Warner Bros. Discovery Is Releasing a ‘Lord of the Rings’ NFT
The only thing more precious than a ring is an NFT. Per Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery is set to become the first major studio to release film footage as a multimedia NFT, dropping a bundle of The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring NFTs tomorrow.
The studio is partnering with Content Blockchain pioneer Eluvio to bring footage of Middle Earth and the Shire to life via the Web3 Movie Experience. “Fans of The Lord of the Rings can now acquire, participate, and trade in an epic living media experience that will undoubtedly surprise and delight them,” said Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of Eluvio. “It’s truly designed for a mass consumer audience, not just Web3 enthusiasts, which is why it should, and does, feel so remarkable and engaging. At the same time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is setting a new bar for innovation in the distribution of home movies by demonstrating the potential of Web3 for consumer engagement, digital supply chain transformation, and new business opportunities.”
Each NFT features a 4K copy of the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring—the first film in Peter Jackson‘s Oscar-winning Tolkien trilogy— as well as behind-the-scenes footage, photos, and exclusive assets inspired by the film. There will be two different versions of the NFT: The Mystery Edition and The Epic Edition. The Mystery Edition will include an interactive location-based navigation menu from one of three film locations—The Shire, Rivendell, or the Mines of Moria—as well as location-specific art and hidden AR collectibles. The Epic Edition includes all the features of The Mystery Edition, as well as additional image galleries not included with the Mystery Edition. The Mystery Edition will cost $30, while the Epic Edition will cost $100.
The Lord of the Rings NFT comes on the heels of Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, set in the second age of Middle Earth, which recently wrapped its first season. Yesterday, Lord of the Rings IP broker Thomas Dey, who recently sold the Rings IP to Sweden’s Embracer Group, told an audience at MIPCOM Cannes that he believed Lord of the Rings could become as big of a franchise as Star Wars or Marvel, and shared that Embracer has big plans in the gaming space for the fantasy franchise.
“You disappear for 10 hours and are active in that environment,” said Dey, of gaming. “So I think we will lean forward into that entertainment over the next decade and will look for other ways to do that. Audiences are demanding more than the ‘lean back’ approach.”
The Lord of the Rings NFT will be available to purchase exclusively at https://web3.wb.com on October 21, via credit card or cryptocurrency.
