This 11-minute AI-generated Star Wars short has fans buzzing – a fan-made film that captures the magic of the originals better than Disney?
In the past, if you happened to complain about a Star Wars movie not being the way you wanted it to be, the sentence "Why don’t you make it better?" was meant sarcastically, since everyone knows that such a movie costs millions of dollars to produce.
These days seem to be over, as basically anyone can create a Star Wars movie and prove that their ideas would have been better than those of Hollywood executives. Not a whole movie, but a big step in that direction was made with an 11-minute Star Wars fan film created entirely with AI. Here’s everything you need to know about the AI-generated Star Wars film.
AI Star Wars Film Shocks Fans
The short film The Ghost’s Apprentice was created by Kavan Cardoza, known as Kavan the Kid. He used AI tools like Google's Veo, Midjourney, and Runway to bring his vision to life. Cardoza spent 14 days working 12 hours a day on the project, using AI to generate nearly every aspect of the film.
The film follows a classic Star Wars story of a young Jedi trained by his uncle’s ghost. It features iconic elements like spaceships, lightsabers, and desolate sci-fi landscapes, all designed with the unmistakable Star Wars style. Despite some Uncanny Valley effects, the film captures the Star Wars essence and has impressed many fans, sparking conversations about AI’s role in filmmaking.
Is AI The Future Of Star Wars?
Is "The Best Star Wars Movie in Years Is Made With AI," as Forbes wrote, true? Even though the sequels might have been questionable, the answer is no. The short has visuals that resemble behind-the-scenes footage from an animated movie that's 30 steps away from being finished. Additionally, the AI-generated voices are similar to those only Oblivion voice actors could recreate.
Sure, comparing this with the real deal might seem unfair, since Star Wars: The Force Awakens, for example, was the most expensive film of all time, with a budget of more than $430 million. But that’s what they claim to be competing with. Charlie Fink from Forbes actually wrote that he showed the AI short on a big screen and nobody would be able to tell it was made by AI. I mean, did we watch the same thing? Furthermore, the generic recreation of old Star Wars movies seen in the short, which nearly got JJ Abrams killed by fans, was described as "kick-ass storytelling." So, what’s advancing faster: AI’s development or our expectations being lowered?
Don't get us wrong – we love fan-made content. It's a great way to get creative and, even if not canon, expand on a beloved universe. This is not meant to make Kavan Cardoza's work look bad or undermine the effort he put into his short movie. But AI as the future of Hollywood? Yeah, no.
Would you watch a Star Wars AI film? Did you like the short? Let us know in the comments!