Lionsgate Uses AI To Change Movies

Lionsgate is seemingly exploring the use of AI not only to cut production budgets by half, but also to radically alter existing movies — such as making R-rated titles kid-friendly and turning live-action films into animated ones.

The Big Picture: While Lionsgate is the first studio to publicly announce that they partnered with an AI company (inking a deal with Runway), it’s only a matter of time before every major studio explores their moonshot AI strategy in an effort to generate a new revenue stream. Whether audiences accept those experiments is another thing entirely.

Behind the Scenes: Speaking to New York Magazine, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said Lionsgate has some wild plans for AI.

• He said the partnership with Runway will allow filmmakers to make movies and shows that the studio would otherwise not greenlight — like making a project for $50 million that would typically cost $100 million.
• He also said the AI system can make titles like John Wick and The Hunger Games more kid-friendly or convert them into a different format, like anime — all in a matter of a few hours.
• But he did stress that filmmakers, writers, actors, and other participants would need to be paid for every version that’s created (if the craft unions even allow these movies to be made).

The Future: Lionsgate’s deal with Runway was originally positioned as a way to streamline post-production work by training Runway’s AI system on Lionsgate’s sprawling film and TV library, giving filmmakers another tool in the arsenal.

Burns’ comments suggest that Lionsgate now wants to leverage AI to remix its library for further financial gain, hoping that audiences might be turned on to the novelty of… well… John Wick beating a mobster with a rubber chicken until he bursts into Skittles.

Prediction: While John Wick with a rubber chicken is ridiculous (actually, we’d pay to see that), we wouldn’t be surprised if Lionsgate eventually opens a VOD-marketplace of AI-altered titles.