OpenAI backs AI animated film Critterz to show Hollywood how its tech makes moviemaking cheaper

Critterz is a new feature-length animated film currently in production (via The Wall Street Journal), featuring cute forest creatures who embark on an adventure after their simple village life is disrupted. At first glance, it appears to be another Pixar-inspired computer-generated animated film, albeit one aiming to make its debut at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next year. It's also an animated film created using OpenAI's generative AI tools.

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And with OpenAI backing the development of Critterz, its reported budget of less than $30 million aims to demonstrate that generative AI can be used to create feature-length films faster and more cost-effectively than traditional Hollywood productions.

Critterz creator Chad Nelson is teaming up with OpenAI, alongside London and Los Angeles-based production companies, to fully animate Critterz in nine months, instead of the typical three years or so it takes to develop, animate, and release a traditional animated film. This nine-month schedule aligns with the next Cannes Film Festival, scheduled to take place in May 2026.

According to one of the London-based partners, Vertigo Films, the Critterz production team plans to use sketches created by human artists and then feed those into OpenAI's tools, such as GPT-5 and image generation, to create the film. The company also notes that Critterz will feature human voice actors, with generative AI there as a means to quickly realize the team's vision as opposed to being a completely AI-generated production. In fact, even with AI-generated content, the mix of human actors, writers, and artists should make Critterz eligible for copyright protection.

"OpenAI is betting that if Critterz is successful, it will show that AI can deliver content strong enough for the big screen and accelerate Hollywood's adoption of the technology," Critterz creator Chad Nelson said. "OpenAI's tools also lower the cost of entry, allowing more people to make creative content."

OpenAI backs animated film 'Critterz' to demonstrate that generative AI makes filmmaking easier and more cost-effective.