Films and NFTs form the junction of tradition and modernity. Movie-related non-fungible tokens are a way for many to immortalize their favorite films or make money as the NFT space remains full of potential.
What are the most popular films of all time?
According to an IMDB ranking, the most popular films are:
The Shawshank Redemption
The Godfather, parts I and II
The Dark Knight
12 Angry Men
Schindler’s List
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pulp Fiction
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The most valuable NFTs and NFT collections
The most popular film didn’t generate the most valuable NFT. An NFT portrait of Morgan Freeman from The Shawshank Redemption is selling for $249.76 on OpenSea.
It’s a different story from The Lord of the Rings. In October 2022, Warner Bros. teamed up with Eluvio, a blockchain firm, to launch the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring. This marked the first time a leading studio released a whole film as an NFT.
Fellowship of the Ring NFTs were the first to become available on a new NFT marketplace, the WB Movieverse, which includes other Warner Bros. titles as well. Fans can trade, buy, and sell film NFTs on the platform.
Warner Bros. and Eluvio minted two editions: Epic and Mystery. The first contained 999 copies, each valued at $100. There were 10,000 copies in the Mystery Edition priced at $30 each. Buyers could watch the Fellowship of the Ring in 4K UHD and access hidden augmented reality collectibles, hundreds of images, and multiple special features. The extended version of the film was almost four hours long.
The Epic Edition included essential, location-specific art and menus to navigate the three film locations — Rivendell, The Shire, and Mines of Moria. One of the locations was randomly assigned. There were additional image galleries.
Fans of the film franchise could buy an NFT portraying a landscape from the Mystery Edition for $100. The 999 Epic Edition NFTs sold out almost immediately after the launch, generating a collective value of almost $100,000.
Dark Knight NFTs are available on Solsea for 0.5 SOL. A collection of Godfather NFTs is on sale on Mintspace. Each item in this collection is currently priced at $119.
The most expensive film NFT in history
The most expensive film NFT was a screenplay excerpt from Pulp Fiction. Film director Quentin Tarantino announced he would hold seven auctions of excerpts as NFTs, provoking a lawsuit from film studio Miramax in November 2021. Miramax argued the film director’s plans would interfere with their NFT capitalization strategy. Tarantino ultimately held one auction, selling the first NFT for $1.1 million. The rest were canceled because of “volatile markets,” and the director reached a settlement with the studio in 2022.
Which platform makes the most from NFTs?
While smaller players like Mintspace and Solsea aren’t off the market, OpenSea holds the lion’s share of the pie. According to Nansen’s Trends and Indexes, wallets worth $250,000+ have consistently been interacting with NFT platforms since April 2022, with the bulk of trading split between the biggest NFT marketplace and some newer ones.
In September last year, OpenSea supported 350,000 ETH trading volume and 1.85 million transactions. Overall volume is declining, but the number of individual transactions and users remains constant.
Data of NFT searches in the UK
Freelancing platform Fiverr published some research on NFT-related searches in the UK in April 2022. At that time, these searches were prevalent, indicating that UK businesses were seeking ways to use digital goods and services, immersive experiences, and gamification marketing to drive their bottom line and increase brand loyalty. Specifically, searches for “NFT-related skills” were up 902% from the year prior. There was a growing focus on willingness to participate in gamification and Web3.
According to Google Trends, the number of searches for “nft” is steadily declining. It has dropped from 164,000 in March 2022, to just 25,000 in the last month at the time of writing. The biggest interest has been in England, followed by Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is last.
However, statisticians remain optimistic. According to Statista’s outlook, NFT revenue in the UK will reach $168.10 million this year. The NFT industry’s CAGR is expected to reach 34.5% between 2022 and 2028.
Jonathan Merry, CEO of BanklessTimes.comFilm-related NFTs mark a transition into a new digital realm with a novel psychological aspect. People can now own their favorite part of a film or even the whole film, appreciating the viewing experience all the more and deepening their connection with this form of art.
