Aku, a Young Black Astronaut, Is First NFT Character Optioned for Film and TV

Aku is a young black astronaut NFT character created by Micah Johnson, an artist and former MLB player. Aku has been optioned for TV and film projects by Anonymous Content and Permanent Content, a joint venture of Shawn Mendes and his manager, Andrew Gertler.

I had to look up what an NFT is, and found that it stands for “Non-fungible tokens,” or something that is original, like a piece of art, or a collector’s item that is not mass produced. While digital artwork is being sold under these titles, and can easily be downloaded or screenshot by others who were not the purchasers, the buyer is the owner of the piece.

This is the first time that an NFT property has been optioned by a major production company. Johnson’s Aku character debuted Feb. 21, 2021, in an NFT drop on Nifty Gateway — selling more than $2 million in NFT tokens during the 24-hour sale period.

The piece came from Johnson, who began painting his young nephew in an astronaut helmet after the boy asked whether astronauts could be Black. The artist’s paintings of Aku depicted him with an oversize space helmet and backpack, and eventually Johnson created a 10-part story about the boy. Johnson more recently worked with his friend and 3D creator, Durk van der Meer, to produce a physical representation of Aku.

This is cool news, and it will be fun to see where this character ends up.

via: Variety