Spain Dives Into AI-Generated Movies While Hollywood Battles Over Its Soul

Spain is starting to combine synthetic intelligence into its movie and tv industries, trying to place itself as a pioneer in each the creation and regulation of AI content material.

The shift contains notable tasks like “The Nice Reset,” an AI-generated characteristic movie offered on the Berlin Worldwide Movie Competition in 2025.

The sci-fi thriller, directed by Daniel H. Torrado, makes use of AI for picture synthesis, animation, and post-production, eliminating the necessity for on-screen actors or bodily areas.

Produced by Digital World Photos, Canary Movie Manufacturing facility, and EPC Media, the movie follows an AI from a renegade hacker’s thoughts that’s planning to destroy humanity, with the protagonist racing to forestall international collapse.

Regardless of its technological improvements, human involvement stays essential, with the script, inventive route, and narrative supervised by a inventive group led by Torrado. Actual actors served as references for interpretation and dubbing in key scenes.

“AI allowed us to simulate complicated selections early on and experiment with out the budgetary danger that usually paralyzes many impartial creators,” Torrado advised the Hollywood Reporter. “Human oversight was fixed. Each inventive, narrative, and emotional determination went by means of my palms. AI was a strong device, not an alternative to the creator.”

Spain’s push into AI-generated content material comes amid heated international debates about AI’s position in filmmaking—and all artwork normally.

The controversy facilities on considerations about authenticity, transparency, and moral use, with audiences and creators nervous about AI-generated content material being mistaken for human work.

Current examples illustrate these tensions.

The movie “The Brutalist” confronted vital backlash after its editor revealed that AI was used to boost the Hungarian accents of lead actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones.

Director Brady Corbet defended the use, stating it was a meticulous, guide course of, however the controversy highlighted sensitivity round AI’s position in performances.

Even large studios from Lucasfilm to Marvel Studios have been within the bullseye, from small issues like utilizing AI to create posters to extra influential selections like incorporating AI into the ultimate creation.

Spain’s increase for an AI-friendly trade

In March 2025, Spain authorized a draft legislation to manage AI, aligning with the European Union’s AI Act.

This legislation focuses on moral, inclusive, and useful use, together with strict labeling necessities for AI-generated content material and vital fines for non-compliance.

Mislabeling AI content material might lead to penalties as much as €35 million (US$39.3 million), aiming to make sure transparency and stop misuse like deepfakes.

However Hollywood has already begun incorporating Spanish AI applied sciences into mainstream productions.

A working example is the movie “Right here,” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, which utilized AI instruments to boost visible results.

VFX supervisor Kevin Baillie just lately revealed that the group used an AI-powered upscaler referred to as Magnific for quite a few scenes within the movie.

“Magnific was used to boost 20+ scenes in right here,” Baillie mentioned in an interview shared by Javier Lopez, Magnific’s co-founder.

Baillie defined how the device reworked their workflow: “As an alternative of spending 20% of the time specializing in the inventive features of a shot and 80% on the main points, Magnific helped us spend 20% on the main points and 80% on the creativity! It is placing what artists do greatest on the forefront, which I completely love.”

The movie additionally employed face-swapping know-how for de-aging, with 53 minutes of full face substitute to deliver Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, and different actors again to their youthful years.

The group used real-time face swap fashions throughout filming, permitting actors and crew to see the de-aged variations instantly on set.

Moreover generative upscaling and filtering, there are already a number of attention-grabbing concepts being developed within the Spanish trade.

Talking with Decrypt, Freepik CEO Joaquin Cuenca defined that past easy (and uncontrolled) AI generations, they’re engaged on true workflows and AI-powered video enhancing suites.

“We’re engaged on video editors,” he advised Decrypt. “In the present day, you’ll be able to generate small clips, however we’re engaged on one thing that permits customers to compile them on-site, add audio, and do all of the composition to finish up with a completely useful lengthy clip.”

Spain’s tv sector reveals indicators of exploration, although much less documented than movie.

From utilizing generative AI in textual content and charts to leveraging AI instruments to boost the cataloging of its historic archive, TV stations are not any strangers to adapting their workflows to include AI.

And there have been some performative experiments with purely generative video amongst fans—at the very least on a brief scale, non skilled degree.

One instance is the experimental information present “Telediario” set within the yr 2088, created by the Human XR Lab on the Universidad del Atlántico Medio.

The quick video is a part of a digital actuality expertise on the Museo Élder in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Whereas not supposed as business content material, it displays Spain’s rising urge for food for innovation in pursuit of a extra inventive future.

“Synthetic intelligence does not exchange inventive imaginative and prescient or human creativity,” Torrado mentioned earlier this yr. “[It] permits filmmakers to concentrate on what actually issues: telling tales that transfer and join with the viewers.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and Andrew Hayward