WildBrain Buys Personality AI for $11M, Higgsfield AI Releases 110-Minute Feature “The Cully Hill Boys” in Four Weeks, Hollywood’s creator boom creates ownership disputes
Hollywood and the global entertainment industry are moving quickly to define how generative AI fits into production, distribution, and audience engagement. This week’s roundup covers major deals and frameworks shaping that shift: WildBrain’s $11 million acquisition of Personality AI to build licensed, kid-safe interactive characters; m25’s appointment of AiCandy as the first dedicated AI film production partner in Asia Pacific; and a secret Hollywood coalition’s release of a “Human Generative Workflows” framework aimed at keeping humans in control of creative decisions.
At the same time, AI-native content is gaining scale and visibility. Higgsfield AI has released a 110-minute, fully AI-generated feature, “The Cully Hill Boys,” while an AI-generated Chinese short has topped Bilibili with a story focused on people rather than spectacle. In India, VFX and AI are reshaping mythological cinema, and new AI film festivals are emerging as a dedicated circuit for generative work.
Business and rights issues are also intensifying. The Motion Picture Association and ByteDance have agreed on an IP-protection framework for AI models, the American Film Market is adding an AI and tech hub, and studios’ push into creator-born IP is sparking ownership disputes. Together, these developments map a fast-evolving landscape where AI is becoming a standard part of the toolkit, even as the industry debates guardrails, authorship, and who controls the next generation of content.
WildBrain Buys Personality AI for $11M to Build Kid-Safe Interactive Characters
Teletubbies founders WildBrain has acquired Personality AI in an $11 million cash-and-stock deal to create licensed, kid-safe conversational AI experiences tied to family IP. The Canadian company bought all outstanding shares of the one-year-old startup for $11 million in cash plus 1 million WildBrain shares, with an additional $2 million due on the first anniversary and up to $56 million in performance-based payouts through 2029.
Personality AI’s tools enable interactive characters using generative AI, and WildBrain says the products are not open-ended platforms but are tested to ensure safe interactions for children. The companies plan to work with IP owners to roll out licensed experiences across toys, apps and platforms via licensing agreements. An early example is “Hey Peppa Pig,” an interactive voice experience developed with Hasbro that lets kids talk with Peppa Pig on Amazon’s Fire Kids tablets.
Personality AI founder and CEO John Goscha joins WildBrain as executive vice president, Personality AI, reporting to WildBrain CEO Josh Scherba. Scherba said the acquisition adds proven technology and commercial capabilities to WildBrain’s platform, which is focused on activating IP globally as fan engagement evolves. The deal comes amid growing scrutiny of AI “friends” for kids and follows WildBrain’s 2025 sale of a 41% stake in Peanuts Holding to Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan for $460 million.
m25 Taps AiCandy as APAC’s First Dedicated AI Film Production Partner
Regional producer network m25 has added Sydney-based AiCandy, positioning the boutique as Asia Pacific’s first dedicated AI film production company within its global talent ecosystem. Founded by award-winning creatives Marcus Tesoriero and Kent Boswell, AiCandy brings an exclusive roster of AI film directors and a pipeline that replaces physical shoots with commercial-ready AI filmmaking while preserving traditional skills in direction, performance, cinematography and sound.
The partnership gives m25 clients across Asia Pacific and the Middle East access to AiCandy’s workflow, which the founders say is built by filmmakers who adapted decades of agency and production experience into an AI-driven process. m25 founder Chris Thorp described AiCandy as a forward-looking partner that maintains precision, creative control and approvals without compromising final output quality. AiCandy’s portfolio spans work for agencies and brands in Europe, the U.S. and Asia Pacific, including campaigns such as Mirakl’s “Stitchy,” United Nations’ “Mad World” and Four Seasons Condoms’ “STI Monsters.”
Tesoriero, a former chief creative officer at Dentsu, Ogilvy, DDB and McCann, said AI filmmaking has reignited creative possibility by allowing big ideas to be executed with fewer traditional production constraints.
AiCandy plans to expand collaborations across Asian markets, including Singapore, China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines, working with local agencies and brands to push ideas further using generative tools while keeping storytelling and craft at the center of the process.
AI-Generated Chinese Short “Asking About the People” Tops Bilibili
An AI-generated animated short has topped Bilibili’s overall rankings, drawing more than 14.5 million views. “The Book of Strange Tales: Asking About the People” (Yaoyi Bu: Wen Cangsheng), a 26-minute film, follows a historian who investigates yaoguai (monsters) and discovers they are ordinary people suffering from famine, forced labor, and hardship. Created by Qingguadan, the project used several AI tools, including ByteDance’s Seedance 2.5 video model, OpenAI’s GPT Image tool, and Jimeng AI, a Chinese text-to-image and text-to-video platform.
Similar AI shorts, including “Half of a Youtiao” and “Paper Phone,” have drawn millions of views by focusing on family memory and cultural rituals rather than effects. The shift comes as China’s National Radio and Television Administration prepares new micro-drama rules, effective Sept. 1, that encourage innovation in creation, technology and distribution while stressing content quality.
VFX and AI Reshape India’s Mythological Cinema
India’s mythological and period films are shifting from physical sets to digital worlds as VFX, AI and gaming engines expand the scale and visual language of ancient stories on screen. Real-time engines now help directors design environments, plan camera moves, and visualize sequences before production wraps, allowing vast kingdoms, forests, and battlefields to be built without massive physical builds. Modern VFX multiplies crowds, extends landscapes, creates architecture and stages large-scale action, turning small sets into entire realms and dozens of performers into thousands of soldiers.
AI is entering the pipeline to assist with concept art, image generation, digital cleanup, facial work, and background elements, speeding up iteration on complex mythological sequences while leaving creative decisions to artists and art directors. The central challenge is authenticity: digitally created kingdoms must feel occupied, divine weapons must carry weight, and supernatural events must sit credibly within the story. As audiences arrive with expectations shaped by global blockbusters and video games, filmmakers aim to avoid an overly polished, game-like look and ensure technology supports storytelling rather than distracting from it.
Secret Hollywood Coalition Unveils AI Framework to Keep Humans in Control
A coalition of Hollywood filmmakers, executives and actors has spent three years meeting privately with Silicon Valley leaders to define where AI is best used while keeping humans in control of the creative process. Convened in November 2023 by Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and AFI dean Susan Ruskin, the group of about 120 participants, including Ben Affleck, released a framework titled “Human Generative Workflows” to provide a common vocabulary for authorship in the era of generative AI.
The group says the framework is meant to stimulate industry discussion, not to resolve disputes over model training or job impacts. By proposing a classification system for different AI uses, the coalition aims to help audiences, creators, and companies understand where AI is an assistive tool versus where it replaces human performance. The group hopes the framework will shape conversations around consent and compensation for the use of likenesses in generative applications, emphasizing that the future of entertainment will be defined by how the industry chooses to integrate AI into the creative process
Higgsfield AI Releases 110-Minute Feature “The Cully Hill Boys” in Four Weeks
AI startup Higgsfield has released “The Cully Hill Boys,” a 110-minute action-comedy it says is fully AI-generated, marking a step-change in scale for synthetic video. The film, produced on a $2 million budget with roughly half spent on AI compute tokens, was completed in about four weeks and features licensed digital likenesses of streamer N3on, UFC fighters Israel Adesanya and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and influencer Matt Kiatipis.
Set in East London, the story follows a group of aspiring rappers who steal a boat for a music video, only to find it packed with cash and become entangled with rival crime cartels. Higgsfield says the project is designed to demonstrate scalable AI workflows for long-form content and to help democratize feature production for creators.
The release comes as the industry debates guardrails for AI use, with the Motion Picture Association recently striking an IP-protection deal with ByteDance and markets like AFM adding dedicated AI and tech hubs.
AFM Adds AI and Tech Hub as Film Markets Court Innovation
The Independent Film & Television Alliance is expanding the American Film Market with the AFM House, a 15,000-square-foot venue in Century City featuring an Innovation Hub co-produced with Cannes Next. Running Nov. 10–15, the 2026 market will host AI and tech exhibitors, fireside chats and the Cinemas Club exhibition on theatrical exhibition’s future, creating a dedicated space for innovators, distributors and investors to explore emerging business models. IFTA CEO Jackie Brenneman said the hub responds to demand from buyers and sellers who want to see how new tools can reshape development, production, marketing and distribution. The move reflects broader pressure on festivals and markets to stay relevant as generative AI reshapes content creation and as streamers and mini-majors seek more efficient pipelines. By clustering AI vendors alongside traditional sales agents and producers, AFM aims to accelerate dealmaking around technology partnerships, co-productions and platform integrations that can move projects from concept to audience faster and at lower cost.
MPA and ByteDance Agree Framework to Protect Film and TV IP in AI Models
The Motion Picture Association and ByteDance signed a memorandum of understanding to protect film and TV intellectual property across ByteDance’s generative tools, including Seedance and Seedream, embedding copyright safeguards as the models evolve. The deal follows an MPA cease-and-desist over Seedance 2.0 and aims to address studio concerns that unlicensed training data and output could undermine rights holders. MPA Chair Charles Rivkin called the framework a commitment to protecting creative content while allowing innovation to continue under clearer rules. For ByteDance, the agreement offers a path to work with major rights holders as it scales video and image models used by creators and brands.
The pact comes as AI-generated features and shorts gain visibility, with startups like Higgsfield releasing licensed, fully synthetic films and markets like AFM adding dedicated AI hubs. Industry observers say the MPA–ByteDance deal could become a reference point for future agreements between studios and model providers, shaping how training data, watermarking and takedown processes are handled across the entertainment ecosystem.
COL AI Studios Launches to Scale IP Across Formats and Global Markets
According to Variety, COL Group has launched COL AI Studios, a new entertainment vertical designed to help platforms, studios and brands develop, test and scale content beyond traditional licensing deals. Building on a distribution network of more than 5,000 live-action titles sourced from the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia and China, the studio adds a development layer that moves proven IP and original concepts into animation, short- and long-form series, advertising, branded entertainment and live action.
The company positions AI as one production method among several, pairing established creative teams, commercially tested IP and audience data with what it calls responsible AI to prioritize storytelling and franchise longevity over sheer output. Its library includes thousands of microdrama titles and is backed by more than 500 writers, directors, producers, editors and artists across Los Angeles, China and Southeast Asia; COL’s existing studio operations have already delivered over 300 AI productions.
Early projects include “Love Missions Across the Galaxy,” which has grown into a three-season franchise with localized versions in more than 10 languages, reaching №1 in five overseas markets, while several other AI-native titles are moving toward live-action development.
AI Film Festivals Emerge as Dedicated Circuit for Generative Work
A new festival circuit built specifically for AI-native filmmaking is taking shape in 2026, offering faster turnarounds, clearer rules and prize funds that rival traditional indie awards. The Hollywood Reporter and industry observers note that major festivals still lack dedicated categories for generative work, while at least five AI-focused events have launched or expanded in a single ten-week window, including the AI & Animation Film Festival (AAIFF), which offers a $750,000 Thematic Competition and a $250,000 Open Competition with multiple $50,000 awards.
These festivals require generative AI to be central to creation, not just for VFX or upscaling, and mandate disclosure of models and pipelines on submission. That transparency, advocates say, separates them from traditional fests that either tolerate AI entries or exclude them outright.
The rise of dedicated AI festivals reflects a split in gatekeeping models. Traditional juries, built around camera crews and lab workflows, move slowly amid legal uncertainty; a Munich court recently ruled that ChatGPT violated German copyright by reproducing song lyrics, a case OpenAI is appealing. By contrast, AI-native fests treat disclosure as the entry requirement, reducing exposure for organizers and giving filmmakers a clear path to recognition and cash prizes. For indie creators, the practical takeaway is to bake tool and pipeline documentation into production from the start. With sales reps already adding AI disclosure language to reps-and-warranties contracts at markets like AFM, filmmakers who treat transparency as routine will be better positioned for both festival submissions and downstream deals.
Hollywood’s creator boom creates ownership disputes
Hollywood’s push to acquire creator-born IP is colliding with the messy reality of internet-born ownership, as studios chase viral concepts that often lack clear rights holders. The Wrap reports that no one owns the rights to “Backrooms” as a concept, while other phenomena like “Skibidi Toilet” are owned by dedicated vehicles such as Invisible Narratives, built to turn creator IP into franchises.
The tension is visible in recent disputes, including copyright claims around “Backrooms” and A24, which highlight how acquiring IP that has been planted, cultivated, and propagated online calls into question the nature of its ownership. As studios court creators with built-in audiences, they are running into communities that iterate and remix content, making it harder to establish who controls what and for how long.
New deal structures are emerging in response. Fox Creator Studios typically negotiates shared IP ownership and revenue splits, while YMH Studios recently signed a partnership with Fox that keeps content ownership and distribution control in the creator’s hands. At the same time, AI studios are testing different models: Wonder Studios funds shorts and owns the finished film, Phantom X lets creators retain 100% of their IP, and others build production systems without taking ownership, shifting leverage toward who controls the pipeline and keeps value when an audience arrives.
