A French filmmaker behind Netflix’s popular shark thriller “Under Paris” says he could have slashed his production budget in half and finished eight months sooner if he had access to today’s artificial intelligence technology.
Director Xavier Gens revealed to Reuters that his 2024 hit about a massive shark terrorizing the Seine River could have been completed “in three months instead of one year” using current AI tools. The visual effects budget would have dropped from 4 million euros to just 2 million euros ($2.34 million), he explained during the Cannes Film Festival.
This year’s festival in France marks a notable transformation in how the film industry views artificial intelligence. Rather than debating whether AI belongs in cinema, attendees are now focused on determining the best ways to implement the technology.
While concerns persist about protecting artistic integrity, the potential for significant time and cost savings is proving irresistible for an industry still working to recover audiences lost during the COVID pandemic, according to festival participants.
Gens has already begun investigating AI applications for “Under Paris 2,” which he hopes to release next year. The original film’s post-production phase, which involved extensive visual effects work to blend shark imagery with real footage, consumed nearly twelve months.
AI technology can streamline many labor-intensive post-production processes, particularly valuable for effects-heavy productions. A Morgan Stanley analysis from last year suggested generative AI could reduce film and television production expenses by up to 30 percent.
Demonstrating the digital shift, Meta secured an official festival partnership this year through a multi-year agreement. The company’s AI software contributed to Steven Soderbergh’s documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which earned inclusion in the festival’s official selection, though not in the competition category.
Festival organizers haven’t implemented a complete AI prohibition, but they do exclude movies primarily created through generative AI from Palme d’Or consideration. This policy aligns with recent Academy Awards guidelines requiring human involvement in acting and writing categories.
Festival Director Thierry Fremaux explained that AI cannot replace fundamental skills, comparing it to riding an electric bicycle: “To ride an electric bike, you have to know how to ride a normal bike,” he told journalists.
At the Cannes Film Market, a major venue for international film transactions and industry connections, startups have established an “Innovation Village” overlooking the harbor filled with yachts. The market also featured two days of invitation-only AI conference sessions for the second consecutive year, with presentations from representatives of Alphabet, Disney Accelerator, NVIDIA and OpenAI.
While directors generally oppose using generative AI to create entire scripts or films from simple prompts, its application in production and post-production phases is gaining wider acceptance.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro emphasized the need for clearer distinctions in AI discussions. “In a very dishonest way, (AI is) all under the same name,” he told Reuters. “To have a proper discussion, you have to distinguish generative AI and any other function of AI.”
This represents a marked change from controversy surrounding the 2025 Oscars, when AI enhancement of Adrien Brody’s Hungarian dialogue in “The Brutalist” sparked significant debate.
Alex Serdiuk, who heads Ukrainian company Respeecher that created the voice technology for “The Brutalist,” argued that AI served as an effective enhancement of human performance in that case and should lose its negative associations.
“They got the Oscar, right? So the Academy understood what exactly was done there,” he noted.
AI applications continue expanding rapidly. Emerging companies are proposing new uses, including Largo, which provides audience analysis tools such as simulated focus groups to help directors predict how various viewers, including critics, might react to their films.
However, some industry leaders warn that even sophisticated AI struggles to analyze what makes movies successful.
“Basically, every movie in Cannes is a prototype,” said Elisha Karmitz, who leads French sales agent, distributor and production company MK2. He explained that no formula exists for selection beyond creating the highest quality film with proper intentions.
Nevertheless, Karmitz acknowledged that AI cannot be dismissed entirely.
“I don’t know if AI in the future would give an advantage,” Karmitz said. “What I’m kind of sure of is just rejecting AI by principle would give a disadvantage.”
