Science & Tech · AI · 17 hrs ago
Korean AI Filmmakers Warn Rising Costs Could Outpace 35mm Production
Korean AI production leaders warned that feature films made with AI could become very expensive as the tools’ fees rise.
Kim Kwang-jib, head of Studio Meta-K, said token charges for a 100-minute film can already exceed KRW500 million, or about $366,000, using the most expensive commercial tools.
A tenfold price increase could push that bill to KRW5 billion, more than the typical KRW3 billion-KRW5 billion budget for live-action and visual-effects films in Korea and Taiwan.
AI costs also rise when filmmakers repeat changes, because each new render requires another paid pass.
Grouping many changes into one round can reduce those charges, while sending them one at a time can multiply them.
Careful planning before production is essential to keep AI filmmaking costs down, Kim said.
Lee Sang-wook of MBC C&I said rapidly changing tools make budgets harder to predict, and his 139-minute AI feature “Raphael” took about a year and four months to make.
“Raphael” is set to open in Korean cinemas on Nov.
25, with streaming possible later; the sources give no further release plans.
Korean AI filmmaking pioneers warned that rising token fees and repeated revisions could make AI features more expensive than 35mm production.
Kim Kwang-jib said token costs for a 100-minute film could exceed KRW500 million with the most expensive commercial tools.
A tenfold increase could raise that bill to KRW5 billion, comparable to or above the budgets of many Korean and other Asian features.
Kim said repeated rounds of revisions add costs because each re-render requires another paid pass.
Lee Sang-wook said fast-changing tools make budgets difficult to plan, and some shots on his lab’s film “Raphael” took around 10 artists a full day.
- Who
- Korean AI production pioneers Kim Kwang-jib and Lee Sang-wook.
- What
- They warned that token fees, repeated revisions and production demands could make AI feature films costly.
- When
- The warning was made at Taiwan Creative Content Fest; the date is not stated.
- Where
- Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei.
- Why
- AI companies are keeping prices low, but higher token costs and repeated re-renders could raise production budgets.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
MBC C&I’s AI Content Lab began experimenting with generative AI shorts.
Raphael” is scheduled to open in Korean cinemas.
- Current token bill
- More than KRW500 million for a 100-minute film using the most expensive commercial tools
- Possible tenfold token bill
- KRW5 billion
- Asian feature budgets
- KRW3 billion-KRW5 billion
- Raphael” runtime
- 139 minutes
- Raphael” production time
- Around one year and four months
What people are saying
If they raise token costs roughly tenfold, it could go above what the films we’re shooting now cost
Unless the preproduction stage is made solid, I think AI could end up spending even more money than in the 35mm film era
If you apply technology from a year ago, the scenes look very old
When we made AI short films in 2024, the market reaction was very cold, in Korea as well