Killroy Was Here: Kevin Smith selling horror anthology film as an NFT

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Seven years have passed since Kevin Smith first announced that he and his Edumacation podcast co-host Andy McElfresh had written the screenplay for a horror anthology. The project has undergone some major changes and taken some unexpected twists and turns along the way, and Smith ended up filming it a couple years ago with the assistance of students from the Ringling College of Art and Design. Now there's one more twist regarding the film known as Killroy Was Here: Smith is auctioning off the rights to the anthology as an NFT (non-fungible token).

Syfy Wire explains,

What’s an NFT you ask? Great question. NFT stands for non-fungible token, which basically means it’s a unique, digital asset. You can think of them as the digital equivalent of Magic the Gathering playing cards, NBA video highlights, or even fine art. Once someone buys an NFT from a cryptocurrency marketplace (which is connected to a blockchain… which, VERY generally speaking, is a database of cryptocurrency transactions… actually, it might just be best to gloss over this part), they own that digital asset.

I definitely didn't see this coming, especially since I had never even heard of a "non-fungible token" before this announcement. I figured Smith would take the same approach to releasing Killroy Was Here as he taken with some of his previous movies; go on tour with it (once the pandemic allows), then have an established distributor handle the home video release. Instead, whoever purchases the Killroy Was Here NFT will "secure the rights to exhibit, distribute and stream the work, making it a means for whoever owns the movie to earn money outside of the blockchain … Smith will not obtain any theatrical rights after Killroy is sold as an NFT, with whoever buys it maintaining sole ownership of the movie."

Smith told Deadline, 

As an indie artist, I’m always looking for a new platform through which to tell a story. And Crypto has the potential to provide that, while also intersecting with our almost 25 years of experience selling real world collectibles online and at the brick-and-mortar Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Back in 1994, we took Clerks up to Sundance and sold it. Selling Killroy as an NFT feels very similar: whoever buys it could choose to monetize it traditionally, or simply own a film that nobody ever sees but them. We’re not trying to raise financing by selling NFT’s for a Killroy movie; the completed Killroy movie IS the NFT. And If this works, we suddenly have a new stage on which I and other, better artists than me can tell our stories."

In addition to the Killroy Was Here NFT, Smith is also delving into the Cryptoverse with Jay and Silent Bob's Crypto Studio (Crypto.JayandSilentBob.com), an NFT gallery that will showcase and sell art featuring Jay and Silent Bob.

I don't know anything about this NFT business and don't care to get into it, I just hope whoever ends up with the rights to Killroy Was Here will secure a distribution deal for it that will allow me to see the movie soon.

Killroy Was Here stars Harley Quinn Smith, Jason Mewes, Daisy McElfresh, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan O'Nan, Betty Aberlin, Chris Jericho, and Ralph Garman, with Justin Kucsulain as Killroy. Killroy was a soldier working special ops during the Vietnam War when things went terribly wrong, and now he has become something that Smith has described as being like "a kid avenger – if you f*ck with kids Killroy will show up".