Lionsgate sells movie catalog to AI video startup Runway hoping to replace artists and FX
Hollywood studio Lionsgate has sold its entire back catalog of movies and TV shows to AI video startup Runway to train a new model on, which Lionsgate will then have access to. [WSJ, archive] Lions…
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seeing overpaid movie stars get replaced by ai will be fun.
Most them have protections in place preventing use of their likeness. Directors and other high level professionals will probably have enough money to sue anything that comes out of Runway. It's the artists, vfx, wardrobe, etc (i.e. low level people) that are going to get fucked. None of the savings will be passed to consumers and we will get derivative or rehashed works as a result. Only hope is that the money propping these AI replacements dries up because the studios can't attract movie goers with the even more unoriginal shit they will try to push.
Yeah this isn't the plan.
The plan is to get the stars in for a couple of days in front of a green screen, have them say their lines, then use "AI" to generate the rest of the scene. You want to get rid of all the labor around scouting sets, getting permits, constructing them, lighting them, feeding the crew etc. That's where a big part of the cost of making a movie lies.
Its only a matter of time before tech will be able to generate controlled/scripted moving images of full synthetic humans. No actors needed. Will it be shit and devoid of any emotion? Absolutely. Will the mass devour it like crazy because it is heavily marketed and promoted on social media and other channels as the next new big thing? Absolutely. They will love the 200th Marvel CU generated crapfest and with not a single frame recorded on physical media. Because they NEED to see deadpool giving a HJ to magneto while making an edgy remark about godzilla's sausage apparatus. And will it generate millions of revenue for the studio while also saving millions in actor fees, fx and other trades? You got it. The director is now a member of the board of directors.
Its only a matter of time before tech will be able to generate controlled/scripted moving images of full synthetic humans
that time arguably happened yeaaaars ago. character movement animation rigs are a hell of a far cry from where they started
Will the mass devour it like crazy because it is heavy ...
you know, there's a good conversation to be had about the cultural void that's come about as a result of the marvel generation having economic leverage and disposable income, and the extremely fucked state of affairs from the film industry having gone where it has in the last ~20y alone, but I don't know if I know enough to be the one to do it. although I'd welcome pointers if anyone knows a film/media critic with some chops that's taken this on
related to the marvel generation, I occasionally think about this post. when I do end up thinking about the shit. which largely happens when I once-in-months look to whether there's anything good to see at cinema
I highly doubt this will come to pass via GenAI.
