The crowdfunding campaign aiming to get the Daniel Morcombe feature film off the ground will end on Thursday night, and if another $160,000 is not raised none of the donations will be collected.
The film will also be delayed. The campaign, which began in July, is aiming to raise $300,000 to ensure the film is released in cinemas between 2017 and 2018.
Daniel Motion Pictures and Heritages Films have joined forces to tell the story of how Daniel Morcombe's killer, Brett Peter Cowan, was caught by undercover police and the enduring court battle which only ended in 2016.
Producers and the Director of the film, Where Is Daniel? are now calling on Australians to support the untold story behind one of the most heartbreaking stories which held the country's interest for more than a decade.
We watched Bruce and Denise Morcombe wait for their son to be found. We watched the Morcombes establish a national organisation protecting other children from being abducted like Daniel was at the age of seven in December 2003. And we watched his killer be prosecuted and then launch an appeal, dragging the fight out further.
"It's an iconic Australian story. People lived with the story so closely and were so engaged with the tragedy. It is an extraordinary story that has some big things to say to multiple generations about courage and resilience, justice and truth," Director Peter Cousens told HuffPost Australia upon the campaign's release.
Bruce and Denise Morcombe have called for Aussies to get behind the film, in a video message revealing part of the film's script.
Please help by sharing or contributing to https://t.co/iic5EqF6ZA let's get it off the ground thanks pic.twitter.com/eqho7j08dO
— Denise Morcombe (@DeniseMorcombe) July 18, 2016
"We don't want wait years to further Bruce and Denise Morcombe's message of child safety to people all over Australia and the world, we want to be in cinemas within the next 18 months," Cousens said in a statement this week.
If 6,000 Australians donated $25 each, the $300,000 crowdfunding goal would be achieved. The funding would go towards finalising the script, bringing in casting agents and essentially getting the film off the ground. Donations can be made here.