According to Blockworks, the second installment of 'The Rise of Blus', an animated movie funded by the Nouns DAO, was released on Wednesday. The movie is produced by crypto-native animation studio Atrium, with a $3 million budget dependent on a series of governance proposals. Atrium's founder, Supriyo Roy, provides on-chain updates about the film's progress and expenditure, breaking away from the traditional film industry's secretive approach. The movie's script is also made public before the releases. Several producers of 'The Rise of Blus' have previously worked on 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', giving the animation a similar style to the Marvel hit.
The film has a crew of 45 people and an estimated final budget of $2.78 million. In comparison, the recent 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' animated movie had a production cost of $70 million. Five of the movie's eight chapters have been funded, with the next three episodes set to be released over the next eight months. The completed movie will have a runtime of approximately 80 minutes. The story follows a boy named Gi, who lives in the floating city of Blus and dreams of becoming an adventurous 'rover' instead of following his father's footsteps as a 'recycler'. The Nouns NFTs' signature 'Noggles' feature prominently in the movie, with the glasses symbolizing freedom of choice. The film pays homage to its origins without explicitly mentioning NFTs or crypto.
Maria Shen, general partner at Atrium investor Electric Capital, stated that crypto may not be a significant factor for the animators funded by the DAO's treasury. She explained that the animators are involved because it offers them an alternative revenue source and artistic freedom that they wouldn't have otherwise. The project highlights the new use cases that crypto can enable.