London-based creative studio Wonder recently announced a successful $3 million seed funding round, led by LocalGlobe. Other investors include Australian venture capital firm Blackbird, Mati Staniszewski (co-founder of AI voice startup ElevenLabs), Laura Modiano (head of the OpenAI founding team), and Ammaar Reshi (head of design at Google DeepMind). The studio leverages AI technology to produce films for entertainment and advertising.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, licensed by Midjourney.
Wonder's founder, Justin Hackney, is a BAFTA-winning film producer and former creative director at ElevenLabs. CEO Xavier Collins is a founding partner of Lumiere Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on acquiring action movie intellectual property. Wonder collaborates with artists and companies, developing film content from the script stage. The team's eight "creative producers" utilize various publicly available generative AI models, such as Midjourney and Runway, to produce animation and live-action footage. Wonder also produces "pure AI films" and adds special effects to traditionally shot footage.
One of Wonder's goals is to reduce production costs. For a current children's animated short film project, traditional production costs for a three-minute film can reach $100,000, while Wonder charges only £10,000-£20,000. This allows creators to produce proof-of-concept films at a lower cost, potentially leading to series development. For animation, Wonder develops visual material from scratch, combining human direction with various AI tools. For non-"pure AI" films, AI is used to add post-production special effects to existing footage, such as building explosions or monsters appearing in scenes.
Wonder's team is also exploring game-style and immersive filmmaking. Their approach not only improves efficiency but also reduces environmental impact by minimizing travel-related carbon emissions, as the production team doesn't need to travel to multiple locations.
Wonder generates revenue by charging fees to independent filmmakers, production companies, and companies outsourcing advertising. They produce shorts (five to seven minutes), branded content (30 to 90 seconds), trailers, and documentaries (30 minutes). In the future, Wonder plans to collaborate with independent artists to develop original films, acquire related intellectual property, and license it to streaming platforms. While most clients are based in the UK, they also have clients in Sweden and the US.
Wonder is currently collaborating with ElevenLabs on an undisclosed project as part of their visual product division. The $3 million funding will be partially used to invest in producers working with Wonder to create original content and to acquire and develop AI tools to automate workflows, aiming to build an internal studio similar to a "Pixar 2.0".
Key Highlights:
🌟 Wonder, an AI-powered film production studio, secured $3 million in funding.
🎬 The studio lowers production costs, enabling creators to produce film content at lower expenses.
🌍 Wonder's production methods are more environmentally friendly, reducing travel-related carbon emissions and exploring new filmmaking formats.
