Overstock’s tZERO Tokenizes Upcoming ‘Atari: Fistful of Quarters’ Movie

TZERO, the cryptocurrency wing of American retail giant Overstock, will tokenize forthcoming motion picture “Atari: Fistful of Quarters,” according to a press release published on July 9.

Per the release, tZERO has partnered with the upcoming movie’s producers to develop a token dubbed “Bushnell,” which will be sold by the film production and financing company Vision Tree. Token owners will purportedly get shares of movie earnings, and receive additional benefits, including the ability to vote on the movie’s trailer and make a point of choosing the movie cast.

The upcoming movie is a biopic about Nolan Bushnell, an American businessman and engineer often cited as the father of the video game industry. Bushnell also founded computer and video game console manufacturer, the Atari Corporation. Patrick Byrne, chief executive officer of Overstock, said:

"We have been looking for the team to crack the code for Hollywood and bring much needed transparency and accountability to an industry that has been historically resistant to change. This is an extremely impressive team and we are thrilled to bring the tZERO tech stack to the movie industry.”

The project claims to be the first implementation of blockchain technology to fund a film, although news broke recently that Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development plans to finance the production of a documentary in collaboration with Brazilian cinema producer Elo Company, whose movie “The Boy and the World” by Alê Abreu was nominated for an Oscar in 2016.

Back in 2017, Cointelegraph reported on 21MCoin, which is a copyright token that entitles the owner to a share of the copyright and thus to royalties and other benefits for perpetuity. 21Million tokens are used to support a business in which all staff, cast and crew get paid the same which makes production budgets go much further, with more content bang for the buck - stripping out middlemen fees just for being there.