Cryptocurrency as a source for scripts (what we have covered in our previous post) only scratches the surface of digital world influence on cinema. Blockchain technology is going to make a great change in whole industry funding.
Too simplified commercial formula which is used in movie production includes the following points: the producer finds investments, the director makes movie, the distribution recovers costs and makes profit (or neither recovers costs nor makes profit), the spectator pays for the view ( or doesn’t pay in case they don’t go to the cinema, don’t buy DVD or download the pirate copy). In reality a great number of intermediaries are integrated in this chain trying to get their piece. New technological scheme eliminates some of them giving the spectator an active role. Now everyone has a chance to become a movie investor and to obtain their part of revenue proportional to the investments.
In order to collect money to make movie the producers launch ICO (Initial Coin Offering) what signifies the issue of monetary units called Tokens. Tokens are not cryptocurrency. They can not be “mininged” in contrast to bitcoins. They are strictly aligned with an appointed project. Tokens have much in common with shares. They can be either sold or bought and can also have stock prices. But unlike shares indicating project co-ownership, tokens do not provide any ownership.
In some way, ICO is a more advanced reincarnation of crowdfunding. But if crowdfunding doesn’t suggest the members any profit apart from some souvenirs like a cup or baseball cap, the cinema-tokens owners are promised to get a part of revenue for every film screening both in Russia and abroad. These kinds of projects are based on blockchain platforms what guarantees their transparency and producers ‘ fairness. The traditional cinema industry is well-known for great amounts of money vanishing in nowhere. This problem is being effectively solved by blockchain.
Blockchain a la russe.
The Russian cinema enters the unknown cryptoworld with the situation firmly in hand. The projects are managed by famous people. The movies they produce have every chance of success even without blockchain. Nevertheless, the new technologies will accelerate the process.
Fyodor Bondarchuk’s movie Attraction came out in January 2017, having become a box office hit. Its budget was about $6.3 million and the box office was $18.4 million. Nevertheless, in summer 2018 Bondarchuk announced the launch of his own blockchain platform called Cinemico in order to collect money to make Attraction 2. Apart from so-called crowd investments, there are several investors too. Among them are Leonid Boguslavskiy, the representative of ru-Net Ventures board of directors (he takes the 77th place in the Forbes list of the wealthiest Russian individuals )and Alexander Chistiakov, the FGC UES former board deputy and co- owner of Ruspetro oil company.
The project organizers are going to share the future revenue with token holders. The risks are insured by international insurance companies. In case of unsuccessful film distribution, money will be returned to contributors. If everything will be okay, the next Cinemico project will be Nikita Mikhalkov’s Trite studio films.
The well-known Russian director and actor Konstantin Khabenskiy is going to launch absolutely identical project. His blockchain platform is called Cinematix and is also considered to be the first as it is mentioned on the lending page. More than 1,5 million of dollars have already been invested. About 15–20 million of dollars are planed to be collected after the start of ICO.
Nikolai Evdokimov, the ICOBOX co-owner, was firstly announced to be the project co-founder. However, in august 2018 the announcement about the discontinuation of cooperation with ICOBOX was published. Moreover , all the sales previously carried by the Nikolai Evdokimov’s Cryptonomics Capital Fund were realized without the authority of CINEMATIX, agreements and documentation permitting implementation of the activity.
In 2018 the production of new version of Victor Pelevin’s Empire V has started. It is based on blockchain platform called Bablos. It is the first project of this platform. As two previous projects mentioned above, this one also issues its own Bablos-tokens, which are planned to be sold for about 3 million of dollars.
Apart from the literature base, the cast is also impressive. Pavel Tabakov, Vera Alentova, Victor Verzhbitsky and rapper OXXXYMIRON have taken part in movie.
The project organizers claim that the 70% of the picture have already been done.
Blockchain in the USA
The Hollywood wouldn’t be called the main entertainment forge, if it would have skipped revolutionary ideas and new technologies. Early in 2018 a new blockchain platform called MovieCoin has been launched, having issued its own tokens. As the result the ICO project is planning to collect 100 million of dollars to finance some movies.
The head of the project is Christopher Woodrow the producer of Black Mass, Hacksaw Ridge and oscar winning Birdman. Woodrow is going to make MovieCoin the main entertainment investment portal and considers tokens to be the key element of new cinema industry.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company is also going to enter ICO. Using the IPO of tokens it is planned to make a feature film about Nolan Bushnell, the creator of iconic video-games. DiCaprio is going to collect 40 millions of Bushnell’s tokens. Apart from the part of revenue, the investors are also promised to be able to take part in movie production and their opinion about movie cast will be taken into consideration.
In spite of it, the perspectives are very cloudy. The reason to it is the Bushnell’s personality . He was often accused of sexism and indecency . According to the witnesses’ statements, he often took the bath while held conferences. On the other hand, it is the scandalous behavior that will attract the audience attention to the project.
The iconic David Lynch doesn’t stay away from cinema industry new technologies. The Happy Worker he is producing is being made in cooperation with SingularDTV, a blockchain-project for investments and entertainment content placement. Duwayne Dunham, also well-known for Twin Peaks and some episodes of Star Wars series, will head the film crew.
The new movie story is based on a play firstly performed in Louisville theater in 1982. The protagonist lives in a world where the time stands still and he has to save the Universe in danger.
It is supposed that after the movie distribution it will be available on SingularDTV. Original platform tokens or cryptocurrency can be used to pay for the film screening.
