Republic Film, the two-year old platform that’s successfully connected Eli Roth, Robert Rodriquez and Pressman Films with fan investors, has partnered with the Future Vision XPRIZE, which will award $3.5 million towards film projects showcasing “optimistic science fiction storytelling about humanity’s technology-enabled future.”
The nonprofit XPRIZE sponsors large-scale, global incentive competitions across industries. In this case, the grand prize winning film concept will receive $2.5 million in production funding backed by comprehensive production support from Range Media and creative technology from Google, along with a $100k cash prize. Four finalists will each get $100k with another $500k to be unveiled later in the competition. Submissions opened this week for three-minute film trailers or short films for consideration.
Republic has joined to add a public investment layer to the initiative, allowing audiences and the wider community to invest in the winning film by collectively funding up to another $5 million in production capital and sharing in the film’s potential financial upside. The competition closes on August 15 although the fan investment campaign may launch sooner.
Republic Film’s parent, Republic, is a platform offering accredited and non-accredited investors (those with a net worth under $1 million) worldwide private market investment opportunities across sectors from tech startups to real estate and now entertainment. It has 3 million members, a portfolio of 2,500+ companies and says that over $2.6 billion has been deployed through investment platforms, funds, and firms within its family of companies.
It launched Republic Film, led by Marc Iserlis, in 2024 after successful fundraises for Skybound ($18 million from 5,000 investors) and Bucket List Studios ($3 million from 30,000 investors). Since then, Eli Roth has raised $6 million from 2,500 investors in his new horror studio; Robert Rodriquez has raised $2 million from 2,200 investors in a new action slate; Pressman Films raised $2 million towards a new development slate; and Ron Perlman raised $1 million from 1,000 investors for a new filmmaker-first platform. It has a number of new partnerships in the pipeline.
Business has accelerated with film financing and distribution more challenging than ever and filmmakers looking for new models. It offers investment beyond wealthy private financiers or studio deals and the ability for filmmakers to retain greater creative independence. The idea is, as with most fan funding initiatives, that early investors become an enthusiastic built-in audience, providing leverage for distribution conversations and creating buzz.
“Everyday investors are deeply hungry for access to previously gatekept investment opportunities,” said Republic co-founder and co-CEO Kendrick Nguyen. The platform gives fans “the power to become true financial stakeholders in the films and filmmakers they believe in.”
The XPRIZE started in 1996 with the Ansari XPRIZE, challenging teams to build and fly a reusable spacecraft. Since then the foundation has worked across education and literacy, health, energy and climate and other areas. Its website says it “launched 30 competitions, engaged more than 35,000 innovators across 173 countries, and turned $519 million in prize capital into $31 billion in measurable economic and social value” over the last 30 years.
“The Future Vision XPRIZE is exactly the kind of project our platform was made for – enabling the greater sci-fi community of artists and audiences to connect in a completely new way and bring visionary new stories to life for the screen,” said Peter Diamandis, XPRIZE founder and executive chairman. “I believe what we’re doing with Republic Film represents an important part of the future of entertainment: when audiences have a real stake in a story, it strengthens independent filmmaking and ultimately helps the film succeed.”
Variety first reported on the Future Vision XPRIZE.