Sam Altman's Biopic 'Artificial' Dropped by Amazon, Major Studios Refuse Distribution

Director Luca Guadagnino's $40 million biographical drama "Artificial" about OpenAI founder Sam Altman has lost its primary distributor. Amazon/MGM, which financed the film, announced it would no longer handle theatrical release, saying a different company could distribute it better. The decision comes weeks after Amazon disclosed a $50 billion investment in OpenAI.

Major studios—including Universal (Focus Features), Warner Bros (Clockwork), A24 and Netflix—have all declined to pick up the completed film. The move reflects a broader shift in Hollywood, which was once openly hostile to generative‑AI firms but is now forming partnerships and investing in AI tools.

The film, starring Andrew Garfield as Altman and Yura Borisov as co‑founder Ilya Sutskever, portrays Altman as a “pathological liar” whose AI ambitions could lead to human extinction. With no major studio backing, the project is being shopped by CAA to smaller distributors such as MUBI and Neon, but it faces an uncertain theatrical future.