Los Angeles-based NFT entertainment company Orange Comet, the studio behind Anthony Hopkins’ “The Descendants” NFT collection, raised $7.24 million from selling equity options, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Launched in 2021, Orange Comet lists several high-profile entertainment and sports properties on its digital collectibles website, including Hopkins and collections for AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” “Interview with the Vampire,” and “Mayfair Witches.”
“When I got into the space two and a half years ago, the whole reason I got into it was that I felt like we can offer Hollywood-style production and storytelling with these properties,” Orange Comet co-founder and CEO David Broome told Decrypt at this year’s NFT Paris.
Broome explains that Orange Comet aims to appeal to and attract Web3 enthusiasts and newcomers, onboarding them onto the NFT experience.
“How do you first appeal to and attract the core enthusiast already in Web3? By delivering fantastic content to them,” he said. “A project that has a real roadmap, no bullshit, where they see where something is going, and it’s building to a larger scale than just the initial launch itself.”
“I want to get the next million people in,” Broome said. “That’s the goal.”
While Broome says that he wants to appeal to fans through quality projects, a community that engages those fans is as essential as having a triple-a console game.
In October 2022, legendary actor Anthony Hopkins launched his first NFT collection, “The Eternal,” on Orange Comet.
“What’s interesting is [Hopkins] was so enthusiastic about learning about Web3 himself that he was able to bring the fans in,” Broome says, adding that over 100 people were able to meet with the Oscar winner via Zoom chat.
While the crypto market continues to deal with an ongoing crypto winter, including layoffs and projects going under, Broome says there are opportunities to be had.
“In a bear market and a down market, the pretenders, scammers, bad artists, and everyone else in that category will disappear,” he said. “That is one of the good things that’s connected, because in a market like this, there’s opportunity.”
Broome says the future of the NFTs industry should be non-speculative, where collectors no longer buy NFTs only to flip them to make money.
“I think that’s broken,” he said. “I think that’s short-sighted to what the technology of the blockchain is and where it can go.”
