By Michaela Gordoni
Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said the studio can make adult-oriented films into family flicks using an AI company called Runway.
The studio could take a movie like JOHN WICK, for example, and put it in another format or change the gory parts to make it more family-friendly.
“Now we can say, ‘Do it in anime, make it PG-13.’ Three hours later, I’ll have the movie,” Burns said.
He added he would still have to pay the actors and all of the rights participants, “But I can do that, and now I can resell it.”
New York Magazine previously reported, “With a library as large as Lionsgate’s, they could use Runway to repackage and resell what the studio already owned, adjusting tone, format and rating to generate a softer cut for a younger audience or convert a live-action film into a cartoon.”
Burns explained that the program will save the studio thousands. A ten-second shot with 10,000 soldiers on a hillside would cost millions and take days to shoot, but with Runway, it would cost just $10,000.
Burns said several filmmakers the studio works with were “already excited about its potential applications to their pre-production and post-production process.”
The AI company believes it’s at the forefront of changing the entertainment landscape.
Runway offers a set of tools: Runway Gen-4, Act-One and others. Gen-4 allows users to generate characters, locations and objects against scenes. It allows for flexible manipulation of objects, characters and elements, with complex movements that are easy to control.
Related: Lionsgate Filmmakers ‘Already’ Using AI Following Recent Deal
Act-one allows users to generate expressive characters that can be applied to any kind of character, whether cartoon or life-like. It can handle multi-turn, expressive dialogue scenes and provide custom voices. The company makes it seem as though the possibilities are endless.
Lionsgate has allowed Runway to use its extensive library to train its AI tools.
“The entertainment business is a creative enterprise, but its future growth will require a combination of art and science,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said. “We believe that AI, harnessed within the appropriate guardrails, can be a valuable tool to serve our talent. And we believe that over the long term, it will have a positive transformational impact on our business.”
Burns emphasized that Lionsgate sees AI the next best medium for creating entertainment.
Should AI remake R-rated films into family-friendly movies?
Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela said, “Lionsgate has an incredible creative team and a clear vision for how AI can help their work – we’re excited to help bring their ideas to life.”
As Lionsgate races down the AI road, it will be interesting to see what it creates.
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