Lionsgate Vice Chairman Says AI Will Save Millions

Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns said at the Gabelli Sports & Media Symposium in New York that AI "is going to save us tens and tens of millions of dollars a year," according to Deadline. Per Deadline, Burns said colleagues had shown him work "in the world of AI, which is with our movies, specific shots, previewing the movie, figuring out how to budget," and he cited FAST channel curation as another area of savings. Deadline reports he described the pace of change as "like Moore's law on crack." For scale, Deadline cites SEC filings showing Lionsgate's film and TV studio business took in more than $3 billion in the most recent fiscal year.

Deadline reports Burns folded AI companies into a list of "wild-card" candidates, alongside private equity firms, media peers, and sovereign wealth funds, that could one day buy Lionsgate, long considered an acquisition target since its split from Starz last year. He singled out Runway, which Deadline notes first teamed with Lionsgate in 2024 and earlier this year raised funds at a $5.3 billion valuation. Per Deadline, Burns recalled joking to Runway CEO Cristobal Valenzuela that "maybe someday, we'll buy you," noting the AI firm's valuation has since climbed.

Editorial analysis: most media and streaming executives have emphasized AI efficiencies while generally avoiding specific dollar figures, so Burns's quantified estimate stands out. The production tasks he described, shot-level work, previsualization, budgeting, and content curation, map to generative-visual and automation tools already used in VFX and content operations; deploying them typically involves integration work around asset provenance, version control, and human-in-the-loop review. Deadline notes the topic remains sensitive: the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA struck contract renewals with the AMPTP in recent months, averting a repeat of the 2023 strikes, though concerns about protections for artists persist.

Deadline reports Burns expects a viable set of protections for actors' likenesses to emerge through a collaborative process among stakeholders, with participation so "everybody can monetize it together." Watch for published licensing frameworks or bargaining language on AI use of performers' likenesses, broader adoption of AI previsualization and budgeting tools in studio pipelines, and any disclosed figures on realized savings. Editorial analysis: the standards for provenance, watermarking, and audit logs that studios and vendors adopt will shape integration effort and compliance overhead.