rewrite this title AI movie studio aims to make “near-studio-quality” movies for under $500,000; Check out the footage from its first project

The Woman With Red Hair will be the studio’s first AI-driven movie, and another project is already underway.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, but its potential use in Hollywood movies has sparked some real fears that many jobs could be lost. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are even considering requiring films to disclose any use of AI for next year’s Oscar ceremony. Well, Staircase Studios AI has released the first five minutes of The Woman With Red Hair, an AI-driven movie that the newly launched studio hopes will be the first of many.

Staircase Studios AI was launched by Pouya Shahbazian, a producer on the Divergent franchise. Using its own proprietary AI workflow, known as ForwardMotion, the studio claims it will be able to create “near-studio-quality” movies for under $500,000. The studio plans to produce close to 30 low-budget movies over the next three to four years. “After packaging and selling 150 projects into the studio system over the past 15 years, I’ve borne witness to far too much inefficiency to continue the status quo,” Shahbazian said in a statement. “Over the past year, I’ve dedicated myself to pairing ethical AI usage with our industry’s most underutilized assets–overlooked stories waiting to be produced from fantastic writers and directors.“

Will The Woman With Red Hair give Hollywood a run for its money? You can judge for yourself by watching the clip below.

I will admit that certain aspects are impressive, but I was always painfully aware that I was watching an AI movie. The characters have little to no spark or intelligence behind their eyes, and their expressions don’t always reflect what’s being said. At times, there are even some downright goofy faces.

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The Woman With Red Hair tells the true story of WWII resistance fighter and assassin Johanna “Hannie” Schaft. Brett Stuart directed the film from a script by Michael Schatz. The film features the voices of Maya-Nika Bewley, Leander Vyvey, Angus Castle-Doughty, and Geoffrey Breton. It includes original character designs from Teddy Newton (The Incredibles) and art and designs from Alfred Gimeno (Kung Fu Panda).

As I mentioned, this is simply the first of many AI movies from Staircase Studios AI. The studio is currently working on Every Living Creature, an animated adventure thriller directed by Bernie Su from an adapted script by J.R. Arellano.

Just two years ago, Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo spoke about the future of AI and how long it could be before we see it used to generate an entire movie. His guess? Two years. Right on schedule.