AI Movie ‘Our T2 Remake’ Offers Artistry But No Industry Threat

Outside, the rain was relentless; inside the lobby of Los Angeles’ NuArt Theater, so was the cheer. At a sold-out March 6 premiere for the crowdsource-funded “Our T2 Remake,” a full-length parody of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” produced entirely with AI tools, the energy recalled Sundance circa 1995.

Among the supporters were Caleb Ward, co-founder of AI filmmaking education platform Curious Refuge and creator of last year’s viral AI short “Star Wars by Wes Anderson;” Dave Clark, who created another viral AI video with his Adidas spec and whose short film “Another” would precede the feature; Nem Perez, founder of AI storyboarding mobile app Storyblocker Studios and the director of “T2 Remake”; and Jeremy Boxer, the former Vimeo creative director who now runs consultancy Boxer and is the cofounder of community group Friends With AI.

With the audience seated, ready to applaud the AI creations, hosts Perez and executive producer Sway Molina took the stage for the first order of business: thanking the creators — and removing any hopes that the film might represent a major leap in cinema.

“Let’s set some expectations here, right?” Perez said with an embarrassed laugh. “Hopefully, some of you aren’t here to watch a remake of ‘Terminator.’ It’s far from it, guys, because we didn’t really quite do that. This is an experimental film —”

“Highly experimental,” Molina said.

“Highly experimental film, using…