April 19, 2024
Film studio A24 has been slammed by fans after releasing a series of five AI-generated promotional images for Civil War. By: Kritchanon Tan Kian Wei
US - A24, the American independent entertainment company behind Euphoria and Everything Everywhere All at Once, has received tons of backlash after sharing AI-generated promotional images for their new film starring Kirsten Dunst, Civil War.
A series of five promotional images for Civil War, A24’s most expensive production that has a US$50m budget, were shared on A24’s Instagram page, depicting post-apocalyptic takes on major US cities like Las Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles. Set in a dystopian future America, the film sees a group of journalists struggling to survive and reach Washington D.C. before rebel factions descend upon the White House.
In addition to depicting scenes that aren’t actually in the political drama film, the images were quickly found to be AI-generated, sparking controversy among fans of the film and A24, who argued that the move was immoral and could mislead potential moviegoers. Fans also pointed out the irony of the situation given that Civil War director Alex Garland’s directorial debut was 2014’s Ex Machina, a science-fiction film that warned about the dangers of AI.
A source close to Civil War’s production said regarding the images: “These are AI images inspired by the movie,” and that “the entire movie is a big ‘what if’ and so we wanted to continue that thought on social – powerful imagery of iconic landmarks with that dystopian realism.”
Civil War is now playing in theatres, opening in US theatres on April 12 to positive reviews and earning a US$25.7 million opening; the biggest for any A24 film.
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