AI-Produced Feature Animation to Be Submitted to Cannes Film Festival Next May

OpenAI Expands "Critterz" from Short to Feature-Length
Completed in Nine Months at Half the Usual Cost

A feature-length animated film produced using artificial intelligence (AI) tools will be submitted to the Cannes Film Festival in May next year.

Movie 'Critters' Produced by AI [Screenshot of the work introduction screen from Native Foreign website]

According to the Wall Street Journal on September 7 (local time), OpenAI, a US-based AI service provider, plans to demonstrate that generative AI can produce movies faster and more cost-effectively than Hollywood with "Critterz," a film about the adventures of forest characters. "Critterz" is an expanded feature-length adaptation of a short animation of the same name created in 2023. The project is being led by Chad Nelson, who works at OpenAI. London-based Vertigo Films and Los Angeles-based Native Foreign are collaborating on the production, aiming to complete it in just nine months. This is an exceptionally fast timeline compared to the usual three years or more required for feature-length animation production.

The production cost is under 30 million dollars, representing a significant reduction compared to traditional feature-length animations. The film is being created through a hybrid production model, with human actors providing the character voices and human artists handling visual tasks such as image sketching, working alongside AI. According to the production team, this approach also addresses many of the copyright protection issues.

The production team has already entered the production phase and plans to finalize the voice casting in the coming weeks. Some of the writers from the 2024 live-action animation "Paddington in Peru" have participated in the scriptwriting process. Funding is being provided by Federation Studios, the parent company of Vertigo Films.

This project is drawing attention as an experiment demonstrating the potential application of AI technology in the film industry. However, issues such as copyright protection, opposition from actors' and writers' unions, and ethical controversies remain unresolved. The moment AI steps onto the film festival red carpet, the film industry will face yet another turning point.