Blockchain
Common Photos is scratching its blockchain itch once more with the brand new Dracula film “Renfield” that stars Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage. Using the Aptos blockchain, the Hollywood studio and companions are launching “an interactive web-based recreation” and sweepstakes that may permit contributors to win each digital and bodily collectibles or prizes.
“We all know audiences simply wish to be linked … and no obstacles to connecting with their fandom,” mentioned Greg Reed, vp of know-how partnerships for Common Photos. “Our job is to leverage high-performing, scalable networks, like Aptos, that ship essentially the most distinctive, participating, and protected experiences for followers.”
This isn’t the primary time Common has experimented with blockchain-powered instruments aimed toward stirring fan engagement. Final yr, Common Studios — which like Common Photos is a part of NBCUniversal — partnered with the crypto fee platform MoonPay to create a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt that included NFTs.
Instance of “Renfield” recreation platform.
This time round with the “Renfield” recreation, Common seems to be opting to make use of phrases equivalent to digital “prize” or “collectible” moderately than “NFT.” With gross sales cratering amid a downturn and a crypto market roiled by scandal and regulatory scrutiny, many have recommended the three-letter time period has began to hold a unfavourable connotation.
Again in 2022, earlier than unfavourable crypto tales beginning dominating headlines, Common Photos and MoonPay labored collectively on the launch of HyperMint, an NFT platform capable of mint thousands and thousands of digital belongings per day.
This “Renfield” recreation is constructed on Aptos and will likely be “powered” by Transfer, a programming language that makes use of a “extra carbon-efficient proof-of-stake consensus,” Common and its companions mentioned. Aptos Labs was based by former Meta workers and has been backed by the highly effective enterprise capital agency A16z.
“With out new blockchain know-how like Aptos coming into the market to construct on the present infrastructure, we wouldn’t have the ability to push ahead with experiences like this that contain followers straight,” mentioned Sam Schoonover, founding father of Ahead, the corporate that conceived of the “Renfield” recreation.
“Renfield” is in theaters from April 14.
