Hollywood
Paramount to release first 2 films digitally under flexible distribution plan
MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures announced the home entertainment release dates of the first two films in the studio’s digital revenue-sharing initiative with theatrical exhibitors. Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will debut on digital platforms for sale and rental beginning 8 December and 15 December, respectively.
Under the revenue-sharing agreement with select theatrical exhibitors, the films were eligible to be released on home entertainment platforms 17 days after they dipped below 300 domestic theaters, giving consumers unprecedented early access to enjoy the movies at home following their theatrical runs. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension was released in theaters on 23 October and Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse was released on 30 October.
“This innovative agreement with exhibitors enables us to make these two films available to home viewers much earlier than usual, following their natural lifecycle in theaters. This flexible distribution model allows us to maximize the revenue potential of these films, satisfy consumer demand through legitimate digital access, while respecting and preserving an exclusive theatrical window,” said Paramount Pictures president of worldwide distribution and marketing Megan Colligan.
Exhibitors participating in the initiative – including AMC Theatres, Cineplex Entertainment, National Amusements, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Southern Theatres and Landmark Cinemas – will receive a percentage of any of the studio’s digital revenue for the period of digital availability through 90 days from the initial US theatrical release, with each exhibitor’s share proportional to its theatrical gross market share.
Hollywood
Utopai Studios partners Huace to deploy PAI for long form content
Deal includes revenue sharing as Huace adopts AI engine across global ops
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… algorithm, the script just got a silicon co-writer. In a move that signals how storytelling itself is being re-engineered, U.S.-based Utopai Studios has partnered China’s Huace Film & TV Co. Ltd. to bring artificial general intelligence into the heart of long-form content creation.
At the centre of the deal is PAI, Utopai’s cinematic storytelling system, which Huace will deploy as a core engine across its production pipeline from development and creative iteration to global localisation. The partnership includes a large-scale annual usage commitment from Huace, alongside a usage-based revenue-sharing model, underscoring both ambition and commercial confidence on both sides.
For Huace, one of China’s largest film and television companies, the bet is not on automation alone but on scale with control. With distribution spanning over 200 countries and a presence across more than 20 international platforms, including Netflix and YouTube, the company brings a vast content ecosystem where even marginal efficiency gains can translate into significant output shifts. Its extensive TV IP library further positions it as fertile ground for AI-assisted storytelling workflows.
The choice of PAI follows what Huace described as a rigorous evaluation of existing AI tools, many of which remain limited to fragmented use cases such as video generation or editing. What tipped the scales, according to the company, was PAI’s ability to handle long-form narrative complexity maintaining continuity, structure, and creative coherence across entire story arcs rather than isolated clips.
Utopai, for its part, is using the partnership to anchor its international expansion strategy, pitching PAI as an enterprise-ready system built for customisation, privacy, and regulatory adaptability across markets. That positioning becomes particularly relevant as global media companies increasingly scrutinise how AI integrates into proprietary workflows.
The timing is notable. Earlier this month, Utopai upgraded PAI to support three-minute 4K video generation and advanced multi-shot sequencing features designed to tackle one of AI storytelling’s biggest hurdles: consistency across scenes.
What emerges is not just another tech collaboration, but a glimpse into how the grammar of filmmaking could evolve. Because if stories were once crafted frame by frame, the next chapter might just be coded scene by scene.
