PC: John Salangsang/Variety/REX/Shut
Quentin Tarantino and Miramax have put aside their differences over an NFT auction of screenplay excerpts from “Pulp Fiction.”
The studio filed a lawsuit last November seeking to block the director from going ahead with the sale. At the time, Miramax said it was pursuing its own strategy to capitalize on NFTs — non-fungible tokens — and it argued that Tarantino’s auction would interfere.
In the end, Tarantino went ahead with the first of seven planned auctions. But after selling the first NFT for a reported $1.1 million, the remaining six auctions were canceled due to “extreme market volatility.” On Thursday, Miramax’s lawyers filed a brief statement in court, saying only that, “The parties have settled this case and expect to file their dismissal papers within two weeks.” “The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” the two sides said in a joint statement on Thursday.
At one point, the lawsuit appeared like it could become a precedent-setting showdown over the rights to a new revenue stream. Miramax argued that because it holds the copyright to “Pulp Fiction,” it also owns the rights to exploit “Pulp Fiction” NFTs.
Tarantino’s side argued that he had retained screenplay publication rights in his contract, and the NFTs were merely a new way to republish his script in a new format.
In the months since the suit was filed, however, NFT sales have plunged, leading several outlets to report on the collapse of the asset class.
Variety's Gene Maddaus contributed to this post.
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/quentin-tarantino-miramax-pulp-fiction-nft-settlement-1235365550/#recipient_hashed=27d3e1decbdd57f8473998652dd3259302a49d011cd4c3c98101f80952412574
