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- Andrew Garfield stars; Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk.
- Amazon held test screenings and planned an SXSW release before changing distribution plans.
- The film cost $40 million, shocking filmmakers when the studio decided to sell it.
- Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the film examines a tech CEO's firing and rehiring.
- Bidding run by Creative Artists Agency attracted interest from Mubi, A24, Netflix, and Clockwork.
The independent film studio Neon has purchased “Artificial,” a film about Sam Altman and his rocky road to becoming the chief executive of OpenAI, after the film arm of Amazon abandoned it this month.
Neon will release the film, which features Andrew Garfield portraying Mr. Altman and Ike Barinholtz playing Elon Musk, later this year, according to a news release from the company on Tuesday. Neon won the worldwide rights in a bidding process run by Creative Artists Agency, a person familiar with the negotiations said.
The price of the deal was not disclosed.
The deal is a reprieve for the filmmakers, who were shocked when Amazon told them that it was going to sell the film, which cost $40 million to make. Amazon MGM Studios greenlighted the movie in 2023 and had been supportive of it, The New York Times previously reported.
Amazon’s studio held test screenings for the film this year and was about to announce plans to release it at the SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas, next year.
Amazon also announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI this year. Amazon said in a statement this month that the movie would “be better served if it were released by a different studio.”
“Artificial” was directed by Luca Guadagnino, the filmmaker behind “Call Me by Your Name,” an Oscar nominee for best picture in 2018. The film focuses on Mr. Altman’s firing and rehiring at OpenAI, one of the world’s largest A.I. companies.
Neon is an independently financed studio with an international focus. It backed Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” the first non-English-language film to land the Oscar for best picture, in 2020. Neon also won in 2025, for Sean Baker’s “Anora.” At this year’s Golden Globes, the studio landed 21 film nominations.
“The acquisition underscores Neon’s commitment to partnering with visionary filmmakers, and bringing ambitious cinema to audiences around the world,” the company said in its news release. “‘Artificial’ will compete in this year’s Oscar race.”
Mr. Guadagnino’s agents at CAA previously screened “Artificial” for other potential distributors, including indie film companies like A24 and Focus, along with Netflix and Warner Bros.’ new specialty division, Clockwork.
One movie news site described the film as “‘The Social Network,’ but for the A.I. era,” after a test screening.
Several other companies bid for “Artificial,” including Mubi, an independent British streaming service, two people familiar with the process said. Mubi is backed by Sequoia Capital, one of OpenAI’s primary investors.
“For Neon, it opens a crack where they can now start a formal relationship with talent,” said Stephen Galloway, the dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. It also reinforces the studio’s image “as the user-friendly place for real works of art and artists.”
(The Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
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