At a conference in Japan, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra discussed the studio’s plans to use AI in movie production in part to gain efficiency and reduce costs.
But he also stated: “The agreements that came out of last year’s strikes and the agreements that will come out of the IATSE and Teamster [negotiations] will define roughly what we do with AI.”
Even though AI has sparked backlash, the movie industry is confronting profound economic challenges in finding a viable business model with streaming and continued weakness at the box office, post pandemic.
With these formidable challenges, Vinciquerra’s comments are no surprise. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to produce movies is risky. As the Hollywood Reporter reported, “Sony Pictures is coming off of Madame Web‘s flop at the box office, which wiped out plans for a new franchise. Another Sony Spider-Man universe movie — 2022’s Morbius — was similarly a critical bust, though it managed to earn $170 million worldwide.”
Cutting costs in movie production might provide a more sustainable business model as box office attendance languishes and streaming of content has yet to yield the kind of profits that studios hope for.