The New 'Spike Lee Joint' Is A Go: Acclaimed Filmmaker Passes $1.25M Kickstarter Goal For New Movie

Fans are getting behind the new ‘Spike Lee Joint.’ The legendary filmmaker has passed the $1.25 million goal for his new project on Kickstarter, with four days remaining in the campaign. Lee launched the campaign on July 21 and has thus far amassed nearly 5,400 backers totaling $1,293,614.

While details about the new film are scant, Lee’s next project is about “Human beings who are addicted to Blood. Funny, Sexy and Bloody. A new kind of love story (and not a remake of "Blacula"),” according to the campaign page. The movie will star English actress Zaraah Abrahams.

Lee tweeted his elation at having surpassed his goal on Friday morning.

Lee joined the likes of the filmmakers behind the “Veronica Mars” film and Zach Braff, each of whom received criticism for turning to crowdfunding to support their projects. Some feel that websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo were created for younger artists and filmmakers, rather than established artists such as Lee.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, the “Do The Right Thing” director said the principles behind Kickstarter have been in place since he started making films in the mid-1980s.

“When I was making She's Gotta Have It in 1985, I had to raise $175,000,” Lee said. “With Malcolm X, we reached out to people and they came through. You need money to make films. The thing now is technology. More people can get involved. When I was considering doing this, I tracked down the co-founders of Kickstarter, Yancy [Strickler] and Perry [Chen], and they sat me down and told me, 'Look, this is how it goes. It's not gonna be easy. People are gonna be coming after you. Haters gonna hate. But we feel that you belong here.' They were supportive 100 percent. They said, 'Spike, we created this and it's for everybody.' And then it's been a whirlwind since then.”