Warner Bros. Discovery begins selling Lord of the Rings NFTs

Warner Bros. Discovery is releasing an NFT bundle for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring that includes the 4K version of the film and several collectibles.

As reported by Variety, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has partnered with blockchain company Eluvio to launch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Web3 Movie Experience – an NFT package that includes the extended version of the 2001 film in 4K UHD, over eight hours of special features, image galleries and hidden AR collectibles.

The Lord of the Rings films in (chronological) order

The Fellowship of the Ring Web3 Movie Experience marks the first time a major studio has released a film as an NFT, but it’s unlikely to be the last. Warner Bros. has set up a website for its WB Movieverse venture and reportedly plans to expand its NFT marketplace with other titles that will presumably appear in the “coming soon” slots on the home page.

Warner Bros. Entertainment EVP and General Manager Jessica Schell described Peter Jackson’s debut Lord of the Rings film as an “evergreen” title with a passionate fan base. She said they wanted to make the NFTs available to fans while offering a certain level of “scarcity and exclusivity”, so have minted 999 copies of the Epic Edition and 10,000 of the Mystery Edition.

NFTs and cryptocurrencies have seen a massive surge of attention in the tech space over the past year, and continue to be controversial topics. They are largely unregulated devices that are often exploited for fraudulent purposes and have been accused of having a huge negative impact on the environment due to the energy consumed during electronic currency mining.

The NFT release for The Fellowship of the Ring comes amid Prime Video’s release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The long-awaited series has just finished its first season. IGN called it “a strong sequel to Peter Jackson’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy” filled with “some of the most remarkable sets and scenes ever on television.”

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.