Meta Partners with Blumhouse Productions to Test AI Video Generation Tool Movie Gen

Be afraid - Meta's testing its AI Movie Gen tool with the makers of Paranormal Activity and Five Nights at Freddy's

Blumhouse Productions is known for making terrifying movies on a tight budget. Now the horror movie studio behind the likes of Paranormal Activity, Five Nights at Freddy's and BlacKkKlansman is working with Meta to test Meta Movie Gen, the AI video generator that the owner of Facebook and Instagram revealed earlier this month. And that could be a scary combination. Select creatives are taking part in the pilot, including Casey Affleck from I'm Still Here and Light of My Life, Aneesh Chaganty, and the Spurlock Sisters, who are part of Blumhouse's first annual Screamwriting Fellowship. Aneesh has already produced a video using Meta's AI tool in which he says he was all against AI until he realised that his ten-year-old self would have loved it for his homemade movies. For the video above, Aneesh used Meta Movie Gen to change the backdrops or add special effects to short movies he made as a kid "I hate AI. But with a tool like this? I dunno... maybe I'd have just dreamed a little bigger," he says, noting that what he likes about the tool is that "little Aneesh would still have had to make the movie." It's an emotive and clever plug for the tech that highlights its potential for human-led storytelling while also excusing the current limited quality of the AI output. I mean, sure, it is good enough for a kid's home movie. I would have been thrilled to have had access to this tech when I was a kid trying to produce Doctor Who episodes in the lunch break at primary school. Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum continues the tone in his statement in Meta's announcement. "Artists are, and forever will be, the lifeblood of our industry," he says. "Innovation and tools that can help those artists better tell their stories is something we are always keen to explore, and we welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development." He adds: "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." As for Meta, it says Movie Gen will allow creatives to more quickly express ideas and "explore visual direction, tone and mood." "We heard that filmmakers see potential for Movie Gen as a collaborator and thought partner, with its unexpected response to text prompts inspiring new ideas," it said. It also seems that public access to Movie Gen might arrive sooner than we thought. Meta initially said it had no plans to open access "anytime soon". But CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Instagram to say Movie Gen would be coming to the platform next year (he made the announcement via a video of himself doing leg presses in different historical eras - you can see that gem below). Connor Hayes, VP of gen AI, has confirmed that timeframe. "While we're not planning to incorporate Movie Gen models into any public products until next year, Meta feels it's important to have an open and early dialogue with the creative community about how it can be the most useful tool for creativity and ensure its responsible use," he said. Meta's collaboration with Blumhouse is another example of how studios are starting to take AI video generation seriously. It comes shortly after Runway entered into a deal to create a bespoke AI model for the film and TV producer Lionsgate. Meta says Movie Gen can currently create videos of up to 16 seconds in different aspect ratios and audio of up to 45 seconds and that it compares well against Runway, OpenAI's Sora and Kling. If it gets a release, Meta's AI video generator is also likely to compete against Adobe Firefly Video, which is already powering the new Generative Extend in Premiere Pro. It's not clear how the model was trained, however. Meta has said that Movie Gen was trained on a "a combination of licensed and publicly available datasets" but hasn't specified which. Meta has access to vast amounts of video data through its products like Instagram and Facebook.

Meta unveils AI tie-up with horror movie producers

Paris (AFP) - Tech giant Meta has unveiled a partnership with horror film production company Blumhouse to road-test its latest AI video tool. The program, known as Movie Gen, was announced earlier this month though Meta said it was still being developed and would not be added to publicly available products until next year. On Thursday, Meta announced that it had been working with filmmakers from Blumhouse -- known for producing franchises like "Paranormal Activity", "The Purge" and "Insidious" -- to refine and improve the tool. Oscar-winner Casey Affleck, who was also given early access to Movie Gen, praised it in a promotional video as "more like a collaborator than it is like a tool". The advance of AI was one of the flashpoints during last year's writers' strike in Hollywood, where creatives feared that studios would use AI tools to create scripts or even replace actors. But Blumhouse founder Jason Blum said he welcomed the chance to test the program while it was still being developed. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job," he was quoted as saying in a Meta blog post. Meta also released a sleek three-minute video packaged like an advert made by filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty, framed around the idea that he should "hate" AI because it was going to wreck his industry. Chaganty revisited a series of snippets he had filmed when he was a youngster, using Movie Gen to add aliens, or change the location from the countryside to Manhattan, or make it appear like he was in a bank vault rather than his family home. "I hate AI, but with a tool like this... I dunno... maybe I would've just dreamt a little bigger," the voiceover concludes. Meta has hailed Movie Gen's ability to create videos with sound from short prompts or photos as a major breakthrough, though the tool is still limited to 16-second clips.

Meta unveils artificial intelligence tie-up with horror movie producers

AFP - Tech giant Meta has unveiled a partnership with horror film production company Blumhouse to road-test its latest artificial intelligence (AI) video tool. The programme, known as Movie Gen, was announced earlier this month though Meta said it was still being developed and would not be added to publicly available products until next year. On Thursday, Meta announced that it had been working with filmmakers from Blumhouse - known for producing franchises like Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious - to refine and improve the tool. Oscar-winner Casey Affleck, who was also given early access to Movie Gen, praised it in a promotional video as "more like a collaborator than it is like a tool". The advance of AI was one of the flashpoints during last year's writers' strike in Hollywood, where creatives feared that studios would use AI tools to create scripts or even replace actors. But Blumhouse founder Jason Blum said he welcomed the chance to test the programme while it was still being developed. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job," he was quoted as saying in a Meta blog post. Meta also released a sleek three-minute video packaged like an advert made by filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty, framed around the idea that he should "hate" AI because it was going to wreck his industry. Chaganty revisited a series of snippets he had filmed when he was a youngster, using Movie Gen to add aliens, or change the location from the countryside to Manhattan, or make it appear like he was in a bank vault rather than his family home. "I hate AI, but with a tool like this... I dunno... maybe I would've just dreamt a little bigger," the voiceover concludes. Meta has hailed Movie Gen's ability to create videos with sound from short prompts or photos as a major breakthrough, though the tool is still limited to 16-second clips.

Meta partners with Hollywood's Blumhouse to test out its AI movie generation model

The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Gen, which it said can create realistic-seeming video and audio clips in response to user prompts, earlier this month. In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse had selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Gen and use clips generated by the tool in their short films.Facebook owner Meta said on Thursday it had teamed up with Blumhouse Productions, the Hollywood company behind popular horror films such as "The Purge" and "Get Out," to put its new generative AI video model Movie Gen to the test. The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Gen, which it said can create realistic-seeming video and audio clips in response to user prompts, earlier this month. Meta claimed the tool could rival offerings from leading media generation startups such as OpenAI and ElevenLabs. In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse had selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Gen and use clips generated by the tool in their short films. Chaganty's film would appear on Meta's Movie Gen website, while films from Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters were forthcoming, Meta said. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry and innovative technology can aid in their storytelling. "We welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development," Blum said. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." With the partnership, Meta is signaling how it aims to collaborate with creative industries, whose members have largely recoiled in response to the arrival of generative AI technologies over concerns around copyright and consent. Several groups of copyright owners have sued major tech companies, including Meta, over the unauthorized use of their works to train generative AI systems. Meta has argued its AI training is protected by the copyright doctrine of fair use. However, Meta and other tech companies have shown they are willing to pay for certain types of content for AI. Aside from the Movie Gen partnership, Meta said last month it had struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot. Similarly, Microsoft-backed OpenAI has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss possible partnerships involving its video generation tool Sora, which it first showed off in February. No deals have been reported to have come out of those talks yet, though Lions Gate Entertainment said in September that it had struck a deal with another AI startup, Runway.

Horror Studio Blumhouse Partners With Meta to Use Its AI Video Generator

A major horror movie studio seems to be turning into a bit of an industry horror show. As Variety reports, Blumhouse Productions, best known for franchises like "Halloween" and "The Purge," has announced a partnership with Meta that grants it access to an early version of the tech company's recently-unveiled video generation AI model Movie Gen. "Artists are, and forever will be, the lifeblood of our industry," Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum said in a statement, as quoted by Variety. "Innovation and tools that can help those artists better tell their stories is something we are always keen to explore, and we welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development." Given the major rifts between artists and AI companies, though, the fact that yet another movie studio is promoting the technology will undoubtedly prove controversial. Blumhouse, which is also behind acclaimed features like "Get Out" and "Split," says that it's already chosen a group of filmmakers who will first get to use Movie Gen: Aneesh Chaganty, the Spurlock Sisters, and actor Casey Affleck. To tease what's to come from this collaboration, Chaganty -- best known for the 2018 film "Searching" -- created a bite-sized short film that's been promoted by Meta and is available on YouTube. Called "i h8 ai," it's more or less a three-minute advert in which Chaganty uses his memories of being a young, aspiring filmmaker to discuss his ambivalence about AI. "From everything that I have been told, AI is going to hurt my industry," he says at the beginning. Whatever his reservations, Chaganty turns to Movie Gen to spruce up the "cringe" movies he shot as a kid with better visual effects and locations. "I hate AI," he says by the end. "But with a tool like this? I don't know. Maybe I'd have just dreamed a little bigger." Several big movie studios have already announced partnerships with AI companies, such as Lionsgate's team-up with the Runway. It's striking to see Blumhouse go the same way, however, since it's always positioned itself as a bit of a maverick that punches above its weight in the industry, championing lesser-known directors with box office hits made on relatively small budgets. Some moviegoers have been quick to call out the irony of the partnership. At least two Blumhouse movies to come out in recent years, "M3GAN" and "AFRAID," were explicitly about some of the dangers surrounding our relationship with AI technology. Many creatives see generative AI as an existential threat. Aside from any philosophical questions about using a machine to churn out "art," the technology was only able to be created by ingesting untold amounts of existing images and writing. Because of this, Meta's vice president of generative AI said in a statement, per Variety, that the company "feels it's important to have an open and early dialogue with the creative community" about its "responsible use."

Meta to Test Out AI Movie Generation Model, Partners Hollywood's Blumhouse

The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Gen, which it said can create realistic-seeming video and audio clips in response to user prompts, earlier this month. Meta claimed the tool could rival offerings from leading media generation startups such as OpenAI and ElevenLabs. In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse had selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Gen and use clips generated by the tool in their short films. Chaganty's film would appear on Meta's Movie Gen website, while films from Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters were forthcoming, Meta said. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry and innovative technology can aid in their storytelling. "We welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development," Blum said. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." With the partnership, Meta is signaling how it aims to collaborate with creative industries, whose members have largely recoiled in response to the arrival of generative AI technologies over concerns around copyright and consent. Several groups of copyright owners have sued major tech companies, including Meta, over the unauthorised use of their works to train generative AI systems. Meta has argued its AI training is protected by the copyright doctrine of fair use. However, Meta and other tech companies have shown they are willing to pay for certain types of content for AI. Aside from the Movie Gen partnership, Meta said last month it had struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot. Similarly, Microsoft-backed OpenAI has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss possible partnerships involving its video generation tool Sora, which it first showed off in February. No deals have been reported to have come out of those talks yet, though Lions Gate Entertainment said in September that it had struck a deal with another AI startup, Runway. © Thomson Reuters 2024

Meta partners with Hollywood's Blumhouse to test out its AI movie generation model

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta said on Thursday it had teamed up with Blumhouse Productions, the Hollywood company behind popular horror films such as "The Purge" and "Get Out," to put its new generative AI video model Movie Gen to the test. The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Gen, which it said can create realistic-seeming video and audio clips in response to user prompts, earlier this month. Meta claimed the tool could rival offerings from leading media generation startups such as OpenAI and ElevenLabs. In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse had selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Gen and use clips generated by the tool in their short films. Chaganty's film would appear on Meta's Movie Gen website, while films from Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters were forthcoming, Meta said. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry and innovative technology can aid in their storytelling. "We welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development," Blum said. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." With the partnership, Meta is signaling how it aims to collaborate with creative industries, whose members have largely recoiled in response to the arrival of generative AI technologies over concerns around copyright and consent. Several groups of copyright owners have sued major tech companies, including Meta, over the unauthorized use of their works to train generative AI systems. Meta has argued its AI training is protected by the copyright doctrine of fair use. However, Meta and other tech companies have shown they are willing to pay for certain types of content for AI. Aside from the Movie Gen partnership, Meta said last month it had struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot. Similarly, Microsoft-backed OpenAI has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss possible partnerships involving its video generation tool Sora, which it first showed off in February. No deals have been reported to have come out of those talks yet, though Lions Gate Entertainment said in September that it had struck a deal with another AI startup, Runway. (Reporting by Katie Paul in New York with additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Meta partners with Hollywood's Blumhouse to test out its AI movie generation model

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab said on Thursday it had teamed up with Blumhouse Productions, the Hollywood company behind popular horror films such as "The Purge" and "Get Out," to put its new generative AI video model Movie Gen to the test. The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Gen, which it said can create realistic-seeming video and audio clips in response to user prompts, earlier this month. Meta claimed the tool could rival offerings from leading media generation startups such as OpenAI and ElevenLabs. Advertisement · Scroll to continue In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse had selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Gen and use clips generated by the tool in their short films. Chaganty's film would appear on Meta's Movie Gen website, while films from Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters were forthcoming, Meta said. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry and innovative technology can aid in their storytelling. Advertisement · Scroll to continue "We welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development," Blum said. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." With the partnership, Meta is signaling how it aims to collaborate with creative industries, whose members have largely recoiled in response to the arrival of generative AI technologies over concerns around copyright and consent. Several groups of copyright owners have sued major tech companies, including Meta, over the unauthorized use of their works to train generative AI systems. Meta has argued its AI training is protected by the copyright doctrine of fair use. However, Meta and other tech companies have shown they are willing to pay for certain types of content for AI. Aside from the Movie Gen partnership, Meta said last month it had struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot. Similarly, Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab OpenAI has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss possible partnerships involving its video generation tool Sora, which it first showed off in February. No deals have been reported to have come out of those talks yet, though Lions Gate Entertainment (LGFa.N), opens new tab said in September that it had struck a deal with another AI startup, Runway. Reporting by Katie Paul in New York with additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Partnering with Blumhouse, creators, and the entertainment industry as we develop Meta Movie Gen

We recently introduced Meta Movie Gen -- a suite of AI models that show how you can use simple text inputs to produce custom videos and sounds, edit existing videos, and transform your personal image into a unique video. Movie Gen models generate high-quality, 1080p HD video with corresponding audio tracks. At launch, we shared our plans to work closely with filmmakers and creators to integrate their feedback as we continue working on these models. Today, we're excited to share some initial results from our work with award-winning production company Blumhouse and select creators, which is part of a pilot program focused on creative industry feedback. We'll continue to expand this program in 2025. "While we're not planning to incorporate Movie Gen models into any public products until next year, Meta feels it's important to have an open and early dialogue with the creative community about how it can be the most useful tool for creativity and ensure its responsible use," says Connor Hayes, VP of GenAI at Meta. For the pilot, Blumhouse -- a driving force in horror -- selected a group of filmmakers to test out the technology and provide feedback before its public debut. Those filmmakers -- Aneesh Chaganty (Searching, Run), The Spurlock Sisters (The Breakline and participants in Blumhouse's first annual Screamwriting Fellowship), and Casey Affleck (I'm Still Here, Light of My Life) -- collaborated with our generative AI researchers to try out the tools and then used generated video clips as part of larger pieces. Chaganty's short film and experimental videos from creators such as artist Paige Piskin and travel photographer Eric Rubens are available on Meta's Movie Gen page. The short films from Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters are forthcoming. "Artists are and forever will be the lifeblood of our industry. Innovation and tools that can help those artists better tell their stories is something we are always keen to explore, and we welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development," notes Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse. "These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." Through this pilot, we've received invaluable feedback so far from the directors involved. While there's no replacement for hands-on filmmaking experience, Movie Gen models were able to help them more quickly express their creative ideas and explore visual direction, tone, and mood. We heard that filmmakers see potential for Movie Gen as a collaborator and thought partner, with its unexpected response to text prompts inspiring new ideas. Movie Gen's audio capabilities allowed the directors to explore possibilities for background audio and generate sound effects. And the longer the directors used Movie Gen -- to play with the tooling, learn its nuances, and find inspiration from the models -- the more they saw its potential as a creative tool. We want to empower people to express themselves and their ideas. In the future with Movie Gen models in Meta products, you'll be able to tap into your inherent creativity and unlock new possibilities. But we can't do it alone. That's why we're extending our pilot into 2025. The pilot already gave members of our internal creative and technical teams the opportunity to work alongside directors and learn more about their creative process and needs, which resulted in actionable, concrete feedback we can now focus on implementing before these tools are released to the public -- and we're excited to continue that work. Participants will generate and edit videos using Movie Gen and give their candid, practical feedback about what works and what doesn't as we continue to develop the models and user interfaces. In addition to our entertainment industry partners, we'll also be partnering with digital-first content creators. By giving creatives a new suite of tools to bring their stories to life, our hope is that Movie Gen helps even more people share their unique visions with the world.

Blumhouse Tests AI With Meta Partnership on Short Films

Nicholas Podany Watched 'When Harry Met Sally' for First Time Before 'Saturday Night' Audition for Billy Crystal As Hollywood tests the waters with artificial intelligence, Blumhouse has partnered with Meta on a series of short films that use the recently announced Meta Movie Gen, the tech giant's AI tools that create video and corresponding audio. Blumhouse produced three short films that were made with the help of Meta Movie Gen from filmmakers Casey Affleck, Aneesh Chaganty (Searching), and the Spurlock Sisters. The short films were part of a pilot program run by Meta that is meant to garner feedback from the creative community about their text-to-video tools. Blumhouse was approached by Meta to work with filmmakers to help test the generative AI tools. The company says they will continue to test Meta Movie Gen, which is not yet available publicly, with creatives in to 2025. "While we're not planning to incorporate Movie Gen models into any public products until next year, Meta feels it's important to have an open and early dialogue with the creative community about how it can be the most useful tool for creativity and ensure its responsible use," said Connor Hayes, VP of GenAI at Meta, in a blog post on Meta AI's website where the partnership and Blumhouse-produced short films were announced. Jason Blum added in a statement: "Artists are and forever will be the lifeblood of our industry. Innovation and tools that can help those artists better tell their stories is something we are always keen to explore, and we welcomed the chance for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it's still in development. These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they're best suited for the job." The first of the short films to be released was Chaganty's i h8 ai, with the short films from Affleck and the Spurlocks due out later today. Meta says that the filmmakers collaborated with the company's generative AI researchers working on Meta Movie Gen and offered feedback based on their experience with the AI tool. Meta isn't the first company to put its AI video generation tools in front of Hollywood. As Bloomberg reported in March, OpenAI met with studios and media executives about its product, Sora. Earlier this week Adobe announced that its Firefly Video Model, the company's answer to image-and-text-to-video generation, would be launching several tools in beta for limited public use. AI research company Runway has been releasing generative AI video tools, most recently its Gen-3 Alpha in June. In September, Lionsgate inked a deal that will see Runway train a new generative AI model on Lionsgate film and TV library.