AI in Hollywood: Remastering Classics - The Last Invention is AI

Summary

Joe Rogan Experience for AI Episode Title: AI in Hollywood: Remastering Classics
Release Date: August 3, 2025

Introduction to AI-Driven Remastering in Hollywood

In this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience for AI, the host delves into the burgeoning trend of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to remaster classic films, with a particular focus on "The Wizard of Oz." The discussion highlights how AI is revolutionizing the way we experience old movies, enhancing their quality, and creating entirely new immersive environments.

The Wizard of Oz Remastering Project

[05:30] The host introduces a massive project aimed at remastering "The Wizard of Oz," touted by the Library of Congress as the most-watched film of all time. This initiative isn't just about upgrading the film's visual and audio quality but also about transforming it into a 360-degree immersive experience at the Las Vegas Sphere—a colossal venue featuring a 160,000-square-foot LCD screen that envelops visitors in a fully interactive environment.

[12:45] A key aspect of this project involves AI-driven outpainting, a technique used to expand the original film frames beyond their initial borders. This allows for a seamless 360-degree view, ensuring that viewers can look around and feel as though they're inside the movie. James Dolan, the CEO of the Sphere, emphasizes the goal:

“Our standard was not to modify the film at all but to try and bring you into the film as if you were in the studio when it was shot.”
— James Dolan [15:20]

Technical Innovations and Challenges

[20:10] The host explains that AI is not only enhancing the resolution of the original footage but also creating new visual elements to fill in the expanded areas. For example, a scene where the Scarecrow's elbow extends beyond the original frame is seamlessly completed using AI-generated visuals, maintaining the film's authenticity while adapting it for a 360-degree display.

[25:50] Another significant challenge addressed is the creation of new performances from existing characters to fit the expanded scenes. This requires sophisticated AI models that can generate realistic and contextually appropriate movements and expressions, ensuring that the integrity of the original performances is preserved.

Impact on the Film Industry and Future Applications

[30:35] The host discusses the broader implications of this technology for the film industry. He speculates that AI-driven remastering could become a standard practice, not only for creating immersive experiences like those in the Sphere but also for enhancing traditional viewing formats. This technology could extend to Virtual Reality (VR) platforms and next-generation headsets from companies like Apple and Meta, enabling 360-degree movie experiences on personal devices.

[35:15] Reflecting on his own experiences, the host shares how AI tools have streamlined his video editing process. He recounts using an AI feature in Adobe Premiere to synchronize video clips with audio seamlessly, highlighting AI's potential to save time and enhance creative workflows:

“It just added some extra motion, some extra, I don't know, rock texture before. So the whole clip synced up with the audio. I thought it was absolutely amazing.”
— Host [38:50]

Preserving Artistic Integrity vs. Technological Enhancement

[40:00] A point of contention discussed is the balance between enhancing film quality and preserving the original artistic vision. While some enthusiasts appreciate the nostalgic, authentic feel of older films, others advocate for technological advancements that can bring new life to these classics without altering their essence.

“Some people argue because they just love the artistic, authentic, old quality of something. So I mean, that's a great viewpoint as well.”
— Host [42:30]

Future Prospects and Closing Thoughts

[45:00] Looking ahead, the host expresses excitement about the future of AI in filmmaking. He anticipates that as AI technology continues to evolve, more studios will adopt similar approaches to create immersive and high-quality versions of classic films. This trend promises to unlock new possibilities for storytelling and audience engagement.

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a reflection on the transformative potential of AI in the entertainment industry. By enhancing beloved classics and creating new immersive experiences, AI is set to redefine how audiences interact with cinematic content. The host encourages listeners to stay informed about these developments, emphasizing the importance of embracing technological advancements to fully appreciate the evolving landscape of film and media.

“It's going to unlock a lot inside of film. I think we'll see a lot of other studio companies do this...”
— Host [50:10]

Note: Advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections have been excluded from this summary as per the episode's content guidelines.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Today on the podcast, I want to talk about using AI to remaster old films, images, videos, classics. What's going on with the industry there? Because I think that there is a huge boom that's about to basically be unlocked. You know, we've all seen an old VHS tape and I feel like recently I've seen somewhere on an old TV and I'm just like, blown away by how, like, it sounds terrible, but, like, how low quality it feels compared to what we're so used to now. But of course you get that retro feel, so that's kind of cool. And you don't really want to miss out on. On what it looked like back in the day. But the way of the future is basically using AI models right now to remaster a whole bunch of these older films for higher quality. And what's really blown me away is there's a huge project underway right now to do this for the wizard, the classic wizard of Oz movie. And they're not just trying to, you know, increase the quality of the movie, they're actually building an entire experience over at the Las Vegas sphere. So there's a ton that's going into that. They're using AI. It's absolutely fascinating. I'm going to dive in and I'm also going to show you some clips, if you're watching on Spotify or YouTube, of what it's actually looking like, which blew me away, the special effects, but also what it means for the overall community, for film in general. Is this going to be something that happens to every movie in the past? Are we going to try to keep some sort of historical accuracy in the quality? Like, basically, what does that look like in the future for the whole industry? I'll be diving into all of that. But before we do, I'd love to mention that this episode is sponsored by AI Box, which is my very own AI startup. And I'd love for you to try it out, if you haven't already. Basically, if you go to AI box AI, you can get access to the top 40 different AI models. It's $20 a month, so you don't have to have subscriptions to all of the top AI models, but you can compare results from an AI from a prompt side by side. So recently I was asking it to generate an image and. And I generated it with Ideogram Flux GPT Image 1, which is basically what's built into Chat GPT. And it was really cool to see the same prompt generated with a whole bunch of different platforms. So you could do this with Images is cool, but you also can do it with text. If you're making a document or an email, you could do it with audio to see what 11 Labs vs OpenAI's audio tools sound like compared side by side. So you could do all of that and chat with all of the different AI models all in one thread, which is incredibly useful and just not, you know, you're obviously not able to do that with ChatGPT or anything else. So if you're interested in trying this out, the link is AI Box AI. It's currently in beta. We have a ton of new exciting features coming soon, so I'd love for you to go check it out. There's a link in the description. All right, let's get into what is going on with the wizard of Oz. So, basically, they're blowing up the wizard of Oz, which, by the way, if you didn't know, the wizard of Oz is actually, according to the Library of Congress, the most watched film of all time is the wizard of Oz. Now, I'm not 100% sure how they calculate that. Like, perhaps. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's true. It is. It is an old film. And so people watch the old films. But I don't know. Anyways, I guess. I guess I'm not questioning the Library of Congress. I just like, I actually. To. Not. If I'm being honest, I don't think I've seen the whole thing through. I've seen a lot of clips of it, so maybe that's just me. But in any case, it is the most watched film of all time, apparently. And they're. They're putting it into the Las Vegas. A sphere, which, if you don't know, giant ball inside of Las Vegas, where the whole thing inside and outside is LCD screens and it's 360. You look around. It's amazing, right? So what's interesting, though, is you can't just, like, they're not just taking the film and projecting it on, like a 360, so you have to, like, crane your neck and look in a circle to see everything that's going on. They are creating a whole new experience. So they're using AI to generate the edges to increase, like, the size and. And doing a whole bunch of things to make it more immersive, to feel like you're inside of the movie, which is really interesting. And they had. They had, like, some clips where they were sharing kind of what it looked like. They said, apparently there's 2,000 people working on it. But I was. I'm sharing a clip where basically you're inside of the tornado and the sphere all around you is showing you like you're. It's a tornado funnel and then it's sucking you up. And it like looks really, really impressive. But the thing that was pretty tricky with this whole movie was basically you can't just use a regular film for this experience. And also I would say, like, the Sphere is an interesting thing and you might be like, who cares about the sphere? Like it's a tourist attraction. But I think it's interesting because this exact same concept and strategy that they're applying here is also going to be needed for VR, for Apple's headsets, for Meta's headset, or for anything else like that. If you want to watch these 360 movies, it's going to be the same concept. So I think it's not just going to be like, it's not like, oh man, no one else, like no other movie company needs to do this because it's just the spirit. It's like, well, if you want to have these 360 immersive videos, I think a lot of people in the future would be interested in that. And so there's probably something that will happen more and more in addition to maybe like increasing quality or other things like that, which some people argue because they just love the artistic, authentic, old quality of something. So I mean, that's a great viewpoint as well. In any case, this is going to be starting on August 28th that this movie is going to be premiered. Like I mentioned, there is a 2000 person team that is currently working on this. And of course the Sphere is massive. A 160,000 square feet. This kind of 360 experience and of course healing too, which is so interesting, right, because you got to like watch the movie straight ahead of you, but then like above you is going to be like whatever's in the sky of the movie. So they got to fill that in too, which is really interesting. So the CEO of the Sphere, James Dolan, basically says that they are using AI to both increase the resolution of the existing film, right? They're going from like an old film to massive and then they're also using it to expand the footage beyond the frame that was actually shot. So an example that they used is that this is from Ben Makuski said that throughout the entire. Through the entire use of AI, you know, he said, quote, a grainy close up of Dorothy becomes richly detailed. And then through a process called out painting, though it seems like magic. We See the rest of the Scarecrow, the Yellow Brick Road and the mountains of Oz. Right. So basically, like in, you know, the original shot, when the scarecrow is kind of like dancing, his elbow goes off the screen and gets cut off. But if so. But like, if you're in, like, a huge sphere and you have to make it like 360, you need to fill in that elbow so that there's nothing beside it. And also you need a lot more space to the right and left of the shot. So they're. They're like. They're basically. What they said that they're trying to do is they said, this is Dolan. He said, quote, our standard on this was not to modify the film at all, but to try and bring you into the film as if you were in the studio when it was shot. So I think what's interesting is, like, there's the outpainting for sure, but they also said that in some cases, expanding the frame means that they actually have to create some new performances from the existing characters that weren't there originally. And so I guess that's, like, historically what people complain about the most. But I think overall, they're trying to stay true to the film. They're trying to basically make it the same film, and they just have to expand it a little bit. I think the concept is fascinating. I was recently editing a video over on Adobe Premiere, and they have a very interesting similar tool. Basically, I had a clip that needed to be synced up to something in particular, and the video was shorter than the audio I was syncing it to. And the video at the beginning of this particular clip was. It was like pointing at, like, a rock and then it panned over to something. And so basically I just used AI clicked and dragged it, and it just. It just added some extra motion, some extra, I don't know, rock texture before. So the whole clip synced up with the audio. I thought it was absolutely amazing. It saved me so much time and pain, uh, in that particular situation. And no one that ever watches the film is ever going like. It's not even like, oh, your videos AI generated. It's like you're just using AI to help fill out a little pieces, the same way you use Photoshop to help tweak an image or. Or basically, all the tools we have from Photoshop we now have for images or for video as well. So I'm honestly really excited. I think this is absolutely fascinating. It's going to unlock a lot inside of film. I think we'll see a lot of other studio companies do this like I mentioned, not just for the sphere but for A360VR experiences as well. So I'll be really curious to see how the wizard of Oz plays out in the future and what other what other experiences we'll see next. You know thanks to AI and what we're basically able to do with this. Thank you so much for tuning into the podcast today. If you learned anything new about the future of AI and video, make sure to leave a rating and review on the podcast. It honestly helps the algorithm out a ton. So pretty much when you leave a rating and review it tells Apple, Spotify, YouTube to recommend the show to other people like you and other amazing people. So it helps me out a lot and I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much for tuning in. Make sure to go check out AI box AI if you want to check out all the latest AI models in one place and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day.