I’d consider myself quite switched on when it comes to movie trivia, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the last time the two most talked about films both starred sadistic clowns. That’s where we are currently though, with Joker: Folie à Deux and Terrifier 3 taking centre stage, with very different success rates at the box office.
While some no doubt claim that The Joker isn’t really a clown, we’re happy to take his depiction as a party clown in Arthur Fleck’s origin story as proof enough. He’s also regularly referred to as the ‘Clown Prince of Crime’ in DC comics.
There was a buzz around the Joker sequel, thanks to the critical acclaim of the original and Lady Gaga being cast as Harley Quinn. Yet, as I write this blog, controversial horror film Terrifier 3 is number one at the US box office, whereas Joker: Folie à Deux is reportedly on course to lose $200m.
What went wrong? The creative team behind the Joker sequel made the strange decision to make it a musical. Even people that haven’t seen either film will know that a venn diagram of musical fans and gritty comic book movie aficionados is two almost entirely separate circles. This got us thinking: since AI makes decisions by analysing decades worth of data rather than creative preferences, is it time to hand over the reins?
What does the data say?
- Deloitte data shows 70% of people would rather watch a TV show or movie written by a human but 22% said generative AI could produce content that was more interesting than human creators.
- The UK film sector is worth £1.36bn and employs more than 195,000 people, a figure the government predicts will grow due to a 53% tax cut for independent movies costing less than £15m.
- Google Trends insight reveals that global interest in AI movies has never been higher, with interest steadily increasing since the start of 2023.
With interest soaring and a not insignificant cross-section of society believing gen AI creates better content than humans, to what extent is AI already used in movie making? It’s more prevalent than you might think. Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman used it to ‘de-age’ older actors when the narrative called for it. It’s also rife in post-production for complex CGI scenes, in sound design, such as Skywalker Sound, and even in driving social media marketing campaigns, as Warner Bros did for Aquaman.
Director Denis Villeneuve has said he’ll miss collective collaboration if movies are made solely using AI, but we want this to be a balanced piece, so we asked ChatGPT how far off it thinks we are from a film made solely using AI winning an Oscar. It doesn’t seem Denis and his peers have to worry quite yet.
It responded by saying that in the next 5-10 years, “we may see more AI-assisted films winning technical awards, and possibly even recognition for their storytelling or direction” but that it would be 10-20 years before “it’s plausible that fully AI-generated films could be contenders for major Oscars.” It went on to say the emotional intelligence of AI would need to improve and public perception would need to shift, but even then, “human-led films will likely still dominate.”
It’s not a vastly dissimilar situation in the comms industry. I’ve heard people embarking on a career in PR saying they’re worried about their job being replaced by AI. The truth is, AI is here to complement our work, not to do it for us.
Much like film studios, comms professionals can use AI to streamline admin tasks - thank god for note-taking assistants - but right now, the quality of output for content creation that requires creativity and emotional intelligence simply isn’t high enough to replace skilled writers.
Come back for next week’s Your Weekly Antidote, another dose of data-driven news analysis on one of the biggest stories of the week from your favourite comms tech agency.
