In May, Fox Entertainment first announced the launch of Blockchain Creative Labs, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace of sorts. The media titan said that the marketplace would sell digital goods, including NFTs, “that provide exclusive social experiences to engage and reward super fans.”
Now, with a fresh $100 million, Fox Entertainment and its animation studio, Bento Box Entertainment, are doubling down on these ambitions.
Bento Box developed popular animated series such as “Bob’s Burgers,” “Lazor Wulf,” and is currently producing “Krapopolis,” a new animated series from the creator of “Rick and Morty,” Dan Harmon. The upcoming series with Harmon will also be the first production out of Blockchain Creative Labs.
In this arrangement, Bento Box’s co-founder and CEO, Scott Greenberg, will lead Blockchain Creative Labs and report to Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier.
“Fox and Bento Box are uniquely situated to bring exciting offerings to the digital goods, token, and NFT marketplace,” said Greenberg.
Fox joins NFT boom
Moves like this make sense in the context of NFTs.
These tokens represent certificates of ownership over pieces of media, be it art, music, or even GIFs. And as they’re generated using blockchain technology, NFTs are provably scarce—hence the phrase non-fungible token. This means that Fox and friends can be sure that any new fan memorabilia, especially digital varieties, is authentic, irreproducible, and valuable.
The technology has already created a wide variety of unique and lucrative media moments.
On June 11, for example, the largest shareholder of the fantasy sports betting company, DraftKings, paid $11.8 million for an NFT called a CryptoPunk. “I really wanted this particular CryptoPunk,” Shalom Meckenzie told Decrypt at that time.
CryptoPunks are one of the industry's oldest and perhaps most valuable NFT collections on the market.
Blockchain Creative Labs has clearly been watching the space closely. And with this new mountain of cash, Fox hopes to strike it big with the next viral digital collectible.