Midjourney, the AI Company Being Sued by Disney and NBCU, Launches First Video-Generation Tool (WATCH)
Midjourney has released version 1 of its AI video model, coming a week after the start-up was targeted in a copyright-infringement lawsuit by Disney and NBCUniversal.
At launch, Midjourney will charge about eight times more for a generative-AI video job than an image job; each job will produce four 5-second videos, the company said in a blog post. (According to one estimate, Midjourney's pricing works out to 3-5 cents per image.) In the current model, once users have a video they like, they can extend it roughly 4 seconds at a time, four times total. The company claims the pricing is 'over 25 times cheaper' compared with what has been available in the market before. Midjourney shared a sizzle reel of AI-generated video (watch below).
More from Variety
Why Midjourney Made the Perfect Target for Hollywood's First AI Lawsuit
Disney, Universal File First Major Studio Lawsuit Against AI Company, Sue Midjourney for Copyright Infringement: 'This Is Theft'
'Our goal is to give you something fun, easy, beautiful, and affordable so that everyone can explore. We think we've struck a solid balance,' says the June 18 blog post, which is signed 'David' (presumably Midjourney founder and CEO David Holz).
The long-term vision, according to Midjourney, is 'an AI system that generates imagery in real-time. You can command it to move around in 3D space, the environments and characters also move, and you can interact with everything.'
SEE ALSO:
In the blog post, David writes, 'We ask that you please use these technologies responsibly. Properly utilized it's not just fun, it can also be really useful, or even profound — to make old and new worlds suddenly alive.'
Midjourney has not issued a public statement about the Disney-NBCU lawsuit or responded to requests for comment. According to the studios, Midjourney is 'the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism' that has profited from their intellectual property. 'Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,' the Disney-NBCU lawsuit said, citing numerous examples of Midjourney's system producing allegedly infringing images of Marvel superheroes, the yellow Minions from 'Despicable Me,' and characters from Star Wars, 'The Simpsons,' 'Toy Story,' 'Shrek' and more.
Midjourney's blog post said that from a technical standpoint, the new video model 'is a stepping stone, but for now, we had to figure out what to actually concretely give to you.' The company is calling the current video workflow 'Image-to-Video,' meaning that you still make images in Midjourney but now you can press an 'Animate' button to turn them into video clips. According to Midjourney, there's an 'automatic' animation setting as well as a 'manual' animation setting that lets you 'describe to the system how you want things to move and the scene to develop.'
The company also is allowing users to animate images 'uploaded from outside of Midjourney.' To do this, users can drag an image to the prompt bar and mark it as a 'start frame,' then type a motion prompt to describe how they want it to be animated.
Watch Midjourney's AI video sizzle reel:
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
30 minutes ago
- The Verge
Cringe or canny?
Posted Jun 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM UTC Apple has released The Parent Presentation, an 81-page slide deck available in Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote format, and a promo video hosted by 'nepo baby' / Please Don't Destroy comedian Martin Herlihy, aimed at getting students a Mac for school next year. I can't decide if it's a solid pitch (who hasn't held a family meeting to get approval for a high-priced tech purchase?) or if it will miss its target audience because it's 8 minutes long and not in a vertical video format. Either way, we also have some advice on which laptop is the best option.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fat Joe accused of coercion, intimidation, sex with minors in ex-hype man's lawsuit
Terrance "T.A." Dixon, once a hype man to rapper Fat Joe, has sued his former employer for $20 million, making some allegations that might blend right in at Sean "Diddy" Combs' RICO and sex-trafficking trial. The federal lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York and reviewed by The Times, alleges that the rapper underpaid Dixon, cut him out of promised pay for contributing to album tracks, defrauded authorities about his income, ditched Dixon in foreign countries without money or transportation home and is running a criminal organization built on intimidation and violence. Read more: Tyler Perry hit with $260-million sexual harassment lawsuit from 'The Oval' actor The lawsuit alleges that Fat Joe forced the hype man — a sort of backing vocalist who pumps up the audience — into approximately 4,000 sex acts with women in front of him and his crew. The 54-year-old rapper, born Joseph Antonio Cartagena, is also accused of having sexual relationships with girls who were 15 and 16. The allegations go back to when the rapper was in his late 30s, the lawsuit says. Fat Joe's song "She's My Mama," which has graphically sexual lyrics, was based on what is alleged to have happened with him and one of the girls in real life, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit states that Dixon's role over about 16 years was more than that of the usual hype man. He "consistently" had duties that included co-writing lyrics, structuring hooks, recording background vocals, performing at more than 200 live shows as Fat Joe's primary onstage counterpart and managing travel logistics, including equipment transport, security and emergency arrangements. The complaint alleges that Dixon also acted as Joe's bodyguard and handler during tours. According to the filing, Dixon wrote or co-wrote tracks including 'Congratulations,' 'Money Over Bitches,' 'Ice Cream,' 'Cupcake,' 'Blackout,' 'Dirty Diana,' 'Porn Star,' 'Okay Okay,''No Problems,' a version of "All the Way Up,' '300 Brolic,' 'All I Do Is Win (Remix verse),' 'Red Café (Remix),' 'Winding on Me,' 'Cocababy' and 'Get It for Life." Read more: Smokey Robinson's attorney: Lawsuit is an 'ugly method' to get money from 'an America icon' The complaint alleges that Dixon was not properly paid for his efforts, even though he says he was promised certain ownership percentages and documented credit on songs that Fat Joe released commercially. Dixon, who left Fat Joe's team in 2020, was unable to obtain certain evidence of wrongdoing until a person named as "Accountant Doe" came forward last year with information, the lawsuit says. Fat Joe "exercised sole control over contracts, budgets, tour management, licensing, and credit attribution and intentionally omitted Plaintiff's name from liner notes, publishing registrations, and royalty structures, despite Plaintiff's direct contributions to these works' creative and commercial success," the complaint says. Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Fat Joe, called the lawsuit "a blatant attack of retaliation" and labeled the allegations "complete fabrications" that his client denies in a statement to Variety. Retaliation referred to the slander lawsuit that the rapper filed against Dixon in April after the former hype man accused him on social media of flying a 16-year-old across state lines for sex. Dixon's attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, is also representing producer Lil Rod (Rodney Jones) in his $30-million federal lawsuit filed last year against Sean "Diddy" Combs and others in Combs' orbit, in which Lil Rod alleged sexual harassment and sexual assault. A judge tossed out a majority of Lil Rod's allegations against Combs in late March. Read more: Inside Diddy's Bad Boy empire of threats, violence and bribes. What court revelations expose Both lawsuits include trigger warnings in bright red type ahead of the allegations — something not often seen in such documents. 'Fat Joe is Sean Combs minus the Tusi [pink cocaine],' Blackburn said in a statement to the Independent. 'He learned nothing from his 2013 federal conviction,' the attorney added, referencing Fat Joe's four-month sentence and $15,000 fine in a plea deal for failure to file a tax return in multiple years on more than $3.3 million in income. In addition to Fat Joe, defendants in the new lawsuit include Peter 'Pistol Pete' Torres, Richard 'Rich Player' Jospitre, Erica Juliana Moreira and several companies —including Roc Nation — that are affiliated with the rapper. Dixon is asking for a jury trial. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jurors see more texts between Cassie and Diddy as prosecutors prepare to rest case
Diddy's trial was abbreviated this week. The proceedings were effectively canceled Wednesday after a juror called in sick, and federal court wasn't in session Thursday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. But this morning, all the key players returned to the courtroom to hear testimony from one of the rapper's former personal assistants. Here's what you need to know about Day 27 of the trial: Brendan Paul testified about the demands of his job as one of Diddy's former assistants. He told jurors he once went without sleep for three days. He recalled being asked to buy thousands of dollars' worth of drugs. He said the music mogul didn't take 'no' for an answer and compared his staff assistants to the U.S. military's SEAL Team 6. Paul, facing cross-examination from defense attorney Brian Steel, agreed that Diddy's ex-girlfriend 'Jane' did not seem hesitant or apprehensive before 'freak offs.' Paul said Jane appeared to be a willing participant in the sexual encounters — contradicting her testimony and the government's narrative. U.S. government prosecutors walked jurors through text messages from Cassie Ventura to Diddy. In one text, Ventura said she didn't deserve to be beaten by him. 'That's not love, that's possession,' Ventura wrote, apparently referencing the 2016 hotel assault recorded on video. The defense again attempted to portray 'freak offs' as consensual encounters. They entered into evidence a March 2017 text message in which Ventura wrote: 'I love our FO's, when we both want it.' Diddy, wearing a white sweater and black pants, appeared engaged in today's testimony. He seemed to pay close attention to prosecutor Maurene Comey as she questioned U.S. government summary witness Joseph Cerciello, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security. Paul, the ex-assistant, struck an ambiguous note as he concluded testimony for the day. When asked by prosecutor Christy Slavik how he feels about Diddy today, Paul replied with two cryptic words: 'It's complicated.' Cerciello, the Homeland Security special agent, testified about charts of evidence compiled by prosecutors to confirm they correspond to thousands of pages of records, including text messages. Diddy will almost surely not testify. But it doesn't really matter. That's because in a modern criminal case — especially a federal criminal case — prosecutors can get witnesses and defendants' 'testimony' in front of the jury without them ever taking the stand. Combing through thousands of pages of text messages is something at which special agents and federal prosecutors excel. It doesn't matter that a single text message or a short series of messages could be taken out of context. Prosecutors will introduce it and add their own context. After all, if the defendant thinks these statements are misleading, he can take the stand and dispute them, right? Except, most of the time, the defendant does not take the stand. In this case so far, the star witnesses have arguably not been the humans. They have been things like text messages, financial records and other documents. For some reason, people have always put things in text messages as though they could never become public. We're all guilty of that, too. All of us are likely part of a text message 'group' with our friends or family where we say things that, if publicly revealed, would cause us a lot of problems. Certainly for Diddy, these texts have caused him a lot of problems — arguably more than the people who testified against him. U.S. government prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Monday. Diddy's defense team has signaled it will need around two days to present its case. If that rough timeline holds, closing arguments could take place Thursday. PSA: Every night during Diddy's trial, NBC's 'Dateline' will drop special episodes of the 'True Crime Weekly' podcast to get you up to speed. 'Dateline' correspondent Andrea Canning chats with NBC News' Chloe Melas and special guests — right in front of the courthouse. Listen here. This article was originally published on
