A $40 Million AI Movie Was Nearly Finished—When Amazon Walked Away
Amazon says the film will be better served at another studio after dropping it, while Mubi and Neon are still considering pickup.
- Over the weekend, Amazon dropped Luca Guadagnino's film Artificial, a drama about OpenAI creator Sam Altman, months after investing $50 billion in Altman's artificial intelligence company.
- A spokesperson for Amazon told The Hollywood Reporter the company maintains "utmost respect" for Guadagnino, though Amazon did not cite its relationship with Altman as a reason for the sudden move.
- Starring Andrew Garfield as Altman and Ike Barinholtz as a "highly antipathetic" Elon Musk, the project has been rejected by A24, Netflix, Warner Bros, and Focus Features.
- Mubi and Neon are currently considering the film, with Mubi having rescued the Oscar-nominated film The Substance after Universal dropped it over director refusal to change the ending.
- Thrive Capital's Josh Kushner, who backs A24, also holds a seat on OpenAI's board, illustrating how deeply enmeshed Hollywood and tech companies have become, per Variety.
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17 Articles
Luca Guadagnino's film about Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, was dropped abruptly by Amazon and now by other distributors. Political and financial ties in Hollywood haunt film.
Amazon MGM Studios has dropped distribution of Artificial, a film about OpenAI's leadership crisis in 2023, despite it being nearly complete and having already been screened in test audiences. Amazon MGM Studios will not release Artificial, the new film by acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino, whose premise centered on Sam Altman and the crisis that shook OpenAI's leadership in 2023. The project is thus left without distribution, at a time when Am…
Netflix and Focus Features pass on Luca Guadagnino's Artificial
The movie without a home It was recently reported that Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming drama, Artificial, was abruptly dropped from its initial distributor — Amazon MGM. Directed by Guadagnino, the film stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI founder Sam Altman, with the movie reportedly serving as a The Social Network-style drama about the rise of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence. Altman is said to be depicted in a non-sympathetic light. Amazon, of cours…
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