A collective known as Spice DAO spent 2.66M ($3.04M) on a copy of Alejandro JodorowskysDunebook.
Now our mission is to:
1.
Make the book public (to the extent permitted by law)
2.
Produce an original animated limited series inspired by the book and sell it to a streaming service
3.
Support derivative projects from the communitypic.twitter.com/g4QnF6YZBp
Spice DAO (?,?)
(@TheSpiceDAO)January 15, 2022
Honestly, I and many others are flabbergasted.
40% off TNW Conference!
It washandled by Christiesand we can confirm that, yes, the book did sell for 2.66 million.
The estimate for the lot was between 25 thousand and 35 thousand.
This means Spice DAO paid roughly between 76 and 100 times the asking price.
To try and make it a reality, Jodorowsky worked with celebrated artistsMoebius,Chris Foss, andH.
This is what Spice DAO purchased.
On one hand, this is an amazing get.
Maybe purchasing this book could shine further light on this fascinating tale?
Theres a problem though: other copies of the book already exist.
Undoubtedly a noble goal but one thats looking increasingly untrue.
If Saqib and Spice DAO really wanted to make a difference, they would do something similar.
In reality, what theyre planning comes off as far less charitable.
Then were back to that second point.
The circle is completed.
Misunderstandings seem an integral part of the space.
It appears the same mentality happened with the Spice DAOs purchase of JodorowskysDunebook.
Owning this gives them no legal right to make an animated show.
Instead, this is managed by the Herbert estate,which sold the rights to Legendary in 2016.
The firstDunemovie from this deal was released in cinemas last year.
The longer Ive spent with this story, the sadder Ive become.
On some level, I believe the Spice DAO project is sprung from love.
Saqib originally paid for the bookwith his own money, after all.
The problem is I cant see this ending well for anyone involved.
Well, unless theyre genuinely happy with an insanely expensive book.
Which, to be fair, is pretty cool.
