{"id":14181,"date":"2021-11-12T02:59:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T23:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blue-subtitle.com\/blog\/?p=14181"},"modified":"2021-11-12T02:59:06","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T23:29:06","slug":"hollywoods-nft-gold-rush-behind-the-hope-and-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blue-subtitle.com\/blog\/hollywoods-nft-gold-rush-behind-the-hope-and-hype\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood\u2019s NFT Gold Rush: Behind the Hope and Hype"},"content":{"rendered":"
NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are something of a Rorschach test.<\/p>\n
The craze for the technology, which verifies ownership of unique digital assets, has swept across content industries in 2021. But will NFTs mature into a long-term business for Hollywood?<\/p>\n
True believers herald them as a major market-disrupting force, with the full impact unfurling over the next decade or more. Skeptics, though, see a FOMO-fueled trend that\u2019s as overheated as the Dutch tulip bulb craze of the 1600s.<\/p>\n
Lately, there\u2019s practically been a new NFT announcement every day. The diverse roster of companies, brands and artists hopping on the bandwagon include Warner Bros., Disney,\u00a0Lionsgate, Fox, ViacomCBS, WWE, the UFC, CNN and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In music, those catching NFT fever range from K-pop superstars BTS to Lil Nas X. Last week, Quentin Tarantino said he plans to auction off seven uncut scenes from \u201cPulp Fiction\u201d as NFTs on OpenSea, the world\u2019s largest NFT marketplace. (Even\u00a0Variety<\/em>\u00a0is getting in on the action, with plans to sell a selection of NFTs of famous headlines and front pages via the Sweet marketplace.)<\/p>\n
For media and entertainment companies, NFTs represent a new way to monetize intellectual property and keep fans invested \u2014 literally \u2014 in their brands. \u201cNonfungible\u201d means NFTs are not interchangeable in the way currency is: The value of the content is established by buyers and sellers.<\/p>\n
Most of Hollywood\u2019s NFT releases have been experimental toes in the water. Their true power has yet to be realized, says Creatv Media\u2019s Peter Csathy, an industry consultant and investor who insists, \u201cNFTs are not the flavor of the month. It\u2019s absolutely a new business model for content creators.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eye-popping sums of money changing hands over NFTs have been hard to ignore. In the first half of the year, total NFT sales reached $2.5 billion, according to DappRadar, a research firm that tracks such transactions \u2014 and that tally ballooned to $4.2 billion in October 2021 alone. Much of that trading activity is transacted via volatile cryptocurrencies, and many buyers are presumed to be speculators betting that they can flip NFTs for a profit if they accrete in value.<\/p>\n
Most media companies insist they\u2019re not out to make a quick buck, however.<\/p>\n
Warner Bros. on Nov. 30 is launching the sale of 100,000 NFTs of \u201cMatrix\u201d-inspired avatars, each one as different as snowflakes. At $50 a pop, that could net a $5 million windfall out of the gate. But for the studio, the event is more about promoting the Dec. 22 release of \u201cThe Matrix Resurrections\u201d and getting fans to participate as ambassadors of the sci-fi franchise.<\/p>\n
The company has previously released NFTs for \u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy\u201d and at October\u2019s DC Fandome but is taking a wait-and-see attitude before doubling down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot to be defined,\u201d says Pam Lifford, president of\u00a0WarnerMedia\u2019s Global Brands and Experiences division. \u201cMy opinion is some form of NFTs is here to stay. But it\u2019s going to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goriest NFTs of the 2021 boom have come from Lionsgate, which released a batch of \u201cSaw\u201d-inspired video collectibles (just before Halloween, of course) through DraftKings\u2019 marketplace for Autograph, an NFT platform co-founded by NFL QB Tom Brady. Six of the limited-edition \u201cSaw\u201d NFTs quickly sold out \u2014 pulling in more than $500,000 in sales. However, Lionsgate also sees NFTs primarily as a way to extend entertainment franchises, including \u201cJohn Wick\u201d and \u201cMad Men,\u201d into a new, fan-focused medium as opposed to raking in buckets of cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do our job right, it\u2019s profitable right off the bat. But it\u2019s bigger than just revenue generation,\u201d says Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate\u2019s head of global live, interactive and location-based entertainment.<\/p>\n
Disney is selling a series of \u201cGolden Moments\u201d NFTs on VeVe, a mobile-first digital collectible platform, featuring iconic characters and items from its popular properties for its\u00a0inaugural Disney Plus Day promotion this week. It\u2019s partly designed to drive up streaming subs: In select markets, customers who purchase an NFT from the \u201cGolden Moments\u201d collection will also receive a three- or 12-month credit for Disney Plus.<\/p>\n
By contrast, Fox Corp. is betting that NFTs represent a sizable revenue opportunity in their own right. In June, Fox Entertainment and its Bento Box Entertainment unit formed\u00a0Blockchain Creative Labs, an NFT business and content studio with $100 million in funding to launch initiatives for Fox and third parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are building a business,\u201d says Scott Greenberg, CEO of BCL and Bento Box. \u201cWe are not a marketing or consumer products division of Fox Corp.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its first initiative \u2014 \u201cto get our sea legs,\u201d Greenberg says \u2014 BCL launched The MaskVerse, an NFT destination for Fox\u2019s hit competition show \u201cThe Masked Singer,\u201d selling three-packs of NFTs for $20 each.<\/p>\n
BCL has since inked a deal with WWE to produce and distribute NFTs based on the wrestling entertainment company\u2019s talent and tentpole events. And it\u2019s signed a pact with SXSW as the conference and festival\u2019s first blockchain sponsor. (P-MRC, the joint venture that owns\u00a0Variety<\/em>, is an investor in SXSW.) Through the deal, SXSW will mint its first-ever NFT and Blockchain Creative Labs will pitch artists, filmmakers and brands on using its NFT services to finance and distribute content.<\/p>\n
In what may be its most ambitious project, BCL next year plans to create a dedicated digital marketplace for Dan Harmon\u2019s animated comedy \u201cKrapopolis,\u201d set in mythical ancient Greece. Following their broadcast on Fox, the show\u2019s episodes could be sold as NFTs \u2014 which would be a test case to explore if the tech can enable an entirely new window for originals or replace the home-video window. (Fox and BCL haven\u2019t finalized plans at this point.)<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt all comes back to the fans supporting the creator, and the creator having control,\u201d Greenberg says. \u201cBut there\u2019s still room for companies like us to provide infrastructure, marketing and support.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the spring of 2022, ViacomCBS is planning to debut an NFT platform, featuring characters from brands including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Showtime, in partnership with startup Recur. \u201cThis is definitely an opportunity for us to continue to monetize our library \u2013 both for the rare collector and the common collector,\u201d says Pam Kaufman, president of ViacomCBS Consumer Products.<\/p>\n
ViacomCBS, for now, is mum on what NFTs will be available at launch. But Kaufman rattles off a list of fan-favorite properties the company has licensing rights to, including Star Trek, \u201cSpongeBob SquarePants,\u201d \u201cBlue\u2019s Clues,\u201d \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\u201d and \u201cThe Godfather\u201d movies. \u201cI think we have some of the most in-demand consumer IP out there in the entertainment industry,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
One indie film project is claiming to have seen a hefty payoff from NFTs. \u201cZero Contact,\u201d financed and produced by Enderby Entertainment, stars Anthony Hopkins as a tech mogul whose followers discover \u2014 after his death \u2014 has created a machine that will be either the solution to humanity\u2019s problems or the end of life on Earth.<\/p>\n
To distribute the film, Enderby formed an NFT movie platform called Vuele as a joint venture with financial-tech company CurrencyWorks. In September, Vuele auctioned 11 limited-edition premium NFT copies of \u201cZero Contact\u201d for a total of $100,000. Vuele plans to release another 27,500 copies of the movie (at prices TBD) and, in a bid to create artificial scarcity, that will be it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something cool and cult-y about films that people want to own or collect,\u201d says Rick Dugdale, CEO of Enderby and co-founder of Vuele. He says the initial 11 buyers were cinephiles or crypto enthusiasts who wanted to own a piece of history.<\/p>\n
Adds Dugdale, \u201cNot every film will work on the blockchain. But basically, we sold 11 DVDs for $100,000. It\u2019s hard to not see that as a big success.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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To be sure, the rush into NFTs could represent a bubble, says Wedbush Securities equity analyst Daniel Ives. But, he says, \u201cUltimately, it feels like early innings of a market that\u2019s ready to explode \u2014 in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n
NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are something of a Rorschach test. The craze for the technology, which verifies ownership of unique digital assets, has swept across content industries in 2021. But will NFTs mature into a long-term business for Hollywood? True believers herald them as a major market-disrupting force, with the full impact unfurling over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7036],"tags":[8637,8636,8635],"class_list":["post-14181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-gold-rush-behind-the","tag-hollywoods","tag-hollywoods-nft-gold-rush-behind-the-hope-and-hype"],"yoast_head":"\n
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