Can AI Replace Pixar? OpenAI's $30M Movie 'Critterz' Aims To Make Films 3 Times Faster And Cheaper Than Hollywood

Is Hollywood on the verge of a revolution? As OpenAI's latest venture, a $30 million (£22.12 million) film titled 'Critterz', emerges, it challenges the very foundations of traditional filmmaking.

This ambitious project aims to demonstrate that artificial intelligence can create movies three times faster and more affordably than the industry has ever seen. The question on everyone's mind is simple: could this mark the end of an era for giants like Pixar?

Hollywood's New Player

OpenAI is out to demonstrate that generative AI can produce films more quickly and affordably than Hollywood's current methods. The company is providing its technology and computing power to help create a full-length animated movie, made primarily with AI, that is set for a global cinematic release next year.

The film, 'Critterz', follows a group of forest creatures on an adventure after their peaceful village is disturbed by a stranger. The concept originated with Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI. He began sketching the characters three years ago while attempting to make a short film using DALL-E, which was a new image-generation tool at the time.

Now, he has partnered with London and Los Angeles-based production companies to bring a full-length version of the film to life, intending to release a feature-length version of the film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

According to James Richardson, co-founder of London's Vertigo Films, they're attempting to make the movie in about nine months, instead of the three years it would typically take. Vertigo is producing the film with Native Foreign, a studio that focuses on using AI alongside classic video production tools.

The Wall Street Journal's latest report highlights that 'Critterz' is being made with a budget of less than $30 million (£22.12 million), a fraction of what animated films typically require. The production team intends to use human actors for character voices and employ artists to create sketches that will be used with OpenAI's tools, such as GPT-5 and their image-generating models.

'OpenAI can say what its tools do all day long, but it's much more impactful if someone does it', Nelson said. 'That's a much better case study than me building a demo.'

Navigating a Cautious Industry

While entertainment companies like Disney and Netflix are testing AI tools for various production, user experience and marketing tasks, many have hesitated to commit fully. They are concerned about upsetting actors and writers, whose guilds have pushed for safeguards against tools they believe could lead to job losses for their members.

Entertainment companies are also concerned with protecting their copyrighted characters and work. In June, Disney and Comcast's Universal sued AI provider Midjourney, alleging that it had made copies of their copyrighted properties.

Midjourney has challenged these claims in court. Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery filed a similar lawsuit against Midjourney.

The script for 'Critterz' was penned by a few members of the team behind 'Paddington in Peru'. Production is now underway, and the voice actors for the characters will be chosen within the next few weeks.

The film is being funded by Vertigo's Paris-based parent company, Federation Studios. According to Nelson, the studios are developing a compensation model so the roughly 30 people on the 'Critterz' team can share in any profits.

A New Chapter for Cinema

Nelson believes that the success of 'Critterz' would demonstrate that AI can produce high-quality content for the big screen and encourage Hollywood to adopt the technology more quickly.

He also believes that OpenAI's tools reduce the cost of entry, enabling more people to produce creative content. An OpenAI spokesman noted that the film 'reflects the kind of creativity and exploration we love to encourage.'

The $30M Gamble

Still, releasing an original animated movie in cinemas is a risky move, and it remains uncertain whether audiences, already hesitant to visit multiplexes, will be willing to pay to see it. The companies have not yet secured a distribution partner.

Nik Kleverov, co-founder of Native Foreign, said that even though AI-generated content can't be copyrighted, the movie's use of human actors for voices and artists for the initial sketches will probably make it eligible for copyright protection.

'Critterz' was first created as a short film by Nelson and Kleverov. It debuted in 2023, with funding from an AI company, a detail first reported by The Wall Street Journal. OpenAI subsequently hired Nelson to work with creators and artists on how to best use its tools.

It will be interesting to see whether OpenAI will assist with the film's marketing. Richardson noted it was too early to talk about any marketing plans.

Richardson recalled telling OpenAI executives, 'I have never been in this position in my life where we are starting a movie and I have no idea what's about to happen. It's a very ambitious, massive experiment.'