Did you catch the video clip for the upcoming movie featuring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as the protagonists? There's a full slobberknocker on a rooftop.
This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are right maybe the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk. pic.twitter.com/dNTyLUIwAV
— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026
There's only one problem: What you watched was fake.
Using AI tools to generate the fight, a Chinese tech company created the faces, voices, and movements that looked real enough to fool casual viewers.
The clip sparked immediate anxiety across Hollywood. If a machine stages a blockbuster fight between two A-listers without cameras or contracts, what else can it do?
Rhett Reese, one of the screenwriters behind the Deadpool franchise, warns that advances like these could "decimate" Hollywood.
It's not an abstract idea; studios already use digital de-aging and CGI doubles. AI now eliminates more human labor from the process.
Oh, Jack lived!
Seedance 2 is going insanely viral and threatening to dethrone Hollywood.
— Mark Gadala-Maria (@markgadala) February 12, 2026
15 wild examples you have to see to believe, all 100% AI:
1) Titanic alternate ending, Leo is saved 😂pic.twitter.com/3PjeIeldtM
What I find rich is that for years, the entertainment industry has argued that people's identity shifts based on feelings rather than biology. The same crowd is now facing its own existential crisis: What happens when technology shifts jobs based on efficiency, not feelings?
Writers, editors, visual artists, and even actors might see competition from code that doesn't sleep, strike, or demand a trailer. AI drafts scripts, storyboard scenes, and renders visuals in hours.
Don't think for a second that budget-conscious studios aren't paying attention.
It goes without saying that intellectual property law still protects real stars. No producer can legally use Tom Cruise's likeness without permission. That guardrail remains firm.
For now.
There is, however, nothing to stop creators from inventing entirely new digital heroes. And the incentives are powerful: no agents, residuals, or interviews about political causes.
The irony is thick: An industry insisting reality bends to personal identity may soon confront software that bends storytelling economics.
Another winner? Machines don't attend award shows or post lectures on social media. They just produce.
Hollywood has long suffered from creative fatigue. Franchises recycle old plots, studios greenlight projects that preach more than entertain. Ticket sales have been reflecting that weariness for years.
AI can't solve bad storytelling on its own. Algorithms learn from existing material; garbage in, garbage out. If the input is stale, the output won't sparkle.
History has shown doors opening for outsiders who disrupt the status quo. Look at the transition from silent films to talkies.
Smaller creators could use AI tools to bypass gatekeepers and produce high-quality films on modest budgets.
Imagine a studio system where talent matters more than ideology. If barriers drop, fresh voices might finally reach audiences without having to submit to cultural litmus tests. Technology doesn't care about voting records, or at least it shouldn't.
New heroes could rise from keyboards rather than casting calls. Writers who felt locked out of mainstream circles might build worlds without asking permission from corporate committees.
Lawmakers already wrestle with deepfake regulation, and using a star's image without consent automatically triggers lawsuits, tightens contracts, and generates a stricter, more precise guard on brands from studios.
Enforcement always moves a little slower than innovation. Every advance brings another loophole where a fully digital character modeled loosely on an action archetype might sidestep legal landmines.
Nobody owns the concept of a brave pilot or rogue detective.
Seedance just recreated lord of the rings in 15 seconds.
— Mark Gadala-Maria (@markgadala) February 12, 2026
Insane.
pic.twitter.com/DvEY6WUdwC
Regardless, audiences decide what survives. Viewers want stories that move them with tension, humor, and characters worth following. They don't care whether a scene required twenty takes or just a powerful graphics card.
Every industry faces moments when new tools threaten old structures. Printing presses rattled scribes, streaming shook cable, and now AI knocks on Hollywood's front gates.
The fake Cruise-Pitt fight serves as a warning shot, not because two megastars appeared in a digital brawl, but because the illusion looked good enough to compete.
Hollywood can panic, regulate, and protest.
Or it can adapt.
Technology won't retreat. The only question is whether creativity rises with it or gets left behind.
Related: Teleprompters and Delusions of Grandeur
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