Two AI-Enabled Films to Screen in US Cinemas Next Year
Alex Proyas's Heaven and Roger Avery's Paradise Lost, both made using generative AI, are set to appear in US cinemas in 2027.
Two AI-enabled films are to screen in US cinemas next year, giving audiences a chance to see what the future of AI-enabled movie making looks like on a big screen.
Both movies, made with generative AI, come from well-known filmmakers. Alex Proyas's Heaven is a sci-fi thriller announced earlier this year. It's about a desperate bureaucrat who decides to escape his failing life by entering a technologically perfected afterlife, only to realize that it's a carefully constructed illusion with terrifying consequences.
The second movie is Paradise Lost, an adaptation of John Milton's epic poem written and directed by Roger Avary. Avary is known for his work on Pulp Fiction and has directed several other films, including Killing Zoe and The Rules Of Attraction.
There's a connection between these two movies: Ex Machina Studios, a production company that's "marrying human-centred narratives and performances to a state of the art AI-enabled tech stack" according to its website. The firm will provide the AI visuals for Avary and Proyas's projects.
Ex Machina has also secured a deal with a US cinema chain, which will see Heaven and Paradise Lost, plus other films the company's working on, in around 1,500 cinemas across several major cities.
The release schedule for the two films is as follows:
| Film | Release Time | | --- | --- | | Paradise Lost | Spring 2027 | | Heaven | Summer 2027 |
Neither film has even begun production yet; both projects are "currently casting". This gives Avary and Proyas a matter of months to make their scripts into viewable reality - a process made simpler, we suppose, when scenes are generated by typing in a few prompts.
Proyas and Avary have both struggled to get these projects off the ground elsewhere. Proyas, who previously made The Crow, Dark City, and I, Robot, hasn't directed a feature since 2016's Gods Of Egypt, a high-profile misfire.
Avary's career was marred by his imprisonment in 2009, though he's directed a couple of projects since, including 2019's Lucky Day - a crime thriller and quasi-sequel to Killing Zoe.
Will audiences embrace at least one of these very different movies? It's certainly a chance for US cinema-goers to vote with their wallets, to borrow a well-worn cliche.
We'll keep you posted on any potential release in UK cinemas.
