Film Industry and the Metaverse: The Promotional Medium of the Future
The film industry is known for creating innovative campaigns to promote films. Whether it is actors in disguise or filmmakers releasing merchandise; Filmmakers have often found the right idea to capture the attention of their target audience.
And these campaigns have usually helped the film reach audiences—unless it was summarily dismissed for poor content. Now, with the advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, filmmakers are taking their marketing campaigns up a notch. They are trying to use the so called metaverse and NFT space to generate hype for their products.
For example, the makers of KGF: Chapter 2 have launched a digital avatar of lead actor Yash on Metaverse, which is being called “KGFverse”. Initially, three digital avatars have been made available as NFTs – Bombay Rocky, Naarachi Rocky and Toofan Rocky – based on Yash’s character in the magnum opus. In this metaverse, fans can create games and virtual environments using avatars.
The sale of these virtual characters went live on April 6, a week before their release in theaters on April 14 in multiple languages including Kannada, Telugu and Hindi. The sale received a great response, with the first 500 NFTs sold out in just 10 minutes.
Earlier, the makers of Prabhas-starrer Radhe Shyam and Ajay Devgn’s Rudra also had their Metaverse version. The makers of Jhund, which starred Amitabh Bachchan, also made two NFTs to celebrate the film.
When the film 83 was released, its producers launched a range of collectibles, including autographed physical cricket memorabilia, video footage, animated digital avatars, and unseen posters and images to promote the film.
Not only filmmakers but also actors are increasingly attracted to tap the emerging market.
Last year, Amitabh Bachchan joined the NFT bandwagon and launched his token, which included him reciting poems by his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
Later on, Salman Khan also ventured into the NFT sector.