--- title: "OpenAI’s Attempt at an AI-Generated Pixar-Style Movie Is in Shambles" description: "The AI movie was supposed to be made using OpenAI's Sora AI, but is now in limbo after Sora was shut down." date: "2026-05-26" modified: "2026-05-26" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-attempt-ai-pixar-movie-shambles" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # OpenAI’s Attempt at an AI-Generated Pixar-Style Movie Is in Shambles ![A fluffy blue animated creature with small horns and large, round eyes is standing in a misty forest.]() *Critterz* Remember when OpenAI was supposed to upend Hollywood by [making a fully AI-generated animated movie]()? Such a feat would've been curtains for studios like Pixar, which spend hundreds of millions of dollars on each film. It would be a proof-of-concept that a magical AI model could churn out a family friendly box office hit for a fraction of that amount, in a fraction of the time. Of course, like many AI industry promises, that ambition hasn't panned out yet. The film, "Critterz," was intended to debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but missed out on that deadline after OpenAI shuttered its Sora AI video generator, [*Bloomberg* reports](). With OpenAI's "Toy Story" moment sounding like [yet another shuttered dream](), the film's creators are now looking for a new AI partner to continue making the film. In an interview with *Bloomberg*, co-producers Chad Nelson, an OpenAI creative strategist, and James Richardson said that they're now aiming to release "Critterz" in the first quarter of next year. Despite the setbacks, the "Critterz" crew are still claiming that AI can still work filmmaking miracles — if filmmaking was about wrapping up quickly with as few people as possible and nothing else. "A film like this would have taken three years and maybe 300 people, or four years and 200 people, and we're doing it in nine months with 15 people," Richardson said at the festival, per *Bloomberg*. While the film will likely still get made, it's an embarrassing setback for OpenAI. "Critterz" was supposed to build on a short animated film of the same name made with OpenAI's older DALL-E model by using its new Sora video generating tool. But Sora was unexpectedly shut down in March, less than three months after OpenAI signed what was viewed as a landmark licensing deal with Disney, with reports [suggesting that it was losing the company millions of dollars per day](). Rather than a testament to AI's progress, it underscores the vicissitudes of the AI industry. If you're an AI "filmmaker," your entire project could be doomed if an AI company pulls the plug on one of its costly models. In a statement to *Bloomberg*, OpenAI downplayed its role in the film, despite its producer Nelson being one of its creative strategists. "Critterz" is "an independent film created by its filmmakers, who are experimenting with OpenAI's tools as part of their creative process," an OpenAI spokesperson told the newspaper. "OpenAI is neither the film's financier nor its producer." Nelson and Richardson say they're shopping around "Critterz" at Cannes — where [other AI experiments abound](), albeit [not necessarily at the actual film festival]() — claiming that distributors, studios and streamers showed "huge enthusiasm" for their project. **More on AI:** [*Paul Schrader Says His AI Girlfriend Dumped Him*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()