tl;dr Summary: “The Infinite Machine” is a movie, partly funded by NFTs, that chronicles the thrilling story behind the origins of Ethereum. The film will be the first mainstream, Hollywood movie about crypto. “The Infinite Machine” is co-produced by Ridley Scott, a legendary figure in Hollywood behind titles such as “Alien” and “Gladiator,” and is expected to be released in 2024.
Behind every great invention is a dramatic origin story filled with quirky characters, scintillating conflict and in most cases a happy ending for the creators. It’s no wonder so many of these stories have been made into Hollywood hits, including the Oscar-winning film “The Social Network” which tells the story of the founding of Facebook. The latest tech story to catch the eye of Hollywood producers is the origins of Ethereum, the world’s second largest digital asset behind Bitcoin.
“The Infinite Machine” will be a dramatized film depicting the rise of Ethereum and its visionary co-founder, Vitalik Buterin. The film will be the first mainstream Hollywood film about crypto and has already attracted massive talent including “Harami” director Shyam Madiraju and critically acclaimed “Alien” director Ridley Scott.
The movie is based on the book “The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum” by financial journalist and cryptocurrency expert Camila Russo. The book chronicles Vitalik’s journey from Bitcoin contributor in 2012, to forming a team of crypto developers that would build a global computer, and ending with the emergence of DeFi protocols and NFTs in 2018. The book is a thrilling story of perseverance, greed, and the innovation which led to the birth of the up-and-coming Web3 movement.
After the success of the book, Russo was approached by several production studios interested in purchasing the movie rights for the story. Russo ultimately decided to sign a deal with Versus Entertainment, a production and distribution company out of Spain. Versus Entertainment had a long-standing relationship with Scott Free Productions, Ridley Scott’s company, and suggested they join the project as co-producers. Camila Russo officially announced on her Twitter account that Ridley Scott had agreed to produce the film on April 21, 2022. Camila Russo was offered the role of Executive Producer.
The role of a producer in a Hollywood film is to acquire funding, hire the production team, approve budget spending, approve shooting locations, and much more. Both Versus Entertainment and Scott Free have plenty of experience producing high-budget films, but Russo wanted to add an element of the Ethereum ethos and ideals to the project.
Russo decided that her executive producer role should be delegated to the crypto community. In order to accomplish this, the production team decided to build and sell an NFT collection of over 10,000 pieces of digital art celebrating Ethereum. These NFTs will partly fund the production of “The Infinite Machine” and will also serve as membership tokens to The Infinite Machine DAO. The DAO will be given the role of Executive Producer instead of Russo, allowing members to make key decisions on how the movie is made. Russo hopes the DAO will also use their treasury to fund many more projects in the future.
In addition to the DAO membership, the NFTs will act as a backstage pass with perks for holders including access to the premiere, access to shooting locations and even the possibility to show up as extras in the film.
The NFT art is a collection developed by multiple artists from emerging countries like Cuba, Venezuela and India. Russo believed that instead of hiring artists from existing technology hubs, it was important to give the platform to artists from countries where cryptocurrency and NFTs have made a life-changing impact.
The NFT collection has already sold out 40% of the collection with two limited mints earlier this year. A third mint will release the remaining 60% of the collection to the public at a later date. Additional airdrops will be given to holders in the meantime as an incentive to remain long-term supporters of the project.
The film is still very early in the production phase. Casting decisions haven’t been made yet, but many followers of “The Infinite Machine” on Twitter are already putting in their bids for who they want to see play Ethereum’s founders. Several have even jokingly suggested that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson play the lead role of Vitalik Buterin. With a name like Ridley Scott’s already attached to the project, the production is sure to attract some of Hollywood’s top talent to portray the wild adventures of the legendary team behind Ethereum’s founding.
Russo hopes that the film will serve to educate mainstream viewers and inspire them to explore and participate in the emerging world of blockchain technology. The film is expected to premiere in theatres at some point in 2024, but viewers can stay up to date by following the team’s progress on Twitter and Discord.
