While a substantial portion of Hollywood raises its guard against AI or calls for regulations, a growing faction is not demonizing it, and there are even those who are eager to restart their careers, dreaming of launching independent projects but deemed too costly. This is happening to two major names, Roger Avary and Alex Proyas: their forthcoming films, due in 2027, will be produced with heavy assistance from Generative Artificial Intelligence, through the Ex Machina Studios founded in Los Angeles by former Pluto and Paramount executives. And there will be an official theatrical release.
[Photo of Alex Proyas courtesy of Count3D, from Wikimedia Commons; photo of Roger Avary from his official site]
Films with Artificial Intelligence in U.S. cinemas: Alex Proyas and Roger Avary arrive
Roger Avary, a screenwriter behind Pulp Fiction, not new to extreme technologies having written Beowulf for Zemeckis in performance capture, had already opened the doors months ago by founding his own company for AI-driven films, but his next project will be for third parties, still realized with that support: in Easter 2027 Paradise Lost will arrive in American theaters, inspired by the 1667 poem by John Milton. It will be “the definitive heroic saga with a religious theme: a cosmic war in the heavens, where the charismatic and rebellious archangel Lucifer challenges God, is hurled into the abysses of Hell and swears vengeance on all creation, reborn as Satan, to seduce the first parents of humanity, Adam and Eve.”
The Ex Machina Studios have put this project, along with Heaven by Alex Proyas, into development for summer 2027, again with a religious theme but rendered in a more ironic, sci-fi tone: written by Proyas himself, it tells of a “desperate bureaucrat who decides to escape a life of failures by entering into a technologically perfected afterlife, only to discover that paradise is an illusory construct, with terrifying consequences.”
The Ex Machina Studios have struck a deal with the Mayfair Media Group distributor, which will guarantee the cinematic release of the features in more than 1500 theaters across the United States: a significant step for AI-enabled audiovisual production. Marco Weber of Ex Machina Studios explains: “Our idea has always been, from the beginning, to take advantage of a rapidly evolving technology, collaborating with extraordinary filmmakers to realize their vision and create original films, without the usual budget constraints and approval committees.” To confirm, both Paradise Lost and Heaven began within a normal production framework, but neither Avary nor Proyas managed to secure the budgets needed to reach the first shot.
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