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Lionsgate is leaning into artificial intelligence in a major way, revealing how its partnership with AI startup Runway could reshape how the studio produces, edits, and repackages content. Vice chairman Michael Burns recently detailed the studio’s evolving strategy in a conversation with New York Magazine, highlighting how AI could allow Lionsgate to rethink production costs, streamline creative decisions, and unlock new revenue streams.
The deal with Runway—announced in September 2023—was promoted as the company’s first major pact with a Hollywood studio. It promised to “augment” creative work and “enhance and supplement” Lionsgate’s operations. Now, months later, Burns says the studio is actively “banging around the art of the possible,” testing various applications to “see what sticks.”
One of the most headline-grabbing possibilities? Using AI to automatically alter a film’s format and content for different audiences. Burns gave a bold example: “Take one of our signature action franchises… now we can say, ‘Do it in anime, make it PG-13.’ Three hours later, I’ll have the movie.” While rights holders—including actors—would still need to be compensated, this AI-assisted approach could allow the studio to rapidly generate new, more accessible versions of existing films for different demographics.
Lionsgate’s massive content library makes the opportunity even more scalable. As New York Magazine reports, AI could help repackage existing content—changing tone, rating, or even converting live-action titles into animated formats—creating new products from old assets.
Beyond re-edits, AI could also have a major impact on production itself. Burns described a hypothetical scene with “10,000 soldiers on a hillside with a bunch of horses in a snowstorm”—a shot that could cost millions to shoot. With Runway’s technology, Lionsgate could create the entire shot for around $10,000. “The math was working,” the article notes, even if the final decision on the film hadn’t been made.
From pre-production to post-production, several Lionsgate filmmakers are reportedly “already excited” about AI’s potential. Backed by investors like Google, Nvidia, and Salesforce Ventures, Runway positions itself as a leader shaping “the next era of art, entertainment, and human creativity.”
As studios across Hollywood explore how to navigate AI’s disruptive potential, Lionsgate appears to be charging ahead—experimenting not just with what AI can do, but how it can make filmmaking faster, cheaper, and more flexible.
