BlockbusterDAO and How Web3 Can Disrupt the Film Industry

Now that NFTs are entering the end of their first year in the mainstream spotlight, it's time to look ahead to how the space can evolve next. What started as a seemingly random novelty around PFP projects, is now maturing into collective movements with a central thesis and purpose.

Enter DAOs. The emergence of "decentralized autonomous organizations." Basically the web3 version of companies, in which the governance and decision-making is distributed across the DAO's token holders. Two early notable examples are ConstitutionDAO, who famously nearly bought an original copy of the US Constitution. And the KrauseHouseDAO, who are a collective of passionate NBA fans, looking to pool their resources and skills to purchase an NBA franchise.

Next to step up into the DAO space is BlockbusterDAO, whose mission is to buy the nearly forgotten Blockbuster Video, and recalibrate it into a web3 streaming monster capable of battling and taking down reigning champion Netflix. This is an interesting project to watch, as it is a direct meta-play on the content space. With clever reimagining and the right mix of talent and resources, it doesn't take much imagination to see how a modern day Blockbuster could turn into an entertainment behemoth.

The folks behind BlockbusterDAO have put out a high-level, strategic roadmap that makes a convincing case for the realistic path ahead. They plan to start small, using their NFT token sales to buy the rights to films at festivals, and then use more funds to move the films into a distribution pipeline that mixes both theatrical releases and digital streaming. As the roadmap moves forward, BlockbusterDAO will eventually pool their resources to fund original screenplays and filmmakers to create original IP under the banner of Blockbuster Originals. It's a path we've seen before with Netflix of course, and before they knocked out their first few hits, critics were skeptical about their film pedigree.

It's a solid thought experiment if nothing else, about what the quick raising of token funds could be used for. It's a worthy analog to the old school film industry system of raising funds from investors and putting film deals together. If NFTs and token sales can raise equivalent funds, who is to say they won't have the buying power in Hollywood to move filmmakers hungry to make original content over to the Blockbuster banner. Crank out a few hits and an Oscar nomination or two, and suddenly there is a new player in town, all thanks to the crowdsourced power and passion of web3.

This project has the right kind of nostalgia attached to it similar to how a reddit wormhole powered the falling Game Stop stock into an overnight Wall Street darling. It will be interesting to see how the sentiment builds around Blockbuster, which is still a highly-memed brand, and one on the verge of falling into a cultural black hole. It wouldn't make a bad comeback story for web3 advocates. And with the right talent attached early on to give the project film credibility, we could be looking at the modern prototype of how to build a film studio from scratch in 2022.

Here's to hoping the BlockbusterDAO token will waive all of those late fees and unlock unlimited releases. Hell, bringing back a physical store or two, available only to NFT holders has a nice sense of poetry to it as well.