So why are Napoleon Dynamite’s cast part of this? The Cyko KO comic doesn’t share any similarities with the bizarro cult classic film, but their group casting might simply be a publicity stunt on the part of Feldman and Replay in an attempt to bait viewers/investors who would otherwise be wary of another NFT TV show.
According to the limited statistics available on NFT investors, millennial men seem to be the most inclined to spend money on NFTs compared to other demographics. Napoleon Dynamite was a massive hit among the middle-school crowd in 2004 – perhaps this casting is an attempt to tap into the nostalgia of the series/NFT’s intended audience/buyers.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Whatever the motivation behind this bizarre reunion, we sincerely hope that the final product is more palatable and successful than some of its competitors in the hybrid NFT/TV show market. The insistence among creative crypto enthusiasts that blockchain technology will somehow enhance our enjoyment of traditional media is a dubious proposition at best, but if the end result is a watchable series, what does it matter which platform hosts the content?
Other shows have used the NFT model successfully – Mila Kunis distributed her animated show Stoner Cats through NFT drops, featuring Jane Fonda, Chris Rock, Ashton Kutcher, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as voice actors. The pilot episode/first NFT drop grossed $8 million, which allowed her to produce four more episodes/tokens available for purchase on the Stoner Cats website.
It’s unclear if Cyko KO can reach an audience that will watch the show for its entertainment value instead of simply speculating on its monetary value. Those who purchase Cyko KO NFTs will not only unlock episodes of the show – they will also earn the opportunity to accrue Replay’s native cryptocurrency RPLAY tokens simply by watching Cyko KO or any other film or TV show on Rewarded.TV in what has been described as a “watch-to-earn ecosystem.”
If Netflix lost the bidding war for The Office to a shadow organization of Bitcoin hoarders back when it first bought the streaming rights, perhaps we’d all be streaming our favorite shows out of crypto wallets using WatchCoins to unlock each episode like those coin operated TV’s that used to be in motels.
And perhaps crypto streaming will crash and burn like so many other crypto schemes – I’m still waiting for the cryptodeed to my property on Cryptoland.
Top Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures
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