• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 5 hours ago

Google wants to help out major Hollywood studios with much-needed licensing revenue -- potentially in the billions of dollars -- in the rapidly evolving Hollywood entertainment marketplace.

Google wants to access characters, storylines, and content to help "train" its AI platforms.

According to reports, Google has had many introductory meetings with Hollywood studios.

Will major media executives who control major movie and TV programming play along -- and will they be comfortable giving up some unspecified control of their intellectual property to new AI platforms?

The tease by Google could represent millions of dollars per character, or perhaps billions for allowing the media giant to enable its AI machinery -- including Google Gemini -- to glean data and content from Hollywood movies.

This comes at a time when standard, wide-release theatrical films now regularly cost near $100 million to produce -- with franchise-adventure films in the $200 million-plus range. The biggest of these can be in the $300 million to $400 million range. 

This could, for example, make things easier for Paramount to meet its high-profile goal -- although derided by some analysts -- to make 30 theatrical movies a year should it be allowed to go ahead to complete its planned Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

According toThe Los Angeles Times, Google could pay a studio like Walt Disney and its Pixar unit around $40 million for the rights to generate AI content coming from a single copyrighted character. An overall deal for many characters could move the cost into the billions.

New AI-connected licensing revenue could be especially helpful with marketing and distribution costs.

Average total U.S. marketing costs -- including national TV media schedules -- can amount to $35 million, with global marketing costs exceeding $100 million to $150 million.

Fractionalization of new media content is exploding everywhere -- not just streaming, FAST, and CTV -- with videos on TikTok, podcasts, "microdramas" and more. All are competing for viewers' daily attention, while theatrical marketing costs continue to rise.

Will Google’s need to dramatically increase its AI efforts for consumers align with movie studios' efforts to keep pace with its marketplace needs?