Quentin Tarantino is one of the most talented filmmakers of all time. His films have been given such high regard for many reasons, including the impeccable story structure, the scene details, and the dialogues, which can only be described as perfectly made, as well as the marvelous characters that feature in the films. These features have been seen in many of the films made by the director, including Pulp Fiction, the Kill Bill movie series, Inglourious Basterds, and most recently, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. He has also won a number of Oscar nominations and wins, making him truly deserving of the status he holds in the industry.
It is quite common for people involved in an extremely successful film or a project, to try to profit more off of it in any way possible. Be it trying to make follow-up stories through sequels or television series, or through making exclusive content for viewers to purchase, the concept on its own, isn’t anything new. What many may be surprised to find out, however, is that Tarantino tried to profit more from one of his most famous films, only to get sued for it.
Quentin Tarantino Made NFTs For Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction is one of Quentin Tarantino’s most successful and culturally significant films. Starring a massive, A-list cast, with actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis featured in the film, there is no doubt that this is the first film one thinks of when they think of the filmmaker. What is interesting to find out is the fact that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, years after the success of the movies, Tarantino came out with NFTs, a digital asset, of the film for fans to buy.
These NFTs included secret content in the form of never-before-seen footage from the film along with hand-written script notes, art, and personal commentary from him. This would also come with a publicly viewable portion as well as content only visible to the owner. What Tarantino failed to account for, however, is the fact that he may not have had the authority or the rights to do any of this.
Quentin Tarantino Got Sued After Pulp Fiction NFTs
Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax, the studio behind the film that came out more than 25 years ago, revealed that Quentin Tarantino did not have the authority to make these NFTs as the rights to the film belong to the studio itself. According to his contract at the time, the director had some rights to the soundtrack album, music publishing, live performance, print publication (including, without limitation, screenplay publication, ‘making of’ books, comic books, and novelization, in audio and electronic formats as well, as applicable), interactive media, theatrical and television sequel and remake rights, and television series and spinoff rights.
“Left unchecked, Tarantino’s conduct could mislead others into believing Miramax is involved in his venture. And it could also mislead others into believing they have the rights to pursue similar deals or offerings, when in fact Miramax holds the rights needed to develop, market, and sell NFTs relating to its deep film library.” Miramax said in the lawsuit according to The Hollywood Reporter
While this list includes many things, NFTs are not part of it, which seems quite obvious considering the time at which this movie was made. Miramax revealed that even though they tried to stop what the filmmaker was doing by sending him a cease-and-desist letter, this was to no avail. This resulted in them filing a lawsuit against Tarantino, stating that they did not want the filmmaker’s actions to give the wrong impression to the public as to their own involvement in the matter, as well as others they have worked with to do similar things.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
