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In the wake of immediate backlash from moviegoers against plans to screen a short film made entirely with artificial intelligence, AMC Theaters has announced it will not show the flick.
With commenters insisting they were willing to boycott theaters that did put it up on the silver screen, the film is reportedly set to be shown in thousands of theaters across the United States after winning an AI film festival.
"AMC was not involved in the creation of the content or the initiative and has informed Screenvision that AMC locations will not participate," the influential theater chain told the Hollywood Reporter. Earlier, Return had reached out to AMC about the overwhelmingly negative response and asked if the theater chain plans to air the short film or any other AI films.
'Even for AI slop this is bad.'
The short in question is called "Thanksgiving Day," made by Igor Alferov.
As reported by AI Films Studio, the winner of the Frame Forward AI film festival was left to a public vote, with the grand prize of getting a full theatrical run across 14,000 screens in 2,300 theaters.
Deadline announced "Thanksgiving Day" as the festival's inaugural winner on Tuesday and confirmed that it would receive a two-week run in theaters through Screenvision Media.
However, movie fans were none too pleased to hear that news.
Spoilers for the short film are listed below.
The film, which features a bear and a duck in a seemingly Soviet-inspired spaceship, has the animal astronauts being exploited by various space thugs, which are also animals. A space cop beaver extorts the pair for money. Then, a pig, who is seemingly an environmental inspector, takes even more money before a rat "quarantine zone inspector" takes all their food.
Finally, a space turkey stops by and restocks the travelers' fridge for Thanksgiving.
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The two-minute film received near-unanimously negative responses on YouTube, which included comments like "literal slop" and "I hated every second of that."
"If I see this or another other ai slop before my movie im going to the front desk and getting a refund and leaving [sic]," another viewer wrote.
"Even for AI slop this is bad," a user named Davie Jones wrote, while yet another unhappy audience member said, "this is complete garbage dude."
On X, a lone commenter replied to Deadline with one word:
"Pathetic."
Multiple (unconfirmed) reports had surfaced online citing that AMC would be one of the theater chains showing the short before movie trailers air.
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Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images
It is true that AMC partners with Screenvision Media. On its website, Screenvision Media notes that its partnership officer signed a long-term contract with AMC as one of its 10 largest exhibitor partners.
The connection, and the rumors it drove, prompted irate moviegoers to discuss a possible boycott of AMC.
X user Nate Leport said he would "drive the extra 20 minutes" to a different theater after reading the claim.
"We need to protest at every [AMC]" in the country, another user suggested.
"I would rather have out of place feeling local business ads than this to be honest," Jackie wrote.
Finally, Matthew wrote on X, "Upon reading this I will no longer go to your theaters for anything."
Editor's Note: this article has been updated to reflect AMC's public decision amid online backlash not to screen "Thanksgiving Day."
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