TLDR: Amazon-backed AI company Showrunner is undertaking an ambitious, non-commercial project to reconstruct 43 minutes of lost footage from Orson Welles’ 1942 film “The Magnificent Ambersons” using artificial intelligence, archival material, and live-action elements. The initiative, led by CEO Edward Saatchi, aims to revive Welles’ original vision for the “ruined masterpiece” and serves as a test case for AI’s capabilities in long-form narrative generation, with Saatchi envisioning Showrunner as a “Netflix for AI.”
Amazon-backed AI technology platform Showrunner has announced an ambitious, non-commercial endeavor to reconstruct 43 minutes of lost footage from Orson Welles’ seminal 1942 film, “The Magnificent Ambersons.” The project, spearheaded by Showrunner CEO Edward Saatchi, aims to restore Welles’ original vision for what many consider a “ruined masterpiece” and a “holy grail of cinema.”
“The Magnificent Ambersons,” Welles’ follow-up to “Citizen Kane,” was famously subjected to drastic cuts by RKO Pictures executives, who reduced its original 132-minute runtime to 88 minutes, imposed a more optimistic ending, and destroyed significant portions of the original footage. For over 80 years, cinephiles have speculated about the artistic merit of Welles’ intended cut.
Showrunner, which Saatchi describes as the “Netflix of AI” due to its focus on hosting AI-generated content, plans to utilize a combination of artificial intelligence, existing archival materials, and potentially new live-action elements for the reconstruction. Filmmaker Brian Rose has already dedicated five years to digitally rebuilding sets and framing based on 30,000 missing frames, a foundation upon which Showrunner intends to layer AI-generated faces and other generative AI tools.
The company anticipates spending two years on this intricate reconstruction, with a long-term goal of developing an AI agent capable of completing such a process in a single afternoon. Saatchi emphasized the academic and non-commercial nature of the project, stating, “The goal isn’t to commercialize the 43 minutes, but to see them exist in the world after 80 years of people asking ‘might this have been the best film ever made in its original form?'” Showrunner does not hold the rights to the film, which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
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This initiative reflects the rapidly evolving landscape of film production, where generative AI tools are increasingly reshaping traditional filmmaking practices. Saatchi articulated a broader vision for AI’s role in creative endeavors, noting, “I think that what’s coming is a world where we’re not the only creative species, and that we will enjoy entertainment created by AIs.” He further added, “Year by year, the technology is getting closer to prompting entire films with AI. Today, AI can’t sustain a story beyond one short episode,” but acknowledged Showrunner as a “step toward a scary, strange future of generative storytelling.” The project serves as a significant test case for AI’s ability to handle long-form narrative generation and complex post-production tasks.
