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Lionsgate Takes Stake In Runway AI
Generative filmmaker // Image by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E
Lionsgate announced that it’s taking an equity stake in AI video startup Runway.
The Big Picture: While Disney’s billion-dollar investment (since rescinded) was seen as the first major team-up between a film and TV studio and the fast-growing AI industry, Lionsgate’s move looks more like the true starting gun. Expect the rest of Hollywood to watch this partnership closely to see whether it pays off with both creatives and audiences.
Behind The Scenes: Lionsgate and Runway are deepening their collaboration, which began in 2024.
According to Variety, Lionsgate’s investment in Runway isn’t a cash transaction, which likely means the studio granted the startup a significant equity stake.
Lionsgate will use Runway’s tools to create short-form shows based on the studio’s existing IP.
The studio also plans to use generative AI to “start a new development program to create new content.”
The companies plan to co-host “filmmaker-focused events,” presumably to communicate exactly what Lionsgate is doing with their work.
Final Render: The creative community is sure to have plenty of questions about how this partnership will actually work. Is the new content pipeline drawing from training data based on existing Lionsgate movies and shows? Will the underlying IP used in AI-generated content be tracked, so creatives can be compensated? And will talent tied to the IP used in those short-form projects receive a share of the revenue? (That’s one reason Disney’s Sora-generated content was limited to animated characters.)
Regardless of those thorny issues, Lionsgate is clearly bullish on its partnership with Runway, despite reports that it has underperformed expectations. The studio recently hired its first chief AI officer, and vice chair Michael Burns has said that AI could save the company “tens and tens of millions of dollars a year” in production costs.
Coming Soon: We wouldn’t be surprised if the first AI-powered short-form show Lionsgate creates is tied to marketing for the upcoming Hunger Games movie — the studio’s most important IP.
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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.