As the 50th Toronto International Film Festival wraps up today, we’re left thinking about how AI-heavy next year’s schedule might be.
Driving the news: OpenAI is providing production companies Vertigo Films and Native Foreign with the generative AI tools and computing resources to make Critterz, an animated movie about mystical forest creatures.
- The film is based on an idea from Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, who in 2023 made an AI-animated short of the same name that parodied nature docs.
- While humans are writing the script, voicing the characters, and drawing initial sketches, OpenAI’s image-generating tools will be fed the sketches to make the film.
Why it matters: AI is already being used to pump out short films and used by the likes of Netflix to assist in areas like visual effects. However, Critterz will be a test case for the viability of feature-length AI films, with OpenAI promising both cheaper and faster productions.
- Instead of the three years it typically takes to make an animated film, Critterz has an estimated production timeline of just nine months.
- It also has a projected budget of under US$30 million. For comparison, Elio, the most recent Pixar release, cost at least $150 million (and potentially over $200 million).
Yes, but: While more expedient productions sound like good business on the surface, backlash against fully AI-generated movies will surely come fast and furious — whether it's because of labour violation concerns, copyright worries, or purely artistic convictions.—QH