Fox Launching NFT Company, Producing Blockchain Animated Series By Dan Harmon

Dan Harmon’s new series is marrying our oldest myths with our newest tech. Set in Ancient Greece, Fox’s Krapopolis will be distributed and marketed using NFTs, the tokens currently shaking up the crypto and digital art worlds.

At its upfront event on Monday, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said the upcoming comedy show will be “the first-ever animated series curated entirely on the blockchain.” It will be accompanied by a marketplace “that will curate and sell digital goods, ranging from NFTs of one-of-a-kind character and background art and GIFs, as well as tokens that provide exclusive social experiences to engage and reward superfans.”

Fox also announced the launch of a new NFT company called Blockchain Creative Labs, through which it will work with clients to set up similar initiatives. “Just as we’re doing this for our own animation,” Collier said, “we will also help your brands connect directly with fans and enthusiasts through NFTs. With and for you, Fox will help art meet brands meet technology.”

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a kind of digital certificate that can be used to mark a file out as unique. That file can then be traded, the NFT using the blockchain to keep track of its history of ownership. Animation artists, including Harmon’s fellow Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, are among those to have sold artwork via the tech.

Three months ago, few outside the crypto world had heard of NFTs (to me, the acronym merely meant London’s National Film Theatre). Fox’s embrace of the tech shows how quickly it has moved into the mainstream. How the company will address the tokens’ huge carbon footprint remains to be seen.

Krapopolis was first announced — minus title and blockchain add-ons — in February. The show stars a flawed family of humans, gods, and monsters who try to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other. It is produced by Fox, with animation by Bento Box, and is due to premiere in 2022.

(Photo at top: Shutterstock)