Oscar-winner In the sci-fi picture Zero Contact, Anthony Hopkins plays a tech billionaire, and it will be distributed as an NFT.
Zero Contact, a science fiction film starring Anthony Hopkins and distributed as a non-fungible token, has received its release date and debut trailer (NFT).
NFTs are cryptographically unique tokens that can be associated with digital content such as artwork, music, or, in this case, a movie.
Hopkins reprises his Oscar-winning role as tech billionaire Finley Hart, who appoints five people from around the world to stop a “globe-killing disaster event” by shutting down his “most secret invention, a machine that is either the solution to mankind’s problems or the end of life on earth.”
The trio is also being pursued by an unknown nemesis, which adds to their challenges.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was shot remotely in 17 countries and will be distributed as a non-fiction film through Vuele, a digital distribution and viewing platform.
Vuele is a “direct-to-consumer viewing platform utilizing NFT technology,” offering NFTs such as feature films, behind-the-scenes content, bonus features, Q&As, and memorabilia. It was launched in August 2021 as a collaboration between production company Enderby Entertainment and fintech firm CurrencyWorks.
Producer Rick Dugdale of Zero Contact has announced a limited run of Zero Contact NFTs, with extras varied by price point. Dugdale told film industry outlet Deadline, “It creates scarcity in copies of the film and protects against piracy.”
The NFT of Zero Contact will be available for purchase using bitcoin or credit cards.
However, the most intriguing application for film NFTs is as a distribution medium, allowing true ownership of digital copies of films.
As Amazon contended in a California court in 2020, when you buy a video from a digital platform like Amazon Prime Video, you don’t actually own it. This isn’t the case with NFTs; instead of a content license, you’re buying the material itself (provided it’s kept safe on-chain).
With the ability to represent any type of digital information, NFTs appear to be on their way to becoming a distribution platform for digital art, music, and then cinema, much like the early Internet. The first feature film to be released as an NFT is Zero Contact, but it won’t be the last.
Veronica Ferres, Aleks Paunovic, Lilly Krug, TJ Kayama, and Martin Sternmark also appear in Zero Contact alongside Hopkins. On September 24, Zero Contact is set to be released.
