Warner Bros. offers digital comic book covers to those sign up for its DC FanDome event in what is a free giveaway of NFTs — the acronym for non-fungible digital tokens. These new type of digital content collectibles are quickly becoming a staple of movie marketing.
The Warner digital goodies aim to spur attendance to its in-house fan events, which is in the mold of a comic-con — or comic book convention. NFTs are a form of licensed movie merchandise in the digital realm.
Scheduled online Oct. 16, DC FanDome is a digital global showcase for Warner cinema studio content, games and comics; its name comes from studio corporate sibling DC Comics.
Consumers who sign up for DC FanDome by Oct. 5 will get a free NFT including with images of comic book covers Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. Says a press release: “The premier drop offers fans the opportunity to collect three (comic book) covers for each character in three levels of rarity. For example, fans of the Princess of Themyscira a.k.a. Wonder Woman can collect a Common (1987’s Wonder Woman #1 by George Peréz), Rare (2021’s Nubia and the Amazons #1 by Alitha Martinez), and/or Legendary (Yara Flor on 2021’s Future State: Wonder Woman #1 by Jenny Frison) cover.”
Warners teamed up with Palm NFT Studio on the digital goodies initiative; an investor in Palm NFT is film producer and owner of Heyday Films David Heyman (“Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood,” “Gravity” and the “Harry Potter” movies). The Palm NFT Studio provides a secure and scalable infrastructure to host digital collections on the back end, as well as services and strategies for NFT programs.
Says another press release from Miami-based social NFT platform Nifty’s: “Warner Bros. will award one limited-edition NFT to each individual who registers on Nifty’s and visits the ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ gallery to claim it, while supplies last. Fans have the chance to earn a second NFT by sharing a social media post about the collection. The series will feature James and eight characters from the Looney Tunes ‘Tune Squad.’ The digital collectibles will include two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions with five levels of rarity. Awards will be randomized and include all levels of rarity, including a chance to receive one of the ten legendary versions of each. Collectors will be able to purchase additional NFTs individually for only $2.99, with a randomized assignment of character and rarity.”
Consumers can buy and sell NFTs on the Nifty’s platform and Nifty’s is working on movie NFTs for titles beyond “Space Jam 2: A New Legacy.”
NFTs are a growing phenomenon. They enable artists and intellectual property (IP) rights holders to sell unique content in digital form to the public. NFTs can run the gamut from mass duplication of digital content to few pieces of potentially precious art. NFTs employ blockchain to embed a sort of individualized digital serial number, which assures an item is original. That’s the same technology used for crypto-currency. NFTs can be bought and sold, and are akin to paper baseball trading cards in digital form.
But the NFT sector is still a sort of Wild West. It can be unclear if the issuing parties actually hold the relevant IP rights; for example, if music artist sells song-oriented NFTs while under contract to a record label, the label might have a claim to ownership.
But NFTs are gaining acceptance; for example, Brooklyn NY’s Bushwick Film Festival is showcasing movie-related NFTs, which is a first and demonstrates that such digital consumer merchandise is denting consumer consciousness. The New York Post newspaper and CNBC cable TV channel report that a 12-year-old computer whiz in the United Kingdom earned $400,000 in two months selling NFTs that he made onlne.
In a consumer survey and counting those who are aware NFTs, UK-based research firm Piplsay found that 48% of Americans believe NFTs are a safe investment, 33% doubt investment safety, 44% of Americans believe NFTs are here to stay, and 29% think they’re a passing fad.
As for the DC FanDome event itself, the 2020 incarnation dubbed DC FanDome: Hall of Heroes drew 22 million global views across 220 countries and territories over 24 hours.
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