As Hollywood continues to reckon with the emergence of AI, one major studio has decided to take the plunge into the creatively murky waters. Lionsgate, the studio that has been struggling in the box office as of late in 2024, just inked a deal to introduce AI into their internal movie-making processes. The new AI model from Runway is intended to help maximize their efficiency and cut costs, and it will use some of the studio’s biggest franchises to do so, including John Wick.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has signed a deal with artificial intelligence firm Runway to implement AI in the company’s creative process, in hopes of leveraging the rising technology as a means to make movies easier and cheaper. It will be “customized to Lionsgate’s proprietary portfolio of film and television content,” collecting data from movies like John Wick and The Hunger Games, among others, to find the best ways to maximize their process. Lionsgate vice chair Michael Burns released a statement regarding Runway’s AI, not-so-subtly implying the deal was made to cut costs and increase profits for the studio.
“Runway is a visionary, best-in-class partner who will help us utilize AI to develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities. Several of our filmmakers are already excited about its potential applications to their preproduction and postproduction process. We view AI as a great tool for augmenting, enhancing and supplementing our current operations.”
Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela discussed the Lionsgate deal, stating that the AI will help the studio and its filmmakers bring their stories to life.
“We’re committed to giving artists, creators and studios the best and most powerful tools to augment their workflows and enable new ways of bringing their stories to life. The history of art is the history of technology and these new models are part of our continuous efforts to build transformative mediums for artistic and creative expression. The best stories are yet to be told. Lionsgate has an incredible creative team and a clear vision for how AI can help their work — we’re excited to help bring their ideas to life.”
AI Is Slowly Making Its Way Through Hollywood
Even though actors, writers, and every talent in between went on mass strike not so long ago, it seems AI will inevitably become a part of the movie-making business. How exactly it will be used, or if it will manifest itself on-screen, remains unclear, but recent projects have already used AI as a creative tool. Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion famously used AI to generate its opening title sequence, a thematic choice that rubbed a lot of people (and artists) the wrong way. The critically-acclaimed found footage horror film Late Night with the Devil sparked controversy with its use of AI art in a brief sequence. For many, the small uses of AI in movies during the creative process may not be a big deal, but it could snowball into something dangerous without industry-standard guardrails in place.
Guillermo del Toro, one of the most legendary directors still working today, recently discussed AI and did not go easy on it, saying that “it can do semi-compelling screensavers.” He’s not wrong, as the current state of AI art is not great and can be picked out once observed closely. The AI-generated videos are especially terrible to look at, a clear sign the technology is well away from being anywhere close to real filmmaking and craft. Fans like to generate art of their favorite characters, which can be neat sometimes, but AI becoming a vital part of the industry is cause for concern for many.