Lionsgate has taken a pioneering step as the first major Hollywood studio to fully embrace artificial intelligence (AI). The company has announced a groundbreaking partnership with AI research firm Runway to develop and train an exclusive AI model utilizing its extensive portfolio of film and TV content.
This bespoke AI model aims to generate “cinematic video,” which can be refined using Runway’s technology. Lionsgate’s vice chairman Michael Burns projects that this innovation could save the studio “millions and millions of dollars” by replacing traditional production tasks such as storyboarding with AI-driven solutions.
In corporate terms, Burns emphasized that AI will enable “cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities.” Several filmmakers are already enthusiastic about the potential applications of this technology in their pre-production and post-production processes.
Burns also shared with the Wall Street Journal that he sees the AI tool as a future replacement for VFX artists in creating backgrounds and special effects. “We do a lot of action movies, so we blow a lot of things up, and that is one of the things Runway does,” he noted.
Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela stated that the company is dedicated to providing artists, creators, and studios with powerful tools to enhance their workflows and enable new storytelling methods. “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,” Valenzuela said.
However, it’s worth noting that Runway faces criticism from the creative community and is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed by a group of visual artists for copyright infringement.
Lionsgate has not disclosed detailed information about the content it will use to train its models or the legal framework governing these materials. While Lionsgate is renowned for its live-action franchises like “John Wick,” “Twilight,” and “The Hunger Games,” it also owns over 20,000 titles, including animated films such as “Astro Boy,” “Rock Dog,” “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” and “Norm of the North.”
This move by Lionsgate could signify a major shift in film production, offering substantial cost savings and new creative possibilities, while also raising important legal and ethical considerations.
