100 AI Studios Want To Re-Imagine "Old" Hollywood: Here Are The Few That Just Might
All Want to Be the Next Pixar. So Who Will Win?
Forget AI copyright lawsuits for a second. Forget the Oscars and their new AI rules (which I analyzed last week). Forget the NO FAKES Act and other wannabe regulation.
While Hollywood lawyers and lobbyists do the slow, painful work of building legal guardrails that benefit all of us (trust me, I’m grateful — keep going!), an entirely different revolution is happening just down the road in and around Culver City. Quietly. Quickly. And with a staggering amount of capital behind it.
Welcome to the New AI Studio Land Grab
I’m talking about the explosion of start-up AI studios trying to become the next Pixar. With “AI on the Lot” taking place next week on May 27th and 28th (it’s the most important “AI meets Hollywood” conference), it’s the perfect time to explore it and identify the companies that matter most.
According to well-placed AI insiders FBRC.ai, nearly 100 AI studios have launched globally since 2022. Most you’ve never heard of. Some you absolutely will. A handful are already worthy of your attention amidst a “scene” where generative video platform Runway recently raised $315 million at an eye-popping $5.3 billion valuation; and Luma AI raised $900 million in a round that now values the company north of $4 billion.
The A-Listers
Innovative Dreams
Just out of stealth mid-April, Innovative Dreams is getting the most buzz right now — and for good reason. Backed by Luma and AWS, founder Jon Erwin (of Wonder Project and “House of David” fame) has built a hybrid soundstage in LA that fuses virtual production, motion capture, Luma, Google’s Nano Banana, and ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 into a single workflow.
Their pitch? Five-week shoots compressed to one week. Quite an effective pitch.
Their first project, a Ben Kingsley-led series called “The Old Stories: Moses,” was shot in a mere 7 days across 40 “locations” — all from a single soundstage. Yes, you read that right. Shot in 7 days!
Acme AI & FX
Acme AI & FX gets a lot of press too because its backed by Hollywood “insiders” and respected Hollywood filmmaker Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”), who just shot “Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi” — described as the first fully-generated, studio-quality AI feature film. The film features 200 distinct locations and would have been budgeted at $300 million if done the old fashioned way — a sticker shocking price tag that the filmmakers say would have stopped the project cold.
Instead, a very human crew reportedly shot the entire film (with all locations) over the course of 20 days in a single custom-built soundstage, which reduced the film’s budget to a far more manageable $70 million.
Asteria
Asteria, the AI studio co-founded by experimental filmmaker Paul Trillo (whose AI film work I’ve frequently featured here in my newsletter) and actor/director Natasha Lyonne, takes a different approach — touting its ethically-trained AI models, artist-first workflows, and anti-Midjourney positioning.
Smart play. There’s a real market for clean, “ethical” AI (i.e., models trained only on licensed content) — something that I applaud.
Genre AI
Founded by the powerhouse team of pioneering/visionary AI filmmaker PJ Accetturo and seasoned Silicon Valley operator Tawny Toci, Genre AI plays on the cutting edge of AI video and is best known for creating groundbreaking viral marketing campaigns for major brands like Oracle and Kalshi.
But now, major Hollywood studios seek out the AI studio to bring their IP to life — more efficiently and cost effectively (but with full creative vision intact).
Promise Studios
Co-founded by entertainment innovator George Strompolos and ex-Googler Dave Clark — and backed by Andreessen Horowitz and other heavy-hitters — Promise Studios is building agentic AI tools for end-to-end production.
Others Worth Watching
Not all AI studio players are U.S. based, of course. Take UK-based Pigeon Shrine, which launched a synth-based production process dubbed "aiMation” that front-loads VFX and visualization tasks; and fellow Brit Particle6 (the imagineers behind AI faux superstar/Hollywood nemesis Tilly Norwood). Other honorable mentions include Showrunner (Fable’s TV-generation platform) and Autodesk Flow Studio (not a start-up exactly, but resulting from the acquisition of start-up Wonder Dynamics).
These are just some of the AI studios to watch right now. But remember, it’s all subject to change because things move so quickly in Hollyw-AI-d land.
The Moat Is the Story & Workflow, Not the Model
Here’s the critical common denominator to all of these AI studios. The competitive moat is no longer the AI model they use. The moat is their workflow, their IP rights positioning, and most importantly their human-led storytelling. As FBRC.ai notes in its report, “nearly every founder attests that the most substantial moat is not technical but rather about who can do the work of crafting a good story.“
Amen to that!
The AI studios that win will be the ones that combine: (i) ethically licensed “clean” training data; (ii) uniquely powerful workflows that achieve immediate real, tangible results; (iii) real human creative talent and vision at the top of the food chain; and (iv) the ability to partner with traditional Hollywood, rather than steamroll over it.
Remember AI studios, the words you use in your pitch (and in the trade pubs) matter. Don’t let Sam Altman or Elon Musk wannabes speak them.
Meanwhile the Human Pain is Real
All this is happening fast as LA bleeds jobs, creative aspirations and hope. Los Angeles County reportedly lost over 40,000 entertainment jobs since 2022, and production levels in the city are at their lowest since 1995.
The pain is real — and the AI studios should know it. The smart ones are pitching themselves not as job-killers, but as job-relocators — a way to keep production in Southern California rather than ceding it to Atlanta, Toronto, or Budapest.
Is This an AI Studio Bubble?
Will most of these 100 AI studios fail? Absolutely. It’s the natural order of things during any tech-tonic revolution.
But AI and generative AI are not hype. They are here right now in Hollywood — and rapidly gaining traction. So three or four of these 100 AI studios will matter. Massively.
I predict that at least one major Hollywood studio will acquire one of these AI studios within 18 months (remember, Netflix just bought Ben Affleck’s AI company InterPositive). Mark my words.The dealmaking is just getting started.
You can bet that some of it will take place next week at “AI on the Lot.” I’ll be there watching closely. You should be too. Let’s meet and discuss it all.
Reach out to me at peter@creativemedia.biz to set up a meeting.
My firm, Creative Media, is at the forefront of AI’s transformation of the worlds of media and entertainment. We represent innovators who leverage the power of AI. We know the issues. In fact, we’re ahead of them. We define real world, practical solutions — and do it far more responsively and cost-effectively than others. We specialize in entrepreneurial legal services and high impact business strategy and consulting. We can be your fractional business team or General Counsel.
Reach out to me at peter@creativemedia.biz to learn more.