Lionsgate Studio Vice Chairman Michael Burns says using artificial intelligence to make films will save his company “tens and tens of millions of dollars a year.”
Burns even added that an AI company may soon become powerful enough to buy Lionsgate out — the studio has been “long considered a ripe acquisition target,” according to Deadline.
“It’s like Moore’s law on crack,” Burns said during a discussion at the Gabelli Sports & Media Symposium in New York on Thursday. “It is going so fast. If you own the existing IP, you get a lot of different ways to monetize it. So, I think it’s exciting.”
Burns went on to say that Lionsgate is using AI to help them create budgets, craft specific shots, preview a movie project, and other uses and is saving the company tens of millions.
He also said that it won’t be long before even the actors — many of whom still oppose AI — will come to realize they can make money from it.
“Actors’ likenesses, you know, with cooperation, I think that there’s a participation with them. … everybody can monetize it together,” he exclaimed. He said that the protections will be agreed upon by all the stakeholders in the industry, so he is not overly worried about it all.
But he also said that money is tight in the industry these days and AI can help save Hollywood.
“Everybody has the same issue, which is you want to show growth and you only have two ways to show growth, which is organically, which is really hard to do, or inorganically, which is by doing deals,” he explained. “I think we’re an interesting strategic partner.”
Burns pointed out that private equity firms might be one of those new partners. He also pointed to other media companies as well as foreign sovereign wealth funds. But AI companies, and the “staggering wealth” they are beginning to amass, are a prime partner possibility.
“You look at some of these AI companies with staggering valuations and growth rates that are just incredible,” he insisted.
Since 2024, Lionsgate has partnered with the AI firm Runway, and that company is now valued at $5.3 billion.
“I made a joke with [Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela] when we first did our deal with him, I said, ‘You know, maybe someday, we’ll buy you.’ Now, he’s probably smirking at me, saying, ‘Well, let’s take a look at how our valuation turns out.,” Burns told the audience in New York.
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