{"id":547303,"date":"2026-06-21T21:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/547303\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:43:14","slug":"netflix-a24-and-focus-pass-on-guadagninos-artificial-mubi-circles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/547303\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix, A24 and Focus Pass on Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial,’ Mubi Circles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSeveral of the buyers who screened Luca Guadagnino<\/a>\u2019s hotly anticipated \u201cArtificial\u201d in the days after Amazon MGM Studios abruptly dropped the film have passed on acquiring it, sources tell Variety. <\/p>\n

\n\tFocus Features, Warner Bros.\u2019 Clockwork, A24 and Netflix have all stepped away, according to those sources. But the Sam Altman<\/a> drama, which is nearly completed, isn\u2019t without suitors. Variety has learned that Mubi<\/a> is pursuing the film, with Neon also possibly circling.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAA Media Finance, which represents Guadagnino, has been running screenings to find the film a new home since Amazon\u2019s exit. The picture \u2014 a reported $40 million production starring Andrew Garfield as the OpenAI chief executive \u2014 was shown to a cluster of potential distributors in the last couple days. The picture is rumored to be portraying Altman as a pathological liar and Musk (Ike Barinholtz) as highly antipathetic. <\/p>\n

\n\tAmazon MGM, which developed \u201cArtificial\u201d and had slated it for an early 2027 release, walked away from the project entirely \u2014 a decision that landed just months after the company announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a multi-year cloud partnership. Amazon has said it believes the film would be \u201cbetter served\u201d at another studio and that it is working with the filmmakers to find it a new home, while denying that the subject matter drove the decision.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven for independent companies with AI ambitions or big tech entanglements, there could be reasons for being cautious around the film. A24, for instance, is backed by Josh Kushner\u2019s Thrive Capital, which holds a seat on the board and ranks among OpenAI\u2019s largest and most high-profile backers.<\/p>\n

\n\tMubi seems like a natural fit for the film, considering the indie distributor already has a relationship with Guadagnino: the company released his Burroughs adaptation \u201cQueer\u201d across multiple international territories, handled U.K. theatrical on \u201cSuspiria\u201d and took worldwide rights to his short film \u201cThe Staggering Girl.\u201d Mubi played the white knight before: the banner notoriously rescued Coralie Fargeat\u2019s \u201cThe Substance\u201d after it was dropped by Universal in the run-up to the Cannes Film Festival. The film ultimately won a prize at Cannes and went on to earn five Oscar nominations. That said, \u201cThe Substance\u201d was less of a gamble because it cost less than half and didn\u2019t portray real \u2013 and powerful \u2014 people. But like \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d another controversial film that starred Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and scared off distributors before being bought by Briarcliff, \u201cArtificial\u201d could turn out to be an Oscar contender.<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten by \u201cSNL\u201d alum Simon Rich and described as a \u201cSocial Network\u201d for the AI era, \u201cArtificial\u201d recounts the chaotic 2023 weekend in which Altman was fired and rehired by OpenAI\u2019s board within days. The first stretch of the film centers on co-founder Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov), the idealistic scientific mind behind the company, before the boardroom power struggle takes over. The starry ensemble also features Monica Barbaro as former CTO Mira Murati, alongside Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Chris O\u2019Dowd and Mark Rylance.<\/p>\n

\n\tCurrently in the final stages of post-production, \u201cArtificial\u201d had been eyeing a festival launch at SXSW before Amazon\u2019s exit. Depending on who buys it, the movie could now be in play for the Venice Film Festival. Should Mubi land it, a world premiere on the Lido, where Guadagnino has unveiled many of his films (including his latest film \u201cAfter the Hunt\u201d) would be expected. <\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Mubi and Neon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlex Ritman contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several of the buyers who screened Luca Guadagnino\u2019s hotly anticipated \u201cArtificial\u201d in the days after Amazon MGM Studios…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,17,24642,327,22108,308],"class_list":["post-547303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-luca-guadagnino","tag-movies","tag-mubi","tag-sam-altman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116790283845304693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}