Obsidian & Imagine Entertainment Start AI-Powered Content Venture

Obsidian Studio has officially announced its launch, in partnership with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, on Nov. 4. The partnership aims to integrate artificial intelligence into the heart of narrative production. 

Obsidian Studio offers an AI-first business model, while America-based production company, Imagine Entertainment, brings creative and industry weight with its reputation for producing feature films and television shows.

Since January 2025, Obsidian has been working on film and marketing campaigns with brands such as Aramco, Amazon, Louis Vuitton, Crayola, Longchamp, NBA, and Disney’s ESPN. The partnership with Imagine is expected to focus on long-form narratives, including feature-length films. Wes Walker, the co-founder of Obsidian, stated that they “always had high-end cinema in mind,” to emphasize the vision of their collaboration. 

While Obsidian's AI-enabled processes are well-suited for commercial campaigns with shorter turnaround times, Walker and Obsidian Studio aim to apply the same for feature films.

Scope of the partnership: Vision, Creativity, and Originality

According to Obsidian Studio, AI will be used throughout the entire storytelling and production process, from ideation and narrative creation to production design and certain stages of the execution pipeline. 

Obsidian plans to employ machine learning models to analyze character arcs, emotional beats, and audience response data, helping writers and producers test story resonance before scripts reach full production. The studio’s technology will assist in identifying patterns that evoke emotional engagement, positioning “human-centric design” as a measurable design goal. 

Rather than replacing human writers or directors, the model seeks to accelerate the creative process through data-driven insights and machine learning. This approach mirrors developments at AI-assisted production in companies like Runway and Fable, yet Obsidian differs by focusing on complete story incubation rather than tool deployment.

Walker pointed out that Imagine partnered with Obsidian because of the work they’re doing with VFX in other tools like Unreal Engine, Maya, Blender, and Houdini.

The studio, starting operations in the first week of November, will bring veterans from film, AI research, and interactive media as its founding members. To train its AI workflows, Obsidian uses storyboards and custom datasets, developed with artists like Marc Vena and Tani Kunitake. Walker said, “the artist sits at the center of everything we do,” to clarify that at Obsidian, human creators remain in command, using an AI-augmented workflow to streamline production. 

The launch of Obsidian Studio marks a defining experiment in the evolution of entertainment production. It is anticipated that the studio's AI systems can shorten production cycles, lower development costs, and produce predictive insights into audience preferences for Imagine. In the post-strike Hollywood scene, where budgets are still tight and streamers want faster turnaround on unique IP, this partnership can result in a potential competitive advantage.

The company’s patent-pending AI-tech, DigitalForge, a live team-based production system that brings AI and CGI directly on set for collaboration among artists, directors, and brand partners, was created to streamline production, as mentioned by Obsidian co-founder, Louis Gheysens.

Obsidian's goal is to operate as a full creative studio, creating, producing, and distributing stories that have been algorithmically assisted. Whether Obsidian's technology strikes a balance between creativity, ethics, and commercial results will determine the success of AI-augmented workflow in film production.