Hollywood is bending the knee to OpenAI

Netflix, A24, Focus Features, and Warner Bros.’ Clockwork have all reportedly decided to pass on picking up Artificial — director Luca Guadagnino’s new biographical drama about OpenAI cofounder / CEO Sam Altman — for distribution deals. And while Neon and Mubi are still said to be interested in the film, this situation makes it seem like Hollywood no longer has the courage to tell critical stories about Big Tech. Postproduction on Artificial was nearly finished when Amazon MGM unexpectedly announced last week that it no longer plans to distribute the film. The news came as a surprise given how far along the movie was and reports that Amazon initially intended to give it a short, Oscar-qualifying theatrical run some time later this year. Artificial was also reportedly scheduled for a wider release in early 2027 and a showing at the SXSW Film & TV Festival, but those plans are now dead in the water. Though Amazon hasn’t gone into detail about why it dropped Artificial , the company told Deadline that it felt the film would be “better served if it were released by a different studio.” While Neon or Mubi could ultimately be better homes for the project, Amazon’s decision follows its $50 billion investment into OpenAI from earlier this year. Amazon has made abundantly clear that it wants to be in the AI business in a big way, and it’s easy to understand why the company might be reluctant to release a film that portrays an AI executive in a negative light. …