Dropped by Amazon MGM, 'Artificial' Wins Critics Over

Luca Guadagnino's AI-themed drama scored a rapturous London Film Festival premiere and glowing reviews after Amazon MGM Studios walked away and Neon stepped in to distribute it.

Luca Guadagnino's new film "Artificial," a genre-mixing drama that takes aim at the dangers of artificial intelligence and references Sam Altman as one of the technology's architects, got a rousing reception at its U.K. premiere during the London Film Festival. Guadagnino appeared onstage with stars Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov to sustained applause at Royal Festival Hall, a strong signal of audience enthusiasm heading into awards season. The warm reaction follows a bumpy road to release. Amazon MGM Studios originally had the project before parting ways with it, leaving the film without a major studio backer. Neon ultimately picked it up, and that bet appears to be paying off: the movie has landed around a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes along with praise from critics and early talk of award recognition, according to Variety. The acclaim arrives as tension between studios, performers, and AI technology continues to simmer across Hollywood. One flashpoint cited alongside the "Artificial" story involves Nicolas Cage and a dispute over an AI-related waiver tied to his Spider-Noir project, illustrating how disagreements over digital likeness rights and AI usage are becoming a recurring friction point between talent and the companies producing their work. Taken together, the "Artificial" saga reads as both a vindication for a film studios initially hesitated on and an early marker of a larger industry reckoning. As AI becomes a more common subject on screen and a more common point of contention behind the scenes, stories like this one suggest the fight over how artificial intelligence gets portrayed, used, and negotiated in contracts is only getting started.