OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company best known for creating ChatGPT, is venturing into Hollywood with an ambitious experiment: a feature-length animated film made largely with AI. The project, titled Critterz, is looking to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2026 before rolling out to theaters worldwide, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The film follows a community of forest creatures who set off on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a mysterious stranger. Creative specialist Chad Nelson, who first began sketching the characters with OpenAI’s DALL-E image generator three years ago, is spearheading the project.
Unlike traditional animated features, which often require three years and budgets exceeding $100 million, Critterz is being developed in just nine months on a budget of under $30 million. To achieve this, the team is blending human artistry with AI tools. Human artists are creating sketches that are then processed through OpenAI’s systems, including its flagship model GPT-5, while voice actors will provide performances for the characters.
London’s Vertigo Films and Los Angeles-based Native Foreign are producing alongside OpenAI, aiming to prove AI can cut costs and time in a notoriously resource-heavy filmmaking process. James Richardson, co-founder of Vertigo Films, described the project as “a very ambitious massive experiment.”
A Hollywood Test Case for AI
The movie arrives at a time when generative AI’s role in entertainment is highly debated. Studios like Disney and Netflix are already experimenting with AI in specific tasks, while actors, writers, and animators have raised concerns about job displacement, copyright issues, and the creative risks of over-reliance on machines.
Nelson and the Critterz team have emphasized that the project won’t replace humans entirely. Artists and performers remain at the center of the production, with AI functioning as a tool rather than a substitute. Even so, whether audiences and industry veterans will embrace the finished product is far from certain.
The experiment recalls Pixar’s early years in the 1990s, when computer-generated animation was considered a gamble before Toy Story cemented its place in the industry. If Critterz succeeds, it could mark a turning point for AI’s place on the big screen. If it fails, it may deepen skepticism about whether AI can truly capture the artistry of human-driven storytelling.
As OpenAI positions Critterz as a case study in faster, cheaper movie-making, Hollywood — and the world — will soon see whether generative AI can carry the weight of the big screen.
Source: The Wall Street Journal