AMC Theatres Declines Screening AI Animation Fest Winner Due To Backlash

AMC Theatres cinema has refused to screen Igor Alferov’s short animation ‘Thanksgiving Day’, which won the Frame Forward AI Animated Film Festival.

The cinema chain said it will not participate in the screenings of the short owing to criticism on social media, most of which was directed at AMC and at exhibitors for welcoming AI-generated productions onto their screens.

As part of the festival’s prize package, the winner is to receive theatrical distribution through Screenvision Media. This third-party company manages big-screen pre-shows for multiple cinema chains.

However, AMC has declined screening, stating, “This content is an initiative from Screenvision Media, which manages pre-show advertising for several movie theatre chains in the United States, and runs in fewer than 30 per cent of AMC’s US locations. AMC was not involved in the creation of the content or the initiative and has informed Screenvision that AMC locations will not participate.”

Responding to the cinema’s decision, the festival organiser, Modern Uprising Studios (MUS Immersive), noted that while traditional theatrical chains are ‘vital to our cohesion as a society, and are duly cautious’, the changing media landscape and its evolution are part of shared theatrical experiences that build cultural bonds.

“They may be prudent, but it is important to MUS Immersive that new and exciting films, filmmakers, cinematic languages and spaces for these shared experiences continue to develop. We will bring new content to our developing network of venues, starting in New York. We will not see the theatrical window wither on our watch,” said MUS Immersive President, Joel Roodman.

‘Thanksgiving Day’ was created using Gemini and Nano Banana Pro by Kazakhstan-based Alferov and tells the story of a bear and his assistant, a platypus, who travel through the galaxy on a spaceship that resembles a flying dumpster. Their lack of hygiene makes them easy targets for a series of corrupt officials: a police officer demands a bribe, an eco-inspector issues heavy fines, and a quarantine officer raids their fridge, leaving it empty. Bankrupt and starving, the duo faces a bleak outcome until a food delivery arrives, piloted by an anthropomorphic turkey. The film concludes with the platypus stocking the fridge and the pair enjoying a roast dinner, leaving a dark implication that the delivery courier itself became the main course of this ‘Thanksgiving Day’.