With The Hunger Games, Twilight, and John Wick just some of the huge movie franchises under its belt, Lionsgate is planning some big moves using AI – and the studio is already being criticized.
Six months into 2025 and we’re days away from the release of Ballerina, a John Wick spinoff that sees a cameo from Keanu Reeves himself. It’s the latest new movie from Lionsgate, a brand responsible for some of our favorite films over the last few years (and decades).
The Strangers – Chapter 2, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, and Sunrise on the Reaping are all due in the next few years, but the studio isn’t just thinking about what’s to come.
Instead, it’s also thinking about rebranding what has been using AI, and the changes are already sparking public backlash.
Lionsgate wants to use AI to make existing films “more kid-friendly or animated”
Speaking to Vulture, Lionsgate’s vice-chairman Michael Burns said the studio is considering how AI can be used to change existing films into being more kid-friendly or animated.
“We’re banging around the art of the possible,” he confirmed. “Let’s try some stuff, see what sticks… Now we can say, ‘Do it in anime, make it PG-13.’ Three hours later, I’ll have the movie.”
The hypothetical example Burns uses is taking one of Lionsgate’s signature action franchises and using a software called 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.”
Actors and other rights participants would be paid, “but I can do that, and now I can resell it.” Different tools in Runway’s software have previously been used in projects including Everything Everywhere All At Once and House of David, but it’s reasonable to assume other movies and TV shows might have utilized it without publicly acknowledging it.
While no plans have actually been made concrete – “We have this movie we’re trying to decide whether to green-light. There’s a ten-second shot, 10,000 soldiers on a hillside with a bunch of horses in a snowstorm,” Burns says about Runway making a million-dollar spend around $10,000 – the public isn’t responding well.
“Imagine being a director, pouring your heart and soul into a movie, and then someone turns it into Baby Shark for their kid. The future is now,” one fan responded on X/Twitter.
“Might be one of the worst things I’ve ever read,” a second agreed, with a third adding, “Hate this crap; it’s so freaking bleak.”
Other studios potentially using AI are also mentioned in the same piece, with one anonymous whistleblower confirming AI is being incorporated into studio workflows. Another cited studios being “too afraid” of unions following the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to go public with plans.
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