GAMESTOP: RISE OF THE PLAYERS just went to the Moon via metaverse

NEWS: Super and Decrypt Studios just partnered to produce a live metaverse premiere of SUPER ’S newest documentary GAMESTOP: RISE OF THE PLAYERS. In a tongue-in-cheek riff on the popular meme, yesterday’s screening took viewers “to the moon” to watch the film at a drive-in theater on a rocky landscape orbiting planet Earth. Director Jonah Tulis took part in a live Q&A session following the screening to the gathered crowd of film, gaming, metaverse, and crypto enthusiasts.

RISE OF THE PLAYERS, the Super produced and distributed movie about the GameStop stock market phenomenon of January 2021, was released in over 200 theaters on January 28, 2022, the one-year anniversary of the stock’s peak. The metaverse premiere was held in celebration of the film’s release to digital platforms for rent or purchase. The exclusive GAMESTOP: RISE OF THE PLAYERS public exhibit in the metaverse will be available for fans to join for free from March 2-9 on the SpatialXR Apple/Android app, Spatial.io on Web, or VR Headset.

The metaverse experience was designed by Polycount.io and shepherded by Decrypt Studios, the Web3 production house that partners with brands and creators to curate NFT and metaverse activations, was held in the Spatial metaverse and accessed via VR headsets, desktop, and mobile browsers. Attendees received a POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol), a type of Ethereum-based NFT that serves as both a ticket to gain entry to the screening and a collectible keepsake from the event.

“Of all the movies for there to be a metaverse screening of, this one is probably the most fitting,” said Jonah Tulis, who directed GAMESTOP: RISE OF THE PLAYERS. “The community of GameStop investors, crypto enthusiasts, and NFTs are all interconnected. People learning to trade at home ended up creating a movement that started a financial revolution; similarly, so many people are now interacting online, which has helped to really accelerate the true launch of the metaverse. The events of January 2021 laid the groundwork for future change, and it’s these everyday ‘players’ that have started the revolution in this new reality.”

Why a metaverse screening?

As trading platforms such as Robinhood have democratized access to trading, so too has the metaverse and Web3 decentralized access to the virtual world. The premiere of GAMESTOP: RISE OF THE PLAYERS via a moon simulation in the metaverse was seen as the ideal setting for viewers and filmmakers to experience an entirely new way of interacting across borders and time zones.

“The GameStop WallStreetBets saga felt like a tipping point into the world of crypto, setting off a chain of events that introduced every day consumers to concepts like the metaverse and NFTs,” said Alanna Roazzi-Laforet, the Founder of Decrypt Studios. “‘Rise of the Players’ vividly documents the rollercoaster of events that led to the realization that rules created by the gatekeepers of Wall Street are just as open to interpretation by your everyday trader as they are to the hedge funds that manage them. We’re thrilled to bring this film to the metaverse, where we believe the ascent has only just begun.”

Super: Super earned its first Academy Award® nomination with Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Official Oscar® Entry which also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best International Feature. Recent acquisitions and upcoming releases include the critically acclaimed black comedy All My Friends Hate Me and Bianca Stigter’s Three Minutes: A Lengthening co-produced by Academy Award Winner Steve McQueen. 

 The label recently released Tony Stone’s film Ted K starring Sharlto Copley. Its slate also includes Theo Anthony’s All Light, Everywhere, which won a Special Jury Prize for Non-Fiction Experimentation at Sundance, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, David Darg and Price James’ poignant documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette, Jack Bryan’s Active Measures, and Gene Graham’s This One’s for The Ladies. The label’s debut film was Anthony Bourdain’s Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.

 Super’s principals Darcy Heusel and Dan O’Meara were the team behind Honeyland, which was the first non-fiction feature to land Academy Award® nominations for Best Documentary and Best International Feature Film in the same year, and Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda which was also shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature. 

Decrypt Studios: Decrypt Studios is a new-breed production studio dedicated to bringing artists, designers, and thinkers to the Metaverse. We demystify digital assets and virtual worlds, providing tools to help creatives reach audiences in completely new ways. With roots in Ethereum, access to the latest technologies through the Mesh venture group, and a finger on the pulse of the crypto and blockchain worlds through Decrypt Media, Decrypt Studios is the premier Web3 studio creating unique projects and activations in the Metaverse and across all new technological platforms.

 Spatial: Spatial is the metaverse for culture. Whether on web, mobile, or VR, in Spatial users can customize a virtual space and gather for NFT exhibitions, live events, lectures, meetups and watch parties. And all it takes is a few clicks to set up your space or join. Spatial was founded in 2016 with the goal of making designing experiences for high quality 3D collaboration easy and accessible. Spatial is equipped with tools and integrations to make setting up your own space a seamless creative process. Contact us: Twitter @spatialxr, Facebook @spatial.io, LinkedIn spatial.systems, Instagram @spatial_io, Youtube @spatial.

 Polycount: Polycount is a XR Content agency creating the most immersive VR and AR experiences on the planet. For the past 22 years, our mission has been to offer the most cutting edge content solutions and experiences possible. Polycount has spent decades studying the various hardware and XR platforms currently on the market. We have the knowledge and experience that can save you precious R&D time and the talent that will deliver best in class VR, MR, & AR solutions for your team. Visit here.

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