October 3, 2026
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The Gifted wins the Future Vision XPRIZE

Tracks the Future Vision XPRIZE film competition for optimistic science fiction. This covers its finale and results at Moonshots Live on September 25, 2026, and how its prize money and production commitments are structured. It also covers the later development or production of the winning film, The Gifted, and of the other finalist films. It excludes the separate Build with Gemini XPRIZE, the Wildfire XPRIZE and general discussion of optimistic science fiction that does not concern this competition.

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Updated

Overview

The Gifted, credited to Jeff Synthesized, won the Future Vision XPRIZE for optimistic science fiction film. The result was announced live at Moonshots Live in Los Angeles on September 25, 2026, and XPRIZE published the same order on September 26. The other finalists were Nobody Dies on Mars, Thorne Protocol, SENTI and Slingshot. XPRIZE's materials give the winner $2.5 million in production equity and $100,000 for screenplay development. Each of the other four finalists received $100,000 in cash. There were also separate top-ten and audience-choice awards, and The Gifted took $50,000 of the audience-choice pool. Google says its 100 ZEROS initiative and Range Media Partners will support developing the film into a feature. Peter Diamandis framed the prize as a response to dystopian Hollywood futures.

In the episode published on October 2, 2026, Diamandis replayed the winning trailer. He said the film will be put into production with Range Media, Google and others. He said probably a couple of the five runners-up will be put into production as well. That is his expectation. The official materials commit production equity only to the winner. He also said Republic Films has opened a public investment opportunity in the film and that he made a personal investment.

Open questions are whether and when The Gifted is made as a feature, and whether any other finalist gets production backing.

Recent coverage

Changes to our coverage published in the past seven days. These are site update dates; podcast discussion dates and sources are in each version.

No changes to this account were published in the past seven days.

What changed

Dates show when each podcast discussion was published.

  1. New information

    Diamandis replayed the winning trailer and said The Gifted will go into production with Range Media, Google and other partners. He said probably a couple of the runners-up will also be produced, which is his expectation and not an official commitment. He said Republic Films has opened a public investment opportunity in the film and that he invested personally.

  2. New information

    At Moonshots Live on September 25, 2026, the five Future Vision XPRIZE finalists were ranked on stage. The Gifted won, followed by Nobody Dies on Mars, Thorne Protocol, SENTI and Slingshot. Diamandis framed the prize as a response to dystopian Hollywood futures. He said more than 5,000 people entered and more than 2,500 delivered trailers. XPRIZE's official results give the winner 2.5 million dollars in production equity plus 100,000 dollars for screenplay development, and 100,000 dollars in cash to each other finalist. There were separate top-ten and audience-choice awards, and The Gifted took 50,000 dollars of the audience-choice pool. Google says 100 ZEROS and Range Media Partners will develop The Gifted into a feature. Diamandis said he would also like to make Thorne Protocol, but that is a wish, not a stated commitment. The winning filmmaker said he made the entry entirely by himself.

Podcast discussions

Sources

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Our coverage

Version history

  • Oct 2, 2026 · Version 2

    Diamandis replayed the winning trailer and said The Gifted will go into production with Range Media, Google and other partners. He said probably a couple of the runners-up will also be produced, which is his expectation and not an official commitment. He said Republic Films has opened a public investment opportunity in the film and that he invested personally.

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