In late September 2021, the one-of-one Zero Contact Platinum Edition non-fungible token (NFT) sold for $56,860 (€49,008, £41,308) while the ZERO CONTACT Elite Edition NFTs sold for a total of $36,575.00.

The NFTs include the feature-length film, Zero Contact, starring Anthony Hopkins. Zero Contact is a 2021 American thriller that was shot in 17 countries and filmed entirely virtually via Zoom during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

Zero Contact was the first feature film to be released via CurrencyWorks Inc’s platform Vuele, an NFT platform. 

Vuele’s NFT platform

Vuele, a joint venture between CurrencyWorks (CWRK) and Enderby Entertainments, is scheduling another NFT drop, which is expected to take place around the Austin Film Festival.

Vuele CEO Cameron Chell explained the launch to Currency.com: “You can call our ‘Zero Contact exclusive edition’ NFTs the ‘The Zero Contact time machine’. They are going to reproduce exactly the time machine of the movie.”

The Zero Contact NFTs include the full feature-length film, which the purchaser can watch on VUELE, as well as highly sought-after content such as crypto art and behind-the-scenes footage.

The drop is scheduled for next November, with 2,500 NFTs expected to be auctioned at an original floor price of around $1,000.

Classic films and Anthony Hopkins’ possible return

As the commercial rights of the movie are not included in the NFTs, the film is can be projected in cinemas in the future.

As Chell said: “One day, I’m sure you gonna watch it in the cinemas. That was another problematic part of the NFTs production – maybe the most difficult to overcome – and the reason why we are still not watching scenes from our beloved classics.

“However, I’m sure one day we gonna see the most memorable scenes of the story of the cinema on NFTs.

“There are already other two films we are about to launch, but I cannot anticipate the name of the stars featuring. Maybe Anthony Hopkins will be back, maybe not,” he added. 

Film critics

The movie has been criticised by some YouTube users as being basically static, while it has been appreciated by others as an original product born during the pandemic.

“Our aim was exactly to reproduce the lockdown atmosphere. It was entirely shot on Zoom. I think it is instead part of the film’s appeal. It is clearly not a hundred-of-a-million film, but it was really complex to make. Anthony Hopkins was very enthusiastic about it,” said Chell.

The film, which was directed by Rick Dugdale and written by Cam Cannon, also stars Aleks Paunovic, Tuva Novotny, Rukiya Bernard, Veronica Ferres, Adrian Holmes, Lilly Krug, Linda Darlow, Juliet Sorci, James C Burns, Chris Brochu and Martin Stenmarck.

Further reading: NFT marking 30 years of Miller’s Sin City fetches $100,000