If Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas can raise enough money to make a Veronica Mars movie happen, couldn't Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon? According to the Avengers helmer himself, it doesn't look too likely...

One of his reactions to hearing the news about Ms. Mars' success was a sense of dread, he explains to Buzzfeed: "I realised [a Firefly film project would be the] only thing on everybody's mind right now. I've said repeatedly that I would love to make another movie with these guys, and that remains the case. It also remains the case that I'm booked up by Marvel for the next three years, and that I haven't even been able to get Dr. Horrible 2 off the ground because of that."

"So I don't even entertain the notion of entertaining the notion of doing this, and won't," he adds. "A couple years from now, when Nathan [Fillion]'s no longer [on ABC's crime drama] Castle and I'm no longer the Tom Hagen of the Marvel Universe and making a giant movie, we might look and see where the market is then. But right now, it's a complete non-Kickstarter for me."

You can read more about Whedon's thoughts on the whole fan-funded film project conundrum here, but what's important to take out of it all is that Whedon isn't against the concept per se, it's just that it's not even worth thinking about while he's making the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series happen and preparing for Avengers 2 and so on and so on and so on.

The other thing to remember is that a Firefly film has already happened in the form of fan-favourite but ticket stub-sparse Serenity, so there is still no guarantee that if Firefly does spark back into life that anyone will actually go and watch it. Also, it's probably not a bad idea to wait and see how the Veronica Mars movie works out before jumping feet first in the murky waters of crowdfunded movies.

Veronica Mars is aiming for a 2014 release. Avengers 2, meanwhile, explodes into multiplexes on May 1, 2015.