A24 Addresses Fan Backlash Over Google AI Deal
▼ Summary
– The horror film *Backrooms*, a major hit for A24, has been interpreted as a critique of generative AI, grossing over $300 million globally.
– A24 announced a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind to develop new filmmaking tools through its A24 Labs startup.
– This partnership follows other controversial Hollywood-AI deals, such as Disney’s failed $1 billion stake in OpenAI, amid fears of AI automating jobs and threatening creative industries.
– A24’s fanbase reacted negatively to the AI partnership, with criticism on social media including declarations of the company’s decline and calls to pirate its films.
– A24 defends the partnership by stating it aims to give artists a voice in shaping AI tools, rather than having them imposed, leveraging its reputation as a tastemaker in indie cinema.
The recent horror blockbuster Backrooms, a film now surpassing $300 million globally, has become the most commercially successful release for indie powerhouse A24. Its narrative, which explores themes of endless repetition and a world grotesquely imitating reality, has been widely interpreted as a pointed critique of generative AI. This thematic irony makes the company’s latest corporate move particularly jarring.
Just days after this box office milestone, A24 announced a $75 million research partnership with DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence lab. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the collaboration will operate under A24 Labs, the studio’s technology startup led by cofounder Scott Belsky, with the stated goal of developing new filmmaking “tools.”
“This is a research partnership,” A24’s communications lead, Sophia Shin, confirmed to WIRED. “We’re working side-by-side with DeepMind’s researchers to learn, iterate, and build, having an active hand in shaping new tools and workflows.”
This deal is the latest in a tense history of alliances between Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Late last year, Disney invested $1 billion in OpenAI, licensing iconic characters like Mickey Mouse for its video generation model, Sora. That deal quickly collapsed alongside Sora’s demise. The existential threat of AI to cinema and the creative arts is profound: it risks automating entry-level jobs, undermining writers’ rooms, and flooding theaters with uninspired, AI-generated content. Some studios have even resorted to suing AI companies over copyright infringement. There is also a chilling effect, as seen when studios distanced themselves from Luca Guadagnino’s biopic of OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Artificial.
The backlash against A24’s partnership is especially sharp because of the studio’s unique cultural standing. Its devoted fanbase is not taking the news well. Following the release of the trailer for Jesse Eisenberg’s new musical drama The Debut, social media erupted. Comments on X included declarations of the company’s “death,” promises to pirate the film, and sarcastic remarks like, “Pretty ironic that The Debut is the film that comes out in the mids of a24 ending itself with ai.”
Shin defended the decision, emphasizing the studio’s commitment to its audience. “Our relationship with our audience is something we don’t take for granted,” she said. “This partnership exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines.” Google DeepMind did not respond to requests for comment.
A24 operates as a massive tastemaker in cinema. Film critic Esther Rosenfield notes, “In the same way Disney sells nostalgia, A24 has sold the feeling of being very hip, and cutting-edge, for as long as they’ve been around.”
Before Backrooms, A24 was responsible for canonical indie films like The Witch, Moonlight, Midsommar, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Marty Supreme. The studio has launched and nurtured the careers of directors such as Sofia Coppola, Denis Villeneuve, Ari Aster, and the Safdie brothers. Since its founding in 2012, it has earned dozens of Academy Award nominations. In a moviegoing landscape dominated by franchise IP and blockbuster fatigue, the appearance of the distinctive A24 logo before a trailer is often enough to generate significant hype. This cool factor is now colliding with the very technology its most recent hit film seems to critique.
(Source: Wired)
