Netflix(NFLX.US) plans to invest $600 million to acquire Ben Affleck's AI company, boosting AI applications in film and television production

According to people familiar with the matter, Netflix (NFLX.US) will pay up to $600 million to acquire InterPositive, an AI film production company founded by Ben Affleck. If the deal is completed, it will become one of the largest acquisitions in this streaming giant’s history.

The people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, said the actual cash amount paid was lower than this figure. Under the agreement, if InterPositive meets certain performance targets, its owners will also receive additional upside. Netflix recently made a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.US) but was unsuccessful, and it has not disclosed the specific terms of this transaction.

Netflix’s acquisition of InterPositive is intended to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in its film production business. The startup has developed a suite of tools that allows filmmakers to modify existing footage. It is reported that director David Fincher has used the company’s products in a film that Brad Pitt will star in next.

This acquisition is also one of the biggest deals in the AI space made by Hollywood’s mainstream studios. Companies such as Netflix and Amazon are increasingly trying to use AI technology to lower production costs and improve the quality of their work. Amazon has assembled an internal team aimed at fully deploying AI in its film and television production; meanwhile, The Walt Disney Company has reached a commercial partnership with OpenAI.

However, people working in Hollywood are concerned that studios will use AI to cut jobs and reduce costs. They are also worried that technology companies may steal their work for training AI technology without compensation.

Affleck positions InterPositive as an assisting tool for filmmakers: directors must first shoot the film before the software can use that footage for training, and only afterward can it help remove extra items from scenes or adjust backgrounds. The technology would not be used to train on films without permission, nor can it generate new projects in the absence of baseline footage.

Before attempting to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (with a deal value of up to $72 billion), Netflix had largely shied away from expensive M&A deals, saying it would rather build internally than buy from outside. Acquiring a startup—even one that can be considered among the largest AI deals in Hollywood history—can be seen as part of the former category, representing Netflix’s step toward building its own AI capabilities.

In a video Affleck released for Netflix, he said: “From the very beginning of filmmaking, it has been a long journey of technological evolution. We’ve always been looking for ways to make it feel more real and more sincere. I hope InterPositive can become the next iteration or step in this long history.”

Affleck secretly founded InterPositive with the backing of investment firm RedBird Capital Partners. After years of technical R&D, he began seeking investment in 2025, meeting with multiple venture capital firms and discussing technology applications with Hollywood companies. This ultimately led Netflix to view it as an internal production tool.