Latest news with #Metaphysic
Geek Tyrant
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Disney Originally Planned On Using an A.I. Deepfake of Dwayne Johnson for Part of His Reprisal as Maui in Live-Action MOANA — GeekTyrant
Disney is moving forward with another live-action film, hoping to make a hit summer blockbuster with Moana , the story of the title princess who decides to set out on the ocean in the hopes of breaking the curse incurred by the demigod Maui. Dwayne Johnson is returning to the role of Maui, but the busy actor was originally only going to shoot a handful of his scenes, with his role subsidized by his cousin and an advanced A.I. program. In a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, it was revealed that the studio came up with a plan that included Johnson's similarly built cousin, Tanoai Reed—who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds. Reed would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage—a 'digital double' that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once. Johnson approved the plan, but the use of the new technology had Disney attorneys pouring over all the details about how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer. Ultimately, the executives and creatives could not come to a place in which a resolution could be reached with every question answered and everyone feeling comfortable. A.I. tech is certainly in our future, but there are still a lot of details to be ironed out before major studios are willing to take the plunge in its usage. The report goes on to say that for Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. 'We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years,' said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. 'AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless.' Moana is set to hit theaters on July 10, 2026.
Gizmodo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Report: Disney's Attempts to Experiment With Generative AI Have Already Hit Major Hurdles
As Silicon Valley has pushed the world more and more into trying to make the generative AI boom sustain itself, Hollywood is still standing on the precipice of a transformative moment. Studios are grappling with the purported potential (and demands for cost savings) artificial intelligence models may bring, weighed against the legal minefields exploiting such technologies can represent—and an increasing public backlash to the technology. Disney is certainly no exception, as the company is already familiar with both the legal headaches and the PR nightmare generative AI can represent. But a new report from the Wall Street Journal claims that there've been even more attempts behind the scenes at Disney's studio to try and utilize generative AI technologies… neither of which purportedly went very far or well, for very different reasons. Two upcoming productions that tried to navigate potential use of generative AI mentioned in the WSJ report are the upcoming live-action Moana remake and Tron: Ares. For the former, Disney reportedly planned to work with an AI company called Metaphysic to create a digital deepfake of actor Dwayne Johnson, set to reprise his role as the demigod Maui in the remake. In an attempt to reduce the number of days Johnson would be required on set for production, the alleged plan was to have Johnson's cousin, Tanoai Reed, act as a stand-in who would have Johnson's deepfaked face put over his performance in post-production. Although the plan was for a 'small number of shots,' according to WSJ's report, after 18 months of negotiation and work between Disney and Metaphysic, none of the shots using Reed's performance will be in the final movie when it releases in July 2026. WSJ's report cited concerns over data security on Disney's end, as well as the legal question that lingers over any broader embrace of generative AI technology in Hollywood: who, exactly, owns the end product when generative AI models are used to create even a part of it? That thorny question of ownership has already seen Disney take legal action against AI companies over claims of illegal misuse of copyrighted material to train their models. In June this year, Disney teamed up with Universal to sue Midjourney over what the suit described as a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism,' accusing the AI company's image generator of breaching copyright laws to distribute and create images trained on the studios' library of characters and franchises. But copyright is not the only concern Disney faces when it comes to ideas around generative AI: the studio is also increasingly navigating potential publicity nightmares as social backlash to the use of the technology increases. In another example in WSJ's report, it's alleged that Disney executives pitched creatives on the set of Tron: Ares on including a generative AI character in the film, which itself is already about artificial intelligences escaping the digital world of 'The Grid' to be exploited as military contractors in the real world. According to WSJ, the character would've been called 'Bit' and acted as a potential companion to Jeff Bridges' returning Kevin Flynn, and built off of context provided by a writer, the generated character would then be recorded and deliver lines performed by an actor, responding as if the model itself were Bit. The report claims that similarly the idea was stymied again by legal discussions at the time, amid negotiations with unions, as well as the fact that Disney executives were purportedly told to drop the idea internally because 'the company couldn't risk the bad publicity.' Disney is, of course, no stranger to public embarrassment when it comes to its properties and AI, either. Marvel was lambasted for the use of generative AI to create the opening title sequence to its Disney+ series Secret Invasion in 2023, and found itself defending itself from accusations of its use once more for the early marketing campaign for Fantastic Four: First Steps. Earlier this summer, Disney's investment into Epic Games was touted through the arrival of a generative-AI-enhanced Darth Vader avatar in Fortnite to promote the battle royale video game's then-ongoing Star Wars event, 'Galactic Battle', where Darth Vader could be recruited by players, using a deepfake model of the late James Earl Jones' voice to interact with players in real time. Players promptly figured out ways to get around Epic's content restrictions and get the generative Vader to swear and use slurs. Although Epic managed to fix the bugs within 30 minutes of the Vader character's appearance going live in Fortnite, several videos of the exploits went viral on social media. SAG-AFTRA also filed an unfair labor practice charge against Epic over the use of generative AI denying a human actor the chance to voice the role (Jones' estate had already sold the rights to his voice to the Ukrainian tech company Respeecher in 2022 before his passing), but rumors recently swirled that the union dropped the charges in the wake of signing a new contract last month. The legal outcome of Disney and Universal's lawsuit is still to be decided, but what is seemingly clear is that the potential AI takeover of Hollywood that has been feared with the proliferation of generative AI may not be as close as some people (and some companies) expect. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Hindustan Times
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Is It Still Disney Magic If It's AI?
When Disney began working on a new, live-action version of its hit cartoon 'Moana,' executives started to ponder whether they should clone its star, Dwayne Johnson. The actor was reprising his role in the movie as Maui, a barrel-chested demigod, but for certain days on set, Disney had a plan in place that wouldn't require Johnson to be there at all. Under the plan they devised, Johnson's similarly buff cousin Tanoai Reed—who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds—would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage—a 'digital double' that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once. What happened next was evidence that Hollywood's much-discussed, and much-feared, AI revolution won't be an overnight robot takeover. Johnson approved the plan, but the use of a new technology had Disney attorneys hammering out details over how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer. A deepfake Dwayne Johnson is just one part of a broader technological earthquake hitting Hollywood. Studios are scrambling to figure out simultaneously how to use AI in the filmmaking process and how to protect themselves against it. While executives see a future where the technology shaves tens of millions of dollars off a movie's budget, they are grappling with a present filled with legal uncertainty, fan backlash and a wariness toward embracing tools that some in Silicon Valley view as their next-century replacement. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is surveying members on how they use the technology. Studio chiefs are shutting down efforts to experiment for fear of angering show-business unions on the eve of another contract negotiation. And no studio stands to gain or lose more in the outcome than Disney—the home of Donald Duck, Belle, Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, among countless others—which has churned out some of the most valuable, and protected, creative works in the world over the past century. Interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and partners present an entertainment giant torn between the inevitability of AI's advance and concerns about how to use it. Progress has at times been slowed by bureaucracy and hand-wringing over the company's social contract with its fans, not to mention its legal contract with unions representing actors, writers and other creative partners. The company's early steps have included discussions about adding features within its Disney+ streaming service to enable subscribers to create their own clips of Disney shows and allowing gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader in Fortnite. Disney took a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite's owner, Epic Games, last year. Some of its efforts to use AI in movies have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, Disney's legal teams remain fiercely protective of the studio's characters and wary of any moves internally or by third parties that could harm its brand, leading the company to sue one AI provider in June. And Disney employees who want to feed corporate information into generative AI tools for company business must first seek approval from an AI committee. (Over the past several months, the company has gotten response times to such requests down to 48 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation.) For Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. 'We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years,' said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. 'AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless.' It's just one of the challenges facing Chief Executive Bob Iger, who is expected to name a successor in early 2026 after nearly 20 years at the helm. He is under tremendous pressure to reduce costs amid declines in movie theater attendance and increases in people canceling their cable subscriptions. He has recently had to fend off criticism that his company has had creative challenges, and has focused too much on recycling old properties. Concerns about bad publicity were a big reason that Disney scrapped a plan to use AI in 'Tron: Ares'—a movie set for release in October about an AI-generated soldier entering the real world. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, executives pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters in the sequel to the 1980s hit movie 'Tron' as a buzzy marketing strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. A writer would provide context on the animated character—a sidekick to Jeff Bridges' lead role named Bit—to a generative AI program. Then on screen, the AI program, voiced by an actor, would respond to questions as Bit as cameras rolled. But with negotiations with unions representing writers and actors over contracts happening at the same time, Disney dismissed the idea, and executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity, the people said. Guarding the kingdom Iger and Gutierrez have met with White House officials in recent months to discuss worries about AI models infringing on the company's intellectual property and using the studio's characters in inappropriate ways, according to people familiar with the discussions. Disney is up against companies like OpenAI and Google, which argue that having access to copyrighted materials as they train their models is crucial to compete in the AI race with China, which carries national security implications. In June, Disney and Comcast's Universal took their most drastic step yet toward protecting their creative works, suing AI provider Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted properties. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,' the companies said in its complaint filed in June. Midjourney hasn't responded to the suit. The lawsuit is seen by Disney's competitors as the strongest effort yet to establish a legal framework for AI issues. Some former employees and business partners who go toe-to-toe with Disney over use of its characters jokingly refer to the company as 'the largest law firm in California.' Disney said it is balancing the desire by its executives to move quickly on AI with the need to protect its characters. 'Our job is to enable our creators to use the best AI tools available without compromising the company long term,' Gutierrez said. AI is a new battleground for an entertainment company that spent the past decade weathering competition from Silicon Valley in the form of streaming rivals at Apple and Amazon, and the gravitational pull of eyeballs toward Google's YouTube. Google, OpenAI and others now offer video, photo and sound editing tools that let fans be their own producers, with the ability to manipulate characters and images at will. That's tough for a company that controls its IP as tightly as Disney, longtime executives said. In the suit filed against Midjourney, Disney and Universal included AI-generated images of some of their most popular characters, including the Minions and Darth Vader. Executives are keenly aware of how fast AI is advancing. At Disney's annual management retreat in Orlando earlier this year, Rob Bredow, a senior vice president at Disney's Lucasfilm, gave a presentation showing the rapid advances of generative AI tools, some of which can generate images and scenes that, to the casual eye, appear as good as professional productions. Bredow showed clips an artist created depicting a droid landing on a planet and the creatures it saw. Bredow explained the artist had first created the clips in the fall, and then again just a few months later, and marveled at the leap in quality of the videos, according to a person at the meeting. Epic tensions Historically, Disney has been reluctant to allow its characters to mingle on consumer goods it manufactures, let alone mix and match in ways that AI tools encourage. When princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are featured on the same product, like a lunchbox or poster, designers must ensure their gazes are fixed in different directions, so that the characters are all plausibly living in their own 'universe.' It took years for the company to allow Disney's characters from different universes—such as C-3PO and Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid'—to interact with each other in videogames. Disney's concerns about control of its characters and stories have been a point of debate in its recent work with Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, with tens of millions of monthly active users. Disney sees gaming as an important avenue for building future fandom. Fortnite collapses franchises into one storytelling universe—where Batman can coexist with Lara Croft and Frankenstein's Bride. Disney is planning its own world (internally code-named 'Bulldog') connected to Fortnite where gamers can interact with characters including Marvel superheroes and 'Avatar' creatures, people familiar with the plans said. Some Epic executives have complained about the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions, said people familiar with the situation. And an experiment to allow gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader was fraught. Within minutes of launching the AI bot, gamers had figured out a way to make it curse in James Earl Jones's signature baritone. Epic fixed the workaround within 30 minutes. Ten million players spoke with Vader at least once, according to Epic. The joint venture is being overseen by Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and resorts, who is on a shortlist of internal candidates to succeed Iger. D'Amaro has made it a point to spend time with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, periodically visiting with him in Cary, N.C., where Epic is based, and going on hikes together, according to one of the people. Some Disney executives have raised concerns ahead of the project's launch, anticipated for fall 2026 at the earliest, about who owns fan creations based on Disney characters, said one of the people. For example, if a Fortnite gamer creates a Darth Vader and Spider-Man dance that goes viral on YouTube, who owns that dance? Hollywood divided Those ownership concerns extend to major motion pictures across Hollywood. On a typical visual-effects contract, the company creating the effects gives ownership of the material to the studio. But similarly transferring ownership of AI-generated work isn't so seamless, lawyers said. In the absence of any legal precedent, studios fear a future in which they don't own every element of a finished film, and no studio attorney wants to be the one to unwittingly let that happen. The stakes are high for a company with as many well-known characters as Disney, which Gutierrez said doesn't want AI firms to pay for use of its characters and then assume free rein. 'We want Darth Vader just for Disney—we are not interested in surrendering control of our characters and IP to others in exchange for a check,' Gutierrez said. In some corners, the technology is embraced as a lower-cost, more efficient tool. On Amazon's 'House of David,' an animated show about the biblical figure, creator Jon Erwin has boasted of the technology's godlike assistance in creating whole sequences of certain episodes. Lionsgate, the studio behind the John Wick franchise, last year announced a licensing deal with generative AI company Runway in exchange for a custom-built AI model it can use for production. A24, the studio behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' was among the first studios to use Runway's AI and has hired a former expert from Adobe to help craft its strategy. Some in the industry are scared of the technology in a way enthusiasts criticize as naive. On some sets, visual-effects crews are warned on their first day to not even mention the term 'AI.' Actors who are scanned head-to-toe for digital double creation can have a representative from the Screen Actors Guild with them during the process. Hovering over any major studio decision regarding the technology: contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild set to resume next year. Executives are reluctant to make any announcement that might anger the union or be reversed under the new contract's terms. The 2024 movie 'Here,' a Sony release that told a story spanning decades, used generative AI to de-age stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright—and the software allowed them to see the footage of their younger selves instantaneously. When it came time to promote the film, producers grew concerned about potential pushback to having an A-list name like Hanks speak about the AI technology used in its making, a person involved in the film said. Hanks joked about those concerns during an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,' asking the house band to play a foreboding sequence of notes any time he used the term AI. 'Everybody gets scared,' he said. Disney's own history speaks to how studios have navigated technological crossroads before. When Disney hired Pixar to produce a handful of graphic images for its 1989 hit 'The Little Mermaid,' executives kept the incorporation a secret, fearing backlash from fans if they learned that not every frame of the animated film had been hand-drawn. Such knowledge, executives feared, might 'take away the magic.' Write to Jessica Toonkel at and Erich Schwartzel at
Mint
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Is it still Disney magic if it's AI?
When Disney began working on a new, live-action version of its hit cartoon 'Moana," executives started to ponder whether they should clone its star, Dwayne Johnson. The actor was reprising his role in the movie as Maui, a barrel-chested demigod, but for certain days on set, Disney had a plan in place that wouldn't require Johnson to be there at all. Under the plan they devised, Johnson's similarly buff cousin Tanoai Reed—who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds—would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage—a 'digital double" that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once. What happened next was evidence that Hollywood's much-discussed, and much-feared, AI revolution won't be an overnight robot takeover. Johnson approved the plan, but the use of a new technology had Disney attorneys hammering out details over how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer. A deepfake Dwayne Johnson is just one part of a broader technological earthquake hitting Hollywood. Studios are scrambling to figure out simultaneously how to use AI in the filmmaking process and how to protect themselves against it. While executives see a future where the technology shaves tens of millions of dollars off a movie's budget, they are grappling with a present filled with legal uncertainty, fan backlash and a wariness toward embracing tools that some in Silicon Valley view as their next-century replacement. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is surveying members on how they use the technology. Studio chiefs are shutting down efforts to experiment for fear of angering show-business unions on the eve of another contract negotiation. And no studio stands to gain or lose more in the outcome than Disney—the home of Donald Duck, Belle, Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, among countless others—which has churned out some of the most valuable, and protected, creative works in the world over the past century. Interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and partners present an entertainment giant torn between the inevitability of AI's advance and concerns about how to use it. Progress has at times been slowed by bureaucracy and hand-wringing over the company's social contract with its fans, not to mention its legal contract with unions representing actors, writers and other creative partners. The company's early steps have included discussions about adding features within its Disney+ streaming service to enable subscribers to create their own clips of Disney shows and allowing gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader in Fortnite. Disney took a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite's owner, Epic Games, last year. Some of its efforts to use AI in movies have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, Disney's legal teams remain fiercely protective of the studio's characters and wary of any moves internally or by third parties that could harm its brand, leading the company to sue one AI provider in June. And Disney employees who want to feed corporate information into generative AI tools for company business must first seek approval from an AI committee. (Over the past several months, the company has gotten response times to such requests down to 48 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation.) For Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. 'We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years," said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. 'AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless." It's just one of the challenges facing Chief Executive Bob Iger, who is expected to name a successor in early 2026 after nearly 20 years at the helm. He is under tremendous pressure to reduce costs amid declines in movie theater attendance and increases in people canceling their cable subscriptions. He has recently had to fend off criticism that his company has had creative challenges, and has focused too much on recycling old properties. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger in July. Concerns about bad publicity were a big reason that Disney scrapped a plan to use AI in 'Tron: Ares"—a movie set for release in October about an AI-generated soldier entering the real world. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, executives pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters in the sequel to the 1980s hit movie 'Tron" as a buzzy marketing strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. A writer would provide context on the animated character—a sidekick to Jeff Bridges' lead role named Bit—to a generative AI program. Then on screen, the AI program, voiced by an actor, would respond to questions as Bit as cameras rolled. But with negotiations with unions representing writers and actors over contracts happening at the same time, Disney dismissed the idea, and executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity, the people said. Iger and Gutierrez have met with White House officials in recent months to discuss worries about AI models infringing on the company's intellectual property and using the studio's characters in inappropriate ways, according to people familiar with the discussions. Disney is up against companies like OpenAI and Google, which argue that having access to copyrighted materials as they train their models is crucial to compete in the AI race with China, which carries national security implications. In June, Disney and Comcast's Universal took their most drastic step yet toward protecting their creative works, suing AI provider Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted properties. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the companies said in its complaint filed in June. Midjourney hasn't responded to the suit. The lawsuit is seen by Disney's competitors as the strongest effort yet to establish a legal framework for AI issues. Some former employees and business partners who go toe-to-toe with Disney over use of its characters jokingly refer to the company as 'the largest law firm in California." Disney said it is balancing the desire by its executives to move quickly on AI with the need to protect its characters. 'Our job is to enable our creators to use the best AI tools available without compromising the company long term," Gutierrez said. AI is a new battleground for an entertainment company that spent the past decade weathering competition from Silicon Valley in the form of streaming rivals at Apple and Amazon, and the gravitational pull of eyeballs toward Google's YouTube. Google, OpenAI and others now offer video, photo and sound editing tools that let fans be their own producers, with the ability to manipulate characters and images at will. That's tough for a company that controls its IP as tightly as Disney, longtime executives said. In the suit filed against Midjourney, Disney and Universal included AI-generated images of some of their most popular characters, including the Minions and Darth Vader. Executives are keenly aware of how fast AI is advancing. At Disney's annual management retreat in Orlando earlier this year, Rob Bredow, a senior vice president at Disney's Lucasfilm, gave a presentation showing the rapid advances of generative AI tools, some of which can generate images and scenes that, to the casual eye, appear as good as professional productions. Bredow showed clips an artist created depicting a droid landing on a planet and the creatures it saw. Bredow explained the artist had first created the clips in the fall, and then again just a few months later, and marveled at the leap in quality of the videos, according to a person at the meeting. Historically, Disney has been reluctant to allow its characters to mingle on consumer goods it manufactures, let alone mix and match in ways that AI tools encourage. When princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are featured on the same product, like a lunchbox or poster, designers must ensure their gazes are fixed in different directions, so that the characters are all plausibly living in their own 'universe." It took years for the company to allow Disney's characters from different universes—such as C-3PO and Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid"—to interact with each other in videogames. Disney's concerns about control of its characters and stories have been a point of debate in its recent work with Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, with tens of millions of monthly active users. Disney sees gaming as an important avenue for building future fandom. Fortnite collapses franchises into one storytelling universe—where Batman can coexist with Lara Croft and Frankenstein's Bride. Disney is planning its own world (internally code-named 'Bulldog") connected to Fortnite where gamers can interact with characters including Marvel superheroes and 'Avatar" creatures, people familiar with the plans said. Some Epic executives have complained about the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions, said people familiar with the situation. And an experiment to allow gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader was fraught. Within minutes of launching the AI bot, gamers had figured out a way to make it curse in James Earl Jones's signature baritone. Epic fixed the workaround within 30 minutes. Ten million players spoke with Vader at least once, according to Epic. The joint venture is being overseen by Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and resorts, who is on a shortlist of internal candidates to succeed Iger. D'Amaro has made it a point to spend time with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, periodically visiting with him in Cary, N.C., where Epic is based, and going on hikes together, according to one of the people. Some Disney executives have raised concerns ahead of the project's launch, anticipated for fall 2026 at the earliest, about who owns fan creations based on Disney characters, said one of the people. For example, if a Fortnite gamer creates a Darth Vader and Spider-Man dance that goes viral on YouTube, who owns that dance? Those ownership concerns extend to major motion pictures across Hollywood. On a typical visual-effects contract, the company creating the effects gives ownership of the material to the studio. But similarly transferring ownership of AI-generated work isn't so seamless, lawyers said. In the absence of any legal precedent, studios fear a future in which they don't own every element of a finished film, and no studio attorney wants to be the one to unwittingly let that happen. The stakes are high for a company with as many well-known characters as Disney, which Gutierrez said doesn't want AI firms to pay for use of its characters and then assume free rein. 'We want Darth Vader just for Disney—we are not interested in surrendering control of our characters and IP to others in exchange for a check," Gutierrez said. In some corners, the technology is embraced as a lower-cost, more efficient tool. On Amazon's 'House of David," an animated show about the biblical figure, creator Jon Erwin has boasted of the technology's godlike assistance in creating whole sequences of certain episodes. Lionsgate, the studio behind the John Wick franchise, last year announced a licensing deal with generative AI company Runway in exchange for a custom-built AI model it can use for production. A24, the studio behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once," was among the first studios to use Runway's AI and has hired a former expert from Adobe to help craft its strategy. Some in the industry are scared of the technology in a way enthusiasts criticize as naive. On some sets, visual-effects crews are warned on their first day to not even mention the term 'AI." Actors who are scanned head-to-toe for digital double creation can have a representative from the Screen Actors Guild with them during the process. Hovering over any major studio decision regarding the technology: contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild set to resume next year. Executives are reluctant to make any announcement that might anger the union or be reversed under the new contract's terms. The 2024 movie 'Here," a Sony release that told a story spanning decades, used generative AI to de-age stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright—and the software allowed them to see the footage of their younger selves instantaneously. When it came time to promote the film, producers grew concerned about potential pushback to having an A-list name like Hanks speak about the AI technology used in its making, a person involved in the film said. Hanks joked about those concerns during an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," asking the house band to play a foreboding sequence of notes any time he used the term AI. 'Everybody gets scared," he said. Disney's own history speaks to how studios have navigated technological crossroads before. When Disney hired Pixar to produce a handful of graphic images for its 1989 hit 'The Little Mermaid," executives kept the incorporation a secret, fearing backlash from fans if they learned that not every frame of the animated film had been hand-drawn. Such knowledge, executives feared, might 'take away the magic." Write to Jessica Toonkel at and Erich Schwartzel at
Business Wire
18-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Moonvalley Hires VFX Trailblazer Ed Ulbrich to Lead Strategic Growth in AI-Powered Entertainment
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moonvalley, an AI research company building foundational AI video models and tools trained exclusively on licensed content, today announced the appointment of visual effects industry veteran Ed Ulbrich as Head of Strategic Growth & Partnerships. In this role, Ulbrich will help shape the company's broader growth strategy while deepening Moonvalley's relationships across studios, brands, agencies, and creative communities. He will also collaborate closely with Moonvalley's studio arm, Asteria Film Co., to accelerate adoption and integration of its technology within professional filmmaking communities and workflows. Ulbrich brings over 30 years of experience driving innovation at the intersection of storytelling, production, and technology. His credits include some of cinema's most ambitious films including Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Titanic. He also produced the sci-fi epic Ender's Game and helped pioneer live digital human performances with the now-iconic 'Tupac Shakur hologram' at Coachella. Most recently, Ulbrich served as Chief Content Officer and President of Production at Metaphysic, where he worked with major studios, streamers, talent, brands, agencies, and labels to integrate generative AI into high-end production and post. Over three decades, he has led innovation in visual effects across film, TV, streaming, advertising, music videos, and live entertainment. Beyond features, he has delivered VFX for more than 500 commercials for global brands, earning honors including the Cannes Lions Titanium Award. He held senior roles at Deluxe and spent two decades at Academy Award-winning Digital Domain—co-founded by James Cameron, Scott Ross, and Stan Winston—where he also served as CEO. The announcement reflects Hollywood's evolving relationship with AI technology. Following industry strikes partly centered on AI concerns, studios are seeking partners who can deliver professional tools while respecting creators' rights. Moonvalley's approach of building models exclusively from licensed content directly addresses these concerns. "From his pioneering work on 'Benjamin Button' to leading AI adoption and integration at Metaphysic, Ed knows how to turn innovative technology into tools that actually work for filmmakers at scale,' said Naeem Talukdar, Co-Founder and CEO of Moonvalley. 'He knows what it takes to earn the trust of filmmakers and how to bring transformative technology into their workflows. We're thrilled to have someone with his expertise and relationships help us bring this technology to the studios and creators who will define its future.' Ulbrich's appointment follows Moonvalley's launch of Marey, the first high-quality AI video model trained exclusively on licensed content. Named after pioneering cinematographer Etienne-Jules Marey, the model proves that powerful generative AI can be built without exploiting creators' work - something tech giants have claimed is impossible. 'I've spent my career pushing the boundaries of how technology serves storytelling,' said Ulbrich. 'What drew me to Moonvalley is their respect for the craft, their use of clean, licensed data, and their focus on empowering creators without compromise. They're solving the right problems the right way, and that's exactly what the industry needs right now. This is the kind of company that can actually change how films get made, and I'm all in.' Hollywood is at a critical crossroads with generative AI. The technology could slash production costs and democratize high-quality content creation, but adoption has been slow over legal concerns about training data and tools that fall short of professional standards. Moonvalley's clean-data approach and focus on filmmaker needs position it to break through these barriers. About Moonvalley Moonvalley is an AI research company building next-generation models and tools for creative professionals. The company brings together talent from DeepMind, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and leading entertainment companies, unified around advancing visual intelligence. Through partnerships with film studios, production companies, and brands, Moonvalley is proving that powerful generative AI can be built while respecting artists' and creators' rights.
