The Sandbox Creators Launch Crowdfunded Horror Film with NFT Rewards

Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget, cofounders of The Sandbox metaverse platform, have launched a financing campaign for Hollywood Hills, an upcoming cosmic horror film from writer-director Benjamin Rozovas. The campaign aims to raise $2.5 million through Republic, an equity crowdfunding platform for independent films.

Madrid and Borget are serving as lead investors and partners on the project, with The Sandbox acting as a strategic marketing and community partner. The film was first announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. Unlike traditional crowdfunding, Republic allows audiences to take an equity position in the film ahead of production, with investors holding contractual rights to share in the film's revenue. Each investor recoups 120% of their investment before further profits are split evenly between investors and producers.

As part of the financing model, The Sandbox creators are offering 3,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called "Hollywood Hills Villas" to the first 1,000 investors in the campaign. The digital collection was illustrated by Steve Scott and includes hidden narrative clues that direct fans to investigate across the Villas and the Black Fire Archive Discord server. This approach attempts to attract blockchain-engaged audiences, though NFTs remain controversial following the volatility of cryptocurrency markets and prior blockchain gaming projects. The Sandbox's own LAND NFTs raised $390 million from players but hold an estimated $14 million in value today, according to CoinGecko.

Rozovas describes Hollywood Hills as a portrait of an aging Hollywood facing reckoning. Set over a single night on a Los Angeles death tour called "Dead & Famous," the film follows a tour bus through the Hills past sites of celebrity deaths. As a cosmic force hangs over the city, the bus veers off route into a dreadful underworld holding secrets about Hollywood's buried history. The film is structured as an international co-production, with Harrison Allen producing and Los Angeles-based Oscar Gervet co-producing. Madrid-based Rei Pictures, whose credits include Venice premieres Zama and Kill the Jockey, are production partners.

The financing campaign incorporates gamified elements designed to engage audiences during pre-production. Madrid explained the strategy in an interview with GamesBeat: "We've been working on this cosmic horror movie for almost two years. The main idea was to use our experience on a couple of things from The Sandbox. I think the first one is our experience with IP. We've been working with over 400 IPs in fashion, in art, in movies. So we wanted to build our original IP in the space." He added, "We learned from Sandbox how to build community. If we have to define Web 3, I think Web 3 is about using digital collectibles, using blockchain, using innovation to build infinite numbers of communities."

The advisory board includes Sam Pressman, CEO of Pressman Film whose catalogue includes American Psycho and The Crow; Thomas Vu, executive producer of Arcane and former Head of Creative at Riot Games; and filmmaker Nicolas Saada, director of Sleepless Night. Rozovas spent two decades as a film journalist for GQ and Première before building games on genre IP including The Walking Dead. This is his feature film debut.

The film's mythology is expanding beyond the digital sphere. Hollywood Hills is partnering with Grave Line Tours, the leading Los Angeles operator running tours of the city's most haunted addresses, to launch the "Dead & Famous" bus tour in October. Attendees will ride the route featured in the film, past the same houses and death sites of Ramon Novarro, Peg Entwistle, and Dorothy Stratten. The first rides are reserved for investors, with plans to open the tour to the public when the film releases. This approach builds audience investment in the project before the film reaches theaters.

Madrid and Borget stepped back from day-to-day operations at The Sandbox last year when Robby Yung of Animoca Brands took the top job. The company laid off half its employees at that time. Madrid now serves as chairman while Borget is ambassador. The cofounders previously founded Pixowl in 2011, a mobile studio built on licensed entertainment IP including Goosebumps: Horror Town and The Addams Family Mystery Mansion, which Animoca Brands acquired in 2018.