screenwriter, Daniel Waters.
In addition to laying out the hopes and plans of Frostbite, the page also includes this video, which features some of the cast from the original movie, and the producers as they request support for this movie.
Vampire Academy centers on a school for peaceful Moroi vampires and their Dhampir guardians in training. The first film introduced us to Rose, a Dhampir training to protect her Moroi vampire best friend Lyssa. As you can see, at about the 2:20 mark of the video above, following a music video showing off highlights from the first film, there's some video teasing some major aspects of Frostbite, including the ski trip. In the book, after a Moroi family is massacred, the students of St. Vladimir Academy are sent off to a remote ski lodge where they'll be safe from the evil Strigoi vampires.
With the mention that the film is almost funded, it seems like this campaign is an effort to drum up fan support of the film. The fact that it's only at 11% a week after the campaign started may not bode well for the project. But with 23 days left to go, there's plenty of time for the campaign to gain some exposure among fans of Richelle Mead's series and those who liked the first movie. As mentioned, Vampire Academy didn't perform very well at the box office, so it's no surprise that financiers might be cautious about investing in a sequel. But it'll be interesting to see if the campaign reaches its goal. If it does, they plan to start pre-production at the end of this year, with a goal to start shooting in early 2015.
