Creator Economy Projected to Reach $1.22 Trillion by 2033, Wētā FX and Taiwan Partner on AI Production Hub, Wonder Studios signs deal to put online indie films on global TV platforms, and other news
In this week’s news — Hollywood’s major talent agencies and unions backed The New York Times’ copyright case against OpenAI and Microsoft, turning an AI-training dispute into a broader fight over licensing creative work. The global creator economy is forecast to reach $1.22 trillion by 2033, while Wētā FX and Taiwan’s TAICCA are building an AI-driven production hub in Asia. Wonder Studios will place independent online films on connected-TV platforms, French AI studio Inevitable raised €15 million, and xAI’s AI-generated “Odyssey” clip drew online criticism. And AI-made microdramas now account for roughly two-thirds of new releases outside China.
Hollywood Backs NYT Copyright Case Against OpenAI
Major Hollywood talent and labor interests are backing The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, filing legal briefs that could shape how the entertainment industry protects intellectual property in the AI era. WME filed an amicus brief Friday night, following similar filings from CAA, the Cate Blanchett-backed Human Consent Fund, SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, alleging that the companies used its journalism to train ChatGPT without authorization or payment. The Times sought summary judgment in September; reply briefs were due Friday, after which the judge may rule or send the case to trial. WME argued that OpenAI’s fair-use defense does not justify unrestricted use of copyrighted material. The agency said a licensing market already exists, pointing to OpenAI’s content agreements with News Corp and Disney.
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The filings align Hollywood with publishers on a central question: whether AI companies may train commercial models on copyrighted works without a license. The outcome could affect licensing terms for studios, agencies, writers, performers and other rights holders. WME has also pushed for the federal NO FAKES Act, which would protect people from unauthorized AI reproductions of their likeness. Its involvement signals that the dispute is not confined to news publishing but extends to the creative economy’s core assets: stories, performances and identities.
Creator Economy Projected to Reach $1.22 Trillion by 2033
The global creator economy is projected to grow from $217.3 billion in 2026 to $1.22 trillion by 2033, according to a study released at Paris Creator Week. The 2026 figure represents 26.2% year-over-year growth. The event, held at Halle de la Villette, doubled in size this year to an expected 8,000 attendees, including executives from YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, Spotify, SoundCloud, Banijay and Mediawan. Overseas participants account for 30% of attendance.
France’s creator economy is expected to reach $10.1 billion in 2026, up 23.7% from 2025, and could more than double to $24.3 billion by 2030. The sector supports about 227,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in France, which ranks seventh globally and third in Europe. Commercial partnerships are the largest revenue driver, accounting for 49.8% of the global market, followed by advertising on creator content at 22.7% and paid subscriptions at 13.8%. Advertisers are expected to contribute $172.8 billion to the sector in 2026.
The study also recorded 70 global acquisitions in the first half of 2026, up 23% from a year earlier. North America accounted for 64.3% of acquisition targets, compared with 27.1% in Europe. Organizers position Paris Creator Week as a business-to-business counterpart to consumer creator conventions, aiming to make Paris a central meeting point for creators, platforms, brands, investors and traditional media companies.
Wētā FX and Taiwan Partner on AI Production Hub
New Zealand visual effects company Wētā FX and Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) will launch a partnership on Nov. 6 to develop Taiwan into an AI-driven screen production hub for Asia. The agreement will be announced at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei, immediately after the festival’s opening ceremony. It includes three areas: joint investment, AI research and development, and talent training.
TAICCA Chair Sue Wang will appear with Wētā FX CEO Daniel Seah, Chief Technology Officer Kimball Thurston and VFX supervisor Sheldon Stopsack. The partnership pairs Taiwan’s semiconductor, AI and advanced-technology strengths with Wētā FX’s visual effects experience, international production track record and global network. The goal is to connect Taiwanese technologists and creative workers with screen-industry opportunities worldwide.
Wētā FX, known for work on “The Lord of the Rings” and “Avatar,” has won eight visual effects Oscars and 17 Academy Science and Technology Awards. Its current projects include “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday,” and “Children of Blood and Bone.” TAICCA, established by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture in 2019, supports content development, production, distribution and international marketing across film, television, animation, games, music and publishing.
Wonder Studios signs deal to put online indie films on global TV platforms
Wonder Studios has signed an agreement with Foundation Distribution to place films from online indie filmmakers on major connected-TV streaming services worldwide. The deal will initially distribute the second season of Wonder’s anthology series Beyond the Loop through platforms including Roku, Samsung TV and Amazon. The agreement is designed to treat individual short films as standalone titles rather than placing them in high-volume, theme-based channels. Wonder says the model gives emerging filmmakers premium placement alongside conventional films and series, while extending their reach beyond YouTube and social platforms.
Beyond the Loop has generated 14.8 million combined views to date. Its second season includes work from Grammy-nominated musician Jidenna, AI-short creator Kavan the Kid, and BAFTA-winning editor Hal Watmough. The season was executive produced by CapCut, ElevenLabs, OpenArt, and InVideo.
After the anthology, Wonder plans to distribute additional films from creators with established online audiences and to commission new longer-form originals. Although many of its filmmakers use AI tools, the company says its slate also includes live-action and hybrid productions.
French AI film studio Inevitable raises €15 million to produce its first features
French AI-driven film studio Inevitable has raised €15 million from undisclosed private investors to expand production capacity and develop its filmmaking technology. The company says it aims to produce feature films of 100 minutes or less within four months, at a target budget of $250,000 each.
Founded in 2025 by MAD Films writer and producer Jean Mach, Inevitable says its prompt-less AI system converts a visual base into photorealistic imagery while leaving directors in control of creative decisions. The new funding follows a reported €10 million round in April and marks a shift from technology development toward commercial production.
The studio is currently producing Sync, a 90-minute live-action film directed by Stéphane Juffet, and Naaru, an animated science-fiction film from Yansurah Productions based on Patrice Murciano’s graphic novel. It has also signed additional deals for AI-generated films and series.
Inevitable is positioning itself as a European challenger to U.S. and Chinese AI-studio efforts.
Elon Musk’s AI-generated Odyssey clip draws online backlash
Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has released a seven-minute AI-generated episode of The Odyssey on X, fulfilling part of Musk’s pledge that Grok Imagine would produce a full-length, “historically accurate” adaptation of Homer’s epic before the end of 2026. The clip was described as a creative collaboration with AI-film company Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker. The release was widely mocked online. Critics pointed to unnatural movement, uneven pacing, generic visuals, and apparent historical errors, including dialogue and staging that do not match the poem’s ancient Greek setting. Some users called the clip “pure garbage,” while others said it demonstrated AI’s limits in storytelling and human expression.
Musk had spent months criticizing Christopher Nolan’s theatrical Odyssey, which opened July 17 and has earned nearly $1.8 billion worldwide. Nolan’s film received broadly positive reviews, intensifying scrutiny of Musk’s claim that AI could deliver a more historically faithful version.
AI-generated microdramas make up two-thirds of new releases outside China
AI-generated vertical dramas accounted for roughly two-thirds of new microdrama releases outside China in the third quarter of 2026, according to consulting firm Owl & Co.’s “What We Watched on Vertical” report. The figure covers releases across 20 leading platforms. The adoption curve has been steep. AI-generated titles represented 3% of such releases in the first quarter of 2026, rose to 28% in the second quarter, and reached approximately 67% in the third quarter. I
In China, where the short-form vertical format originated, more than 95% of microdramas released in the first three months of 2026 were reportedly made using AI. The shift is driven largely by production economics. AI pipelines can reduce crews and accelerate the release of one- to two-minute serialized episodes, allowing platforms to test more stories and refresh catalogs quickly. But output is not the same as audience durability. Owl & Co. found that AI-generated stories performed strongly in total minutes watched, while live-action titles were more likely to remain in the top 10% of viewing 30 days after release.
