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Lionsgate Vice-Chairman: We Can Remake a Film as 'Anime' in 3 Hours in AI

Reporter Lila Shapiro highlighted how generative AI is being used in the film industry, both openly and behind the curtains, in a June 4 article on New York magazine's entertainment news website Vulture. Shapiro spoke with industry insiders, particularly those in Hollywood, for the "Everyone Is Already Using AI (And Hiding It)" piece.

The studio Lionsgate (The Hunger Games, John Wick, The Twilight Saga) has already partnered with generative AI company Runway, and Lionsgate Vice-Chairman Michael Burns gave his view of the speed and cost of implementing the technology: “We can't make it for $100 million, but we'd make it for $50 million because of AI.” On repackaging and reselling an existing action franchise, Jones told Shapiro, “Now we can say, 'Do it in anime, make it PG-13.' Three hours later, I'll have the movie.”

Burns offered another example of the use of generative AI in developing a film that has not been green-lit. The proposed film has a 10-second shot of "10,000 soldiers on a hillside with a bunch of horses in a snowstorm." According to the Vulture article, the shot would take three days and millions of dollars to film in the Himalayas, but the staff could create the shot with Runway for US$10,000.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, noted that after the union's 2023 strike, each major studio agreed to provide an update on its use of generative AI every six months. However, Shapiro reported that companies at every level of film production had "rogue" staffers who asked workers to use AI under the table and without formal authorization. An animator recalled how a costume designer hired an illustrator to redraw concept images already generated by AI: “They'll functionally launder the AI-generated content through an artist.”

Storyboard artists appear particularly unsafe from the march of generative AI within Hollywood. A studio executive said in the Vulture piece, “If you're a storyboard artist you're out of business. That's over. Because the director can say to AI, 'Here's the script. Storyboard this for me. Now change the angle and give me another storyboard.' Within an hour, you've got 12 different versions of it.” However, the executive added, “If that same artist became proficient at prompting generative-AI tools, he's got a big job.”

Yet, one visual effects (VFX) artist questioned whether audiences care if generative AI is used in his field. Shapiro reported, “When a director asked for a small element — a swirl of smoke or a spark of flame — he would create it using generative AI. It didn't look as good as it would have if he'd used traditional VFX software like Houdini or Maya, but he didn't think most people would notice the difference.” Quoting the VFX artist directly, “Oh, there's quality lost. But that's only lost on the people who appreciate it, like fine wine.”

Sources: Vulture (Lila Shapiro) via Cartoon Brew