International
Studios and cable cos for video-on-demand services
MUMBAI: Battling a massive decline in DVD sales, film studios including Warner, 20th Century Fox, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Rogue, Sony Pictures, Summit Entertainment and Universal have decided to toe the line of video-on-demand services.
“Having a robust digital platform for the rental of movies is good for consumers and good for the industry,” Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group president Kevin Tsujihara said.
For years, film studios have not made an impact in their video-on-demand offerings worrying that creating too much noise would anger powerful retail partners like Wal-Mart and Best Buy that had prominence on DVD sales while film rental companies like Blockbuster could not create their own brand of video-on-demand cheerleading.
On Tuesday, Blockbuster warned in its annual report that competition and declining sales “raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”
In contrast, on-demand usage rose 20 per cent last year. On-demand rentals are also more profitable for studios than traditional rental options. Blockbuster gives studios about 25 cents of every dollar spent on movie rentals; on-demand services deliver as much as 65 cents of every dollar to the studios.
Studios are of the view that a delay of days or weeks before traditional rental companies like Blockbuster and Netflix get access to new titles.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
