Amazon’s movie arm is abandoning an upcoming film, “Artificial,” about Sam Altman and his rocky road to becoming the chief executive of OpenAI.
Amazon, which announced plans to invest $50 billion in OpenAI this year, said in a statement on Friday that the film would “be better served if it were released by a different studio,” and that the company was “working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.”
Amazon’s decision shocked the filmmakers, who were told on Tuesday, according to two people close to the film. The team at Amazon had been supportive of the movie up until that point, they said, spending around $40 million on the project. The streaming giant had already tested the movie in four markets, and the team was working on determining a release date, the two people said.
Mike Hopkins, the head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, made the decision, according to two people with knowledge of the process inside the company.
Amazon MGM Studios had intended to release the film in 2027, said one of the people with knowledge of the company’s plans. The film team, the person said, intended for it to premiere at the SXSW Film & TV Festival. Other award season contenders, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” debuted there.
As part of Amazon’s investment into OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company agreed to use chips designed by Amazon. OpenAI also has a deal to use Amazon’s cloud computing services.
“Artificial” was directed by Luca Guadagnino, the filmmaker behind “Call Me by Your Name,” who has worked repeatedly with Amazon MGM Studios, including on “After the Hunt” and “Challengers.” His agents at Creative Artists Agency screened the movie on Wednesday and Thursday for other potential distributors, including indie film companies like Neon, A24 and Focus, along with Netflix and Warner Bros.’ new specialty division Clockwork. No one has bought it yet, the people said.
The film was written by the “Saturday Night Live” alum Simon Rich. It focuses on Mr. Altman’s firing and rehiring at OpenAI, one of the world’s largest A.I. companies. Andrew Garfield plays Mr. Altman, and Ike Barinholtz portrays Elon Musk.
One movie news site reporting from an earlier test screening described the film as “‘The Social Network,’ but for the A.I. era.”
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.)
