International
Icahn threatens to sue Lions Gate
MUMBAI: A day after Lions Gate Entertainment made a defensive move that endangers the investor‘s long-running crusade to take over the studio, Carl Icahn has threatened to sue it.
Last Tuesday, as part of a complex debt-for-equity swap, Lions Gate issued new shares to its second-largest shareholder, Mark Rachesky that increased his holdings to around 29 per cent from 20 per cent. The action diluted the equity of all shareholders, including Icahn, whose stake fell to just over 33 per cent from nearly 38 per cent.
Rachesky, a former employee of Icahn‘s, is on Lions Gate‘s board.
Icahn has contended that the stock deal violates an agreement he and Lions Gate made for a 10-day truce that ended at midnight last Monday. Although Lions Gate announced the stock deal on Tuesday after the expiration of the agreement, Icahn and his lawyers said that they were going to look at whether the company had agreed to the debt-for-equity swap with Rachesky during the detente.
In a letter to Icahn dated 9 July outlining the truce, Lions Gate vice chairman Michael Burns had said that during the 10-day period, his studio would not “issue, agree to issue or authorize or propose the issuance of any securities to … any member of its board of directors or their affiliates.”
“Not only has Lions Gate‘s board diluted the company‘s shareholders in an attempt to entrench themselves, but it has violated the agreement it made with us, which among other things prohibited Lions Gate from issuing stock during this period,” commented Icahn.
Icahn said that he also intends to litigate against Lions Gate‘s recently adopted “poison pill,” which would make it difficult for him to accumulate more shares. The investor successfully persuaded regulators in Canada, where the company is legally based, to throw out a previous poison pill.
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.
