NEON SWOOPS IN ON SAM ALTMAN DRAMA 'ARTIFICIAL' AFTER AMAZON COLD SHOULDER
Luca Guadagnino's buzzy $40 million OpenAI thriller—starring Andrew Garfield as the AI boss—just found a new home after Amazon MGM dropped it.
Talk about a plot twist! After Amazon MGM Studios ditched Luca Guadagnino's hotly anticipated film "Artificial," indie distributor Neon is now closing in on the deal to save it, according to Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline. The nearly-completed $40 million movie stars Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman during OpenAI's chaotic 2023 power struggle—you know, when he got fired and then *immediately* got his job back? Drama!
The timing? Super awkward. Amazon dropped the film just months after announcing a whopping $50 billion investment in OpenAI itself. Yikes! The company apparently decided having a big controversial OpenAI thriller in their catalog while bankrolling the real thing wasn't the vibe they wanted.
Neon—the distributor behind buzzy indie hits like "Heretic" and "Longlegs"—is reportedly the studio ready to take the heat and actually release Guadagnino's divisive drama to the world. No deal numbers have been announced yet, but you know Buzz will be watching this one *closely*. Nothing says "prestige cinema" like an AI mogul meltdown!
Sources · Variety · The Hollywood Reporter · Deadline