Movie fans are now becoming a powerful force, and they know it, says Jake Fraser, Head of Business Development at Mogul Productions.
Unlike the passive viewers of yesteryear, the modern movie fan is part of a collective whole. They let their voice be heard loud and proud – both online and off. They mobilize with efficiency and fight for what they are passionate about. This is to the point that real changes are actually being made to the big-ticket Hollywood projects. These changes can range from the animation of a character to the film’s production design, and so much more.
Movie fans want more involvement
The masses of enthusiastic movie fans who seek greater involvement in movie production, are a surprisingly underserved community. This is because until recently, there has been a lack of a platform. Such a platform would allow the fans to contribute, collaborate, and vote on films to be part of the process and feel a sense of ownership over the content.
There are two standout instances of movie fans impacting the production of films through the power of community. Deadpool grossed $783.1m at the box office, and Sonic the Hedgehog grossed $306.8m at the box office. At Futurist Conference 2020, Deadpool’s director Tim Miller spoke with Emmy-Winner and Oscar-Nominated Producer Cindy Cowan. He said that the film was made with actor Ryan Reynolds, largely because of the demands of the comic book’s pre-existing community. The community strongly advocated for Reynolds. This is because he demonstrated dedication to making a film that was true to the comic book.
The demands of the fans went beyond the casting call. They were even specific about the eye color of Deadpool being the same as the comic. According to Cowan, “Ryan Reynolds was originally going to wear the mask of Deadpool.” But Reynolds has blue eyes. Deadpool’s eyes are white in the comic.
Said Cowan, “They said nope, we don’t want these blue eyes, we want the white eyes, so they changed it.” Just one day after the movie fans pushed Deadpool to Fox, the movie was greenlit. This cemented its status as a fan-driven story which eventually made huge profits at the box office.
Authenticity is key for movie fans
Comic book fans of Sonic the Hedgehog guided the production decisions of the movie, just like in the case of Deadpool. The fans had waited years for the movie to come out. When it finally did, they were disappointed because the Hollywood-version hardly looked like the Sonic character they know and love.
Over time, the backlash intensified. Studio chiefs didn’t want to disappoint the community. They had to listen. So they went back to the drawing board, and gave everyone the original version of Sonic they all knew and loved.
The fan-driven story of Deadpool, and the fan-driven story of Sonic proved that movie execs absolutely must cater to the demands of the community. That is, if they expect the community to support the project.
Enhancing the script-to-screen process with blockchain
It is already well-known that movie fans are extremely vocal across networks such as Tik Tok, Reddit, and Twitter. Their power becomes exponentially more significant once blockchain gets added into the mix.
Hollywood producer David Cormican was also at the Futurist Conference. He is excited about blockchain’s potential to make movies more fan-driven like Deadpool and Sonic. He says the combination of film and decentralized finance is the “quintessential example” of how fans can actually become more involved than ever. The hope is that this will improve the film industry as parties make governance decisions through quadratic voting.
Now is the time for Hollywood and the movie industry to explore ways to bring the film communities together. Blockchain makes it easier than ever before.
About the Author
Jake Fraser is the Head of Business Development at Mogul Productions, a DeFi and NFT marketplace platform for the film and entertainment industry. Jake possesses over 10 years of experience across a variety of industries such as sport, entertainment and crypto. He has helped build several successful businesses and specializes in sales, marketing, product development and strategy.
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