PARAMOUNT Skydance CEO David Ellison called artificial intelligence the "biggest creative unlock in modern history" for the film industry, predicting its impact will exceed that of CGI's introduction in the early 1990s.
Ellison used a concrete example to frame the economic argument. The original "Terminator" cost $4 million to produce. A shot-for-shot remake today would run $60 million to $70 million—a 15-fold increase driven by swelling crew, equipment and post-production costs.
AI tools, Ellison said, can compress those budgets back down. Lower production costs let studios absorb greater financial risk and greenlight more original projects without the balance-sheet pressure of $100 million tentpole bets.
Skydance is building proprietary AI tools to capture that efficiency. Ellison expects the deployment to accelerate workflow, reduce project timelines and reshape the company's operational economics across the organization.
Ellison also emphasized that premium intellectual property and live events gain value in an AI-enabled production environment, not lose it. The company sees differentiation in quality—what he called "truly hand-crafted storytelling" standing apart in a market likely flooded with cheaper AI-generated content.
Ellison framed AI as an augmentative tool for artists, not a labor replacement. That positioning reflects the industry's broader hedging: cost reduction and speed as core selling points to studios and talent, with quality gatekeeping as the moat.
