How much would you pay to see that? Teaser trailer: Iron Sky: The Coming Race A sequel to the 2012 Nazis-on-the-Moon sc-fi comedy Iron Sky. PT3M40S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3k3qq 620 349 November 11, 2014 A Sarah Palin lookalike US President, a secret civilisation beneath the Earth, and Adolf Hitler riding on the back of a Tyrannosaurus Rex: these are the ingredients that a bunch of Finnish filmmakers hope will entice fans to contribute up to $15 million in crowdfunding for their sci-fi comedy film. The Coming Race is the planned sequel to Iron Sky, the 2012 film directed and co-written by Timo Vuorensola and largely made in Queensland, about an invasion of Earth by Nazis who had fled to the dark side of the Moon in the dying days of World War Two. Adolf Hitler on a T-Rex in the teaser trailer for Iron Sky: The Coming Race. Made for an estimated $US10 million, the first film derived about 10 per cent of its budget from fans of the concept and of the online Star Trek parodies Vuorensola had made with fellow Finn Samuli Torssonen (who was also one of the producers of Iron Sky). Though the anticipation around Iron Sky was considerable, the finished product didn't exactly take the world by storm. Its official gross, according to boxofficemojo, is $US8.13 million. Critics were mostly savage. "Great idea, lousy execution," said the Seattle Times in a typical, if admirably succinct, summation. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film scores 36 per cent from critics and 37 per cent from general audience, a resoundingly rotten rating. A Sarah Palin lookalike US President in the teaser trailer for Iron Sky: The Coming Race. But in his pitch on crowdfunding site indiegogo, Vuorensola lays the blame for the first film's shortcomings at the feet of its financiers. "With Iron Sky, we spent all of our energy in trying to finance the film, forced to be doing bad deals and compromising a lot," he writes. We had to tweak the story to meet the needs of the financiers but still fight to keep the integrity of the story intact - had we not fought, we'd probably [have] had Mickey Mouse in Moon Base with Santa Claus - this actually was one real suggestion to make the story 'funnier'. We don't want to end up in these discussions again and we don't want to spend five years trying to come up with the money. The solution? Finance the money entirely with contributions from fans and private funders (Vuorensola claims $5 million has already been secured from sources in Germany and Finland) and maintain complete creative control. It may seem far-fetched, but Vuorensola and his fellow producers believe they can do it by taking a staggered approach, seeking funding in (big) bite-sized chunks as they go. The first stage, launched in May, raised $182,557 against a target of $150,000. Now, with script finished and teaser trailer completed, it's time to crack on with the rest. First target, $500,000 for pre-production. As usual, there are various incentives on offer - including an executive producer credit for anyone kicking in a lazy $50,000 - but the main aim is simply to get those who want to see the film made coughing up their dollars for it beforehand. For fans, though, the biggest reward of all will be the hardest to guarantee: delivering on the ludicrous comic potential of the premise. If Vuorensola and co succeed, they will have proven just how powerful a tool crowdfunding can be. And if they fail, well, this time they'll have no one to blame but themselves. On twitter: @karlkwin