A24 Knows You’re Mad About the Google AI Collab
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- A24 announced a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind via A24 Labs, overseen by cofounder Scott Belsky, to develop new filmmaking tools and workflows.
- A24 fans responded with backlash on X under the trailer for Jesse Eisenberg's musical drama The Debut, posting tombstones, declaring the company dead, and threatening to pirate its films.
- A24 communications head Sophia Shin stressed the partnership is not an IP-franchising deal, telling WIRED that DeepMind users won't be able to generate content featuring copyrighted A24 characters like Howie Rainer from Uncut Gems or The Green Knight.
- Film critic Esther Rosenfield called the deal a form of reputation laundering, saying Google wants to make AI feel "inevitable" by associating it with serious artists who, by and large, aren't using the tools.
- A24 received a significant cash injection from Thrive Capital in 2024 — a firm that has also invested heavily in OpenAI — and A24 Labs head Scott Belsky's name surfaced in leaked lists tied to Peter Thiel's invite-only Dialog club.
- Disney struck a similar AI-Hollywood bridge last year with a $1 billion OpenAI stake and character licensing deal for Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and C-3PO to Sora, before that deal collapsed when Sora went defunct.
Why it matters: A24 built its $300-million-backed brand on being the anti-franchise tastemaker for cinephiles, so a $75M alliance with DeepMind tests whether that countercultural currency survives contact with Silicon Valley capital — and whether Google can convert A24's artistic credibility into broader legitimation for AI filmmaking at a moment when the technology's Hollywood rollout has already produced one collapsed deal at Disney.
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