One of the companies behind text-to-image AI system Stable Diffusion is hosting a film festival exclusively for shorts that were made with AI. Organizers of Runway ML's AI Film Festival are accepting films with a runtime of between one and 10 minutes that either include AI-generated content or were pieced together with AI-powered editing techniques.

According to Fast Company, Runway said creators won't be penalized if they use AI tools from other companies. Along with text-to-image generation, creatives can use techniques such as background removal, frame interpolation and motion tracking to help make their films.

“I think we’re heading to a future where a lot of the content and the entertainment and the media that you see online will be generated,” Runway cofounder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela said. While many observers are concerned that content generated by AI might displace human creatives, advocates such as Valenzuela suggest that such tools can level the playing field for budding moviemakers. “What I’m really excited about is how AI is really opening the doors for nontechnical people and creatives at large,” he said.

The AI Film Festival is scheduled to take place in February online and in New York. The submission window is open until January 15th. Ordinarily, that wouldn't give creatives much time to create a piece and submit it, but they may be able to put together a movie much faster with the help of AI.

The judges, who include Valenzuela and Holly Herndon, will assess the films based on originality, narrative cohesion, the quality of composition and the AI techniques that were employed. The folks behind the top five films will receive cash awards, with the grand prize winner taking away $10,000.

John Wick creator Derek Kolstad is working on yet another videogame adaptation. Fresh off the news that he's writing and producing a Streets of Rage film, it emerged that Kolstad is taking on the same duties for a live-action movie based on Sifu.

Kolstad and his partners at media company Story Kitchen have teamed up with Sifu developer and publisher Sloclap, as Deadline reports. The beat-'em-up proved a hit when it was released in February, as it sold a million copies in three weeks — despite Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West arriving at around the same time. What makes Sifu stand out from the pact is that every time the protagonist dies in their quest for vengeance, they get older but their enemies stay the same age.

That hook alone gives a screenwriter a lot of intriguing possibilities. The one vs. many aspect of Sifu seems right up Kolstad's alley as well, given his experience with the John Wick franchise and Nobody. As if all that wasn't enough, Kolstad is also behind Netflix's Splinter Cell, an upcoming animated series based on Ubisoft's games.

When the original Uncharted game debuted in 2007, an IGN reviewer called it a "rollercoaster adventure." Fast forward 16 years and you'll be able to experience Uncharted as a literal thrill ride at a theme park. Spanish resort PortAventura World has signed a deal with Sony to build a rollercoaster based on the Uncharted movie, which is an adaptation of Naughty Dog's games. The ride is slated to open at the theme park, which is around an hour and a half away from Barcelona, in mid-2023.

The rollercoaster will take the park's visitors on "a dangerous search for one of the greatest treasures ever found," PortAventura said. With a budget of over €25 million ($25.7 million) behind it, the Uncharted ride will have an immersive pre-show that's said to be full of surprises. The rollercoaster will be almost 700 meters long and reach a height of over 12 meters. At least some parts of the so-called dark ride will be enclosed, and likely feature animations or video projections, special effects and Nathan Drake saying "No, no, no!" way too many times.

Although it had a lukewarm reaction from critics, Uncharted performed fairly well at the box office, pulling in just under $402 million to become the fifth highest-grossing film based on a video game. Sony is turning many of its other PlayStation properties into movies and TV shows, including The Last of Us, Horizon, God of War and Ghost of Tsushima. Perhaps some of those will end up becoming theme park rides too — though a Last of Us rollercoaster might be a little too thrilling for some folks.

Nintendo has released a new trailer for its upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie. After the short teaser the gaming giant offered at the start of last month, the new clip offers a better insight into what fans can expect from the film. Not only do we hear more of Chris Pratt as Mario, but also Anya Taylor-Joy and Seth Rogan make appearances as Princess Peach and Donkey Kong. Oh, and the best part is that the film will include a nod to the Mario Kart series with a visit to Rainbow Road.

According to Mario and Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo redesigned Donkey Kong's model for the first time since the loveable ape made the jump to 3D in 1994's Donkey Kong Country. "Some of you may have noticed, but for this movie, we seized the opportunity to give a comical personality and design reminiscent of the original character," Miyamoto said.

Super Mario Bros. will premiere on April 7th, 2023. 

I hope you're not yet tired of the current avalanche of video game adaptations, because another fun-sounding one is on the way. Lionsgate has picked up the rights to make a Streets of Rage movie, which is being written and produced by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. Production companies dj2 Entertainment and Escape Artists, which are involved in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, are on board as well.

It was reported earlier this year that Kolstad was working on a Streets of Rage movie. While the games don't exactly have a rich narrative to speak of, the beat-'em-up series fits right within Nobody writer Kolstad's oeuvre of gritty, violent action. The series seems ripe for the picking after a successful revival in 2020 with Streets of Rage 4.

“When [dj2 CEO Dmitri M. Johnson] first mentioned the idea of cracking a Streets of Rage movie, I was so immediately freaking in,” Kolstad said in a statement, according to Variety. “And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.”

Lionsgate will also put out the Borderlands movie, which completed filming last year but doesn't yet have a release date. Among the many, many other movies and TV shows based on games that are in the works is a Ghost of Tsushima film, on which Chad Stahelski, the director of all four John Wick movies, is taking the reins.

A couple of days ago, Studio Ghibli tweeted a teaser video showing both its logo and Lucasfilm's, as well as a photo of a Grogu figurine. Now we know what those posts are hinting at. Apparently, the two companies worked together to create a short film hand-drawn by Studio Ghibli. It's entitled Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, starring the beloved alien toddler from The Mandalorian with a strong affinity for the Force and the "susuwatari" from Hayao Miyazaki's animated films My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.

According to IGN, the short film was directed by Katsuya Kondo, who's known for his character design work and a style that's deeply tied with Studio Ghibli's films. It also features music by Ludwig Göransson, who composed the scores for the previous two seasons of The Mandalorian. Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, will be available for streaming today November 12th on Disney+, exactly three years after The Mandalorian debuted.

Grogu will be back and will be reunited with "Mando" in the third season of The Mandalorian after leaving to train at Luke's Jedi Temple by the end of the second season. Disney gave fans a glimpse of what they can expect when the show comes back sometime next year in a trailer released during the company's D23 expo in September. 

Netflix's growing stable of video game adaptations now includes one of the Xbox's best-known franchises. The streaming service is teaming with series developer The Coalition to produce a live action Gears of War movie. There are no details for the cast, plot or release date, but Netflix is teasing an adult animated show and the possibility of "more stories."

The series revolves around the Locust, an aggressive species that has very nearly destroyed human civilization. The original Gears of War trilogy centers on grizzled veteran Marcus Fenix, but newer games and spinoffs have focused on his son JD, his frequent ally Baird and the rebel-turned-soldier Kait.

The timing is apt. The Coalition isn't unveiling its next game for a while. The Netflix productions give the Microsoft-owned studio a way to keep Gears of War in the limelight, not to mention spark renewed interest among gamers who have fond memories of chainsawing Locust drones. This is also part of Microsoft's answer to Sony's growing big screen ambitions, which now include planned Horizon and God of War shows as well as movies like Uncharted.

The question, as always, is whether or not the game collection translates well to a linear video format. While there have been some successes with game-based shows, such as Netflix's League of Legends series, these projects still don't have a sterling reputation — even the Halo adaptation garnered a mixed response. It's far too early to determine how Gears of War will fare, but it's safe to say there are plenty of challenges ahead. 

Konami's Silent Hill 2 remake for PC and PlayStation 5 isn't the only reimagining of the classic 2001 game on the horizon: The company just announced that the story is also being adapted into a new major motion picture. Return to Silent Hill will apparently serve as a direct sequel to the original 2006 adaptation, and will be helmed by the very same director, Christophe Gans.

The project seems to still be in the development phase. There's no teaser trailer, just a handful storyboard images and pieces of conceptual artwork. Gans spent most of the announcement talking about the plot of the game itself. "We decided to go back to the best of these stories," he said during Konami's Silent Hill Transmission live stream. "The film tells the story of a young guy coming back to Silent Hill, where he has known a great love — and what he's going to find is a pure nightmare." 

Victor Hadida, who also worked on the 2006 film, is also returning to produce, and says that while the project is planning to give the franchise a modern twist, staying true to the spirit of the original game is a key focus. Gans seems to agree, calling the original Silent Hill games "great artistic achievements."

Hearing Christophe Gans talk about the project is genuinely interesting, as the director ponders the unique challenge of translating the immersive narrative that only a video game can deliver into a shorter 90-to-100-minute experience. We won't see how well he manages it for quite some time, however. Return to Silent Hill does not yet have a release date. 

It's finally clear just what the long-expected Super Mario Bros. movie will look like. Nintendo and Illumination have shared a teaser trailer (below) offering a peek at the computer animated blockbuster. The clip shows Bowser (played by Jack Black) terrorizing a penguin kingdom in his quest for an invincibility star. Not surprisingly, we know who will come to their rescue — Mario (Chris Pratt) makes an abrupt entrance to the Mushroom Kingdom, while his brother Luigi (Charlie Day) makes a cameo.

The movie also stars The Queen's Gambit's Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, among other big names. Super Mario Bros. is expected to premiere April 7th, 2023.

If the teaser is anything to go by, the creators aren't taking any chances. This appears to be a straightforward CG movie meant to appeal to a wide audience — you won't have flashbacks to the odd 1993 live action film. With that said, the top-tier actors and lavish visuals might help it stand out if the iconic gaming franchise isn't enough by itself.

Paramount has announced a new scripted Star Trek podcast detailing the exploits of arch-villain Khan Noonien Singh. Star Trek: Khan - Ceti Alpha V will cover the period of time after Khan and his cohort of genetically-engineered villains were exiled during the classic episode Space Seed and before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. More importantly, the long-mooted miniseries will be written and directed by Trek auteur Nicholas Meyer.

To Trek fans, there are few creative figures who deserve more swooning adoration than Meyer. The writer-director made The Wrath of Khan, the movie that ostensibly saved the series from obscurity. He would go on to co-write The Voyage Home and helm The Undiscovered Country — three of the best Star Trek movies ever made. In fact, one esteemed Trek scholar even said that to make great Star Trek you need to do two things: Hire Nicholas Meyer, then cut his budget in half.

Alex Kurtzman gave praise to Meyer, saying that “Nick made the definitive Trek movie when he made Wrath, and we’ve all been standing in its shadow since.” He added that Meyer has “come up with something as surprising, gripping and emotional as the original, and it’s a real honor to be able to let him tell the next chapter in this story exactly the way he wants to.”

When Star Trek’s revival began, Discovery’s original creator Bryan Fuller recruited Meyer as a producer. Back in 2017, Meyer added that discussions had taken place for him to write a Khan mid-quel series covering his exile and bridging the gap between the classic series and the film. The series may or may not have been put on ice as a consequence of Paramount and CBS’ complex re-merger, and the fact it was only expected to be three episodes long.

Unfortunately there’s no solid details on who will star in the series (Ricardo Montalban passed away in 2009), and no word on a release date or runtime. But given that Paramount has a) Hired Nicholas Meyer and b) cut his budget by more than half, we should expect this podcast to be the greatest piece of Trek ever committed to audio.