NFT Character Optioned For Movie And Television Development

NFTs (aka 'Non-fungible tokens') have become a major commodity in the last year - even though many [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

NFTs (aka "Non-fungible tokens") have become a major commodity in the last year - even though many people still don't know exactly what they are. However, lack of understanding about NFTs isn't stopping Hollywood from turning the digital commodity into a movie commodity: a valuable NFT character has now been optioned for a movie and TV project. Anonymous Content is partnering with pop singer Shawn Mendes and his manager Andrew Gertler's new permanent Content venture to develop these NFT projects on the big and small screens. The movie and show will be based on a 10-part story released as NFTs.

The NFT storyline was created by former Major League Baseball player-turned-artist, Micah Johnson. It follows "a young Black astronaut named Aku," who initially appeared in some of Johnson's paintings, before being spun-out into his own NFT storyline. The first chapter of Aku's NTF story attracted upwards of $2 million in February 2020, in just a 24-hour window of availability. However, the NFT revolution(?) really hit the mainstream stride in the last few weeks, after one artist sold his NFT for upwards of $69 million.

Micah Johnson released a statement about the project, stating "This deal is such an empowering moment for creators everywhere. A small Black crypto community mobilized behind Aku at launch and told the world, 'This is a character we want in the world.' And for Anonymous Content to recognize the magnitude of this movement and want to take the Aku story further makes me incredibly excited for our future together."

NFT Character Black Astronaut Aku Getting Movie and TV series projects
(Photo: Micah Johnson)

NFTs are definitely part of a new wave of what defines valuable commodities in the modern age. In the simplest explanation possible, an NFT is essentially a digital receipt contained in a blockchain, which certifies a digital asset (photo, videos, audio) is one-of-a-kind unique, and not interchangeable with another version of that digital asset. It's not a certificate of copyright ownership (anyone can still access the actual original asset, and the owner still owns it) but is rather a digital proof of ownership of a different kind (a "cryptographic token").

Like so many things in cryptocurrency, the NFT trend is largely dependent on perceived market value. It's had a major impact on the various forms of memorabilia auction (art, sports, music) as collectors drop big dollars to get in on this evolving form of collection. Of course, there's still a lot of trepidation surrounding NFTs, as any collapse in the technology chain (say, a server goes down) could leave an NFT holder with no record that they have what they paid top dollar for.

There are also a lot of people who look at NFTs mockingly, after hearing stories like Ja Rule selling the Fyre Media logo (aka "Fyre Fest") for $122,000 through his NFT art venture, earlier this year.

As for how you turn NFTs into a movie and TV show? We can't wait to see (or can we?)

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