Netflix, Google, Amazon Bet on Hollywood AI
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- Netflix paid $587 million for Ben Affleck's AI company, a tool Belloni describes as letting filmmakers generate coverage and extend scenes without costly reshoots
- Netflix disclosed on a recent earnings call that 300 of its shows now use generative AI, according to Belloni
- Amazon's AI generative studio, run by executive Albert Chang, triggered online backlash so intense that one of its creators stepped down from a project
- Google DeepMind invested $75 million in A24, while Lionsgate took a stake in Runway, an AI-generated video company
- A full version of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey leaked on X and racked up roughly one million views before Universal could issue a takedown
- Animation is the first frontier for generative AI disruption, with Pixar originals now costing $200 million or more to produce and the studio slow to adopt AI tools
- The Writers Guild is OK with AI use as long as a credited writer remains on every script and the technology doesn't impact jobs
Why it matters: Hollywood's leadership is publicly split on AI while privately pouring money into it—Netflix, Amazon, Google, and Lionsgate have all made material bets. The $587 million Affleck deal prices AI tools independently of any film, while $200 million Pixar originals give studios a blunt cost-cutting rationale to automate below-the-line work.
