Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the star-studded film "Artificial" focuses on Sam Altman and OpenAI. After being abandoned by Amazon MGM Pictures for distribution, the film's distribution rights were acquired by independent film distribution company Neon Pictures (Neon).
Neon Pictures announced on Tuesday that it had successfully purchased the distribution rights to the film after multiple rounds of bidding. Earlier this month, Amazon suddenly announced it would abandon distribution of the $40 million, almost-completed film starring Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman, just months after Amazon announced it would invest $50 billion in OpenAI.
Amazon said at the time that launching "Artificial Intelligence" through another distributor would be more conducive to the film's development.
Neon Pictures revealed on Tuesday that "Artificial Intelligence" plans to be released this year and compete for this year's Oscars. The film revolves around the story of the dismissal and reinstatement of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2023. Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov and Oscar winner Mark Rylance co-starred, and Ike Barinholtz played Elon Musk in the film.
At the end of February this year, Amazon signed a multi-year comprehensive cooperation agreement with the artificial intelligence start-up. Earlier this month, Amazon-MGM Pictures announced that it would put the film up for sale and find a new distributor for the film.
Neon Pictures has a great record during the awards season, having distributed Oscar-winning films such as "Parasite" and "Anora". The company has won the distribution rights for the Palme d'Or films at the Cannes Film Festival for the past seven consecutive years. The film studio did not disclose the specific amount of the acquisition of the global distribution rights of "Artificial Intelligence".
The company said in a statement: "This acquisition fully reflects Neon Pictures' original intention to work with visionary film creators to bring outstanding films with great creative ambition to global audiences."