Paramount’s David Ellison says AI could be the biggest creative unlock in modern filmmaking history

AI compared with CGI

On Paramount Skydance’s latest earnings call, David Ellison said AI could make a larger mark on film production than computer-generated imagery. He pointed to CGI and digital composites in the early 1990s as the closest earlier example.

Ellison cited Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 as stories enabled by that technology. He said he believes AI’s impact could be even more significant for creativity.

Lower costs and more risk

Ellison used Terminator to illustrate how production costs have changed. He said the film cost $4 million to make, while recreating it today, shot for shot, would cost $60 million to $70 million. He suggested AI could make budgets more manageable, allowing companies to take risks on original storytelling.

Tools, not replacements

Ellison said AI would significantly reshape Paramount Skydance’s business and that the company is developing its own tools. He said those tools could make content easier to produce, speed up projects and change how the company works.

He argued that premium intellectual property and live events would become more valuable, not less. Ellison also said handcrafted storytelling would retain a premium and described AI as a tool for artists, not a replacement for them.