Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder and CEO of the AI video-generation company Runway—which currently holds a valuation exceeding $5 billion—recently shared perspectives on AI’s role in Hollywood that may not resonate with creatives skeptical of the technology. Speaking at Semafor’s World Economy Summit, Valenzuela proposed that studios could redirect the $100 million typically spent on a single film toward producing around 50 movies instead. He explained, “If you’re spending a hundred million dollars on making one feature film, which is 90 minutes, imagine taking a hundred million dollars and spending it on, like, 50 movies. Same quality. Same amount of output, visually. But you make way more content. So you have way better chances of hitting something. It’s a quantity problem.”

This viewpoint challenges the traditional idea of film as a carefully crafted artistic investment, where success depends on backing the right creative vision. Valenzuela frames the industry instead as a numbers game: by generating more content through AI, studios increase their odds of achieving a hit. During the interview, he acknowledged ongoing debates about introducing AI into creative fields like film and television but emphasized that “things are changing fast.” He suggested early skepticism often stemmed from fear and misunderstanding, whereas today more people recognize the capabilities of advanced AI tools.

Valenzuela stated that Runway’s AI world models are designed to help creatives accomplish “more work better and faster.” He noted the company collaborates with numerous studios and creators, and that the technology is already reducing production expenses. As an example, he pointed to the upcoming $70 million film “Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi,” described as the first studio-quality AI feature film. Reports indicate AI lowered its production budget from an initial estimate of $300 million.

Other major players are adopting similar approaches. Amazon has utilized AI to trim costs in film and TV projects, as have studios in India. Sony Pictures has announced plans to incorporate the technology, and even director James Cameron has expressed support for AI as a means to sustain blockbuster productions without cutting jobs. When asked which areas are seeing cost reductions, Valenzuela replied, “It’s everywhere. It’s in the pre-production side, it’s in scripting, it’s in planning, it’s in execution, visual effects—this is already beginning to be deployed at scale.”

While AI can streamline content creation, critics question the assumption that scaling creativity automatically yields more exceptional art. Runway, however, stands by this belief. Valenzuela argued, “There’s a crisis of creativity in the industry because of the economic incentives of how the content is made.” He drew a parallel to book publishing, claiming approximately 25 million books are released annually—far more than anyone could read. “Of course, I don’t read 25 million books…but the world is in a much better place because there’s more people who manage to tell a story or say something [to] the world,” he said.

It’s worth noting that UNESCO data shows about 2.2 million new book titles published each year, suggesting Valenzuela’s figure may include self-published ebooks and platforms like Wattpad—many of which now also utilize AI and are often omitted from traditional counts.

Ultimately, Valenzuela’s vision involves saturating the market with content, anticipating that a portion will become successful. He hopes AI will enable the film industry to adopt this model. As he put it, “We have this internal saying at Runway that the best movies are yet to be made because we haven’t heard from probably, like, the billions of people who haven’t had access to this…technology.”