The independent film studio Neon has purchased “Artificial,” a film about Sam Altman and his rocky road to becoming the chief executive of OpenAI, after the film arm of Amazon abandoned it this month, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Tuesday.
Neon will release the film, which features Andrew Garfield portraying Mr. Altman and Ike Barinholtz playing Elon Musk, later this year, one of the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.
The deal is a reprieve for the filmmakers, who were shocked when Amazon told them that it was going to sell the film, which cost $40 million to make. Amazon greenlighted the movie in 2023 and had been supportive of it, The New York Times previously reported.
Amazon’s studio held test screenings for the film this year and was about to announce plans to release it at the SXSW film festival next April.
Amazon also announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI this year. Amazon said in a statement this month that the movie would “be better served if it were released by a different studio.”
(The Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
