Year of the Full-Length AI Movie
A Hollywood director rekindles excitement (and fear) after a splashy debut using Google's new AI video model, with feature films looming next
Erik Barmack writes every other Tue. for paid subscribers. He recently test drove OpenAI’s “Hollywood killer” Sora, interviewed Imagine's Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein about using AI to make Netflix’s Churchill docuseries, and assessed how AI storyboarding is transforming pitch meetings.
The surprise movie of the holiday season wasn’t Sonic, Nosferatu or the Bob Dylan biopic but an homage to 1970s and 1980s action thrillers. The Heist follows a thief on the run driving a green muscle car through an urban hellscape trying to evade the cops, and it stoked a lot of passionate conversation from the millions who saw it. Unlike the movies whose run times are pushing three hours, though, The Heist clocks in at 1:56 — as in one minute, 56 seconds.
The short is shockingly good. It’s dynamic, fast-paced — and yes, made with AI. Three things make The Heist worthy of deeper consideration: It was made with Google’s Veo 2 generative video model, an unheralded entrant into the AI video wars that debuted on Dec. 16. It was created by Jason Zada, a veteran Hollywood filmmaker who directed the 2016 horror film The Forest, which grossed almost $41 million globally. Zada is now the founder of an AI film studio called Secret Level. And the film has a level of polish that should make Hollywood take notice.
Since Zada released the short, he’s been contacted by major Hollywood producers and studios. “It was a bit of a wake-up call for a lot of people where they were like, ‘Shit, this is here,’” he says. “They were watching before going, ‘This isn’t going to be anytime soon.’ And then I think they see something like The Heist and they’re like, ‘Okay, it’s a lot closer than we thought.’”
How close? Watch it here: