Korean Producers Warn AI Film Budgets May Hit $3.66 Million

The shift to digital cinematography was expected to lower production costs, but new data suggests artificial intelligence may reverse that trend for feature-length cinema.

Speakers at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei on November 8 warned that AI could make making movies more expensive than the celluloid era. Kim Kwang-jib, CEO of Studio Meta-K, stated that generating a 100-minute film with premium tools currently costs over 500 million won, or roughly $366,000.

The primary financial risk stems from token usage. Kim explained that AI companies currently subsidize pricing as a marketing tactic. If those costs rise tenfold, a single feature could reach 5 billion won, or $3.66 million. He noted that this figure would challenge the efficiency of mid-budget Asian productions.

Unlike digital editing, where changes are free, every AI re-render incurs a fee. Kim cited a scenario where a client submits ten days of separate changes. The studio must pay for ten individual render passes. Batching revisions into one round reduces expenses, but poor preproduction can lead to final budgets that exceed traditional film costs.

Lee Sang-wook, head of MBC C&I's AI Content Lab, confirmed the complexity. His team spent more than a year producing the 139-minute feature Raphael. Weekly software updates forced the crew to adapt constantly. Lee estimated that a single shot could require ten artists working for a full day. Using older technology risks making scenes look dated to audiences.

Raphael opens in Korean cinemas on November 25. The film was created by emerging directors with funding from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Lee said the theatrical release demonstrates that AI studios can develop intellectual property rather than just handling outsourced work. This follows 2024, when the lab's AI shorts received a weak market response.

In advertising, AI cuts costs dramatically. Kim noted that a Pizza Hut spot originally costing 2 billion won over eight months was recreated by Studio Meta-K in two weeks for about 30 million won. That represents a reduction of more than 90%. For drama, Kim prefers a hybrid model that combines live-action performances with AI-generated crowds or battle scenes.