After backlash, AMC Theaters has announced it will back out of plans to screen an AI short film previously scheduled to begin next month. The short film in question is Igor Alferov’s Thanksgiving Day, which won a contest at the Frame Forward AI Animated Film Festival. The backlash came from many online, particularly on social media, who were actively opposed to the idea of a theater chain screening and supporting AI-generated content.
While AMC Theaters decided to back out, the final decision ultimately rests with Screenvision Media, a third-party company that handles all programming screened before showings at AMC Theaters’ locations and at other theater chains. Screenvision Media was also behind the Frame Forward AI Animated Film Festival. “This content is an initiative from Screenvision Media, which manages pre-show advertising for several movie theatre chains in the United States and runs in fewer than 30 percent of AMC’s U.S. locations,” explained a representative of AMC Theaters in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter. “AMC was not involved in the creation of the content or the initiative and has informed Screenvision that AMC locations will not participate.”
Thanksgiving Day‘s synopsis states that it, “follows a bear and his platypus assistant who are traveling through the galaxy in a spacecraft that looks like a dumpster. They have to deal with corrupt space-cops, hygiene officials, and a very unusual type of food delivery service as the story unfolds.” According to a report by Deadline, Google’s AI tools Gemini and Nano Banana Pro were used to make the short.
It is currently unknown if any other theater chains will be screening Thanksgiving Day instead of AMC Theaters.
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