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Ex-Disney Exec Sean Bailey Launches B5 Studios
Hyperspeed production // Image by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E
Former Disney live-action film chief Sean Bailey is launching a new studio called B5 that aims to use new technology to speed up how movies are developed, produced, and distributed.
The Big Picture: Filmmaking is one of the most expensive and expansive art forms in the world. As production costs rise and revenue streams dry, a wave of new studios — backed by Hollywood power players — are betting that technology can reinvent the process, allowing more movies to be made faster and for less money. How many humans get cut out along the way remains the big question mark.
Behind The Scenes: Bailey, who oversaw nearly every live-action remake of Disney’s animated classics, now wants to make movies at a fraction of those budgets.
Backed by RedBird Capital Partners, B5 Studios will focus on film, TV, and “emerging formats” like interactive and immersive projects.
Bailey has tapped blockbuster producers Justin Springer and Jeff Silver and assembled an advisory board featuring marquee names like Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum.
The studio plans to use AI and video game engines throughout the moviemaking process to churn out titles faster — especially as Bailey aims to keep pace with online trends (good luck and godspeed).
By reducing costs, Bailey says he’ll be able to greenlight more original movies, something traditional studios — especially Disney — have largely abandoned in favor of IP.
Closing Credits: B5 already has a research partnership with Meta focused on VR and AR projects (potentially similar to the one James Cameron struck) and says it’s working on “numerous active content projects with top creatives.” But the most intriguing partner — at least from an investment standpoint — is RedBird’s Gerry Cardinale, the same PE power player who helped fund Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity and backed Skydance’s Paramount acquisition.
If there’s anyone with a master plan for the future of entertainment, it might be Cardinale. Or he just has a strong appetite for pushing in the chips on Hollywood personalities determined to change the game. Time will tell.
Coming Soon: If B5 — or any of the other new studios — can figure out how to make premium projects faster and cheaper, it could help fill the still-lagging theatrical pipeline, a boon for both theater chains and audiences.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.