Bao-Bao (film)

Bao-Bao was a 2019 major motion picture that was made almost entirely by a system of experimental computers (AIs trained on scripts of previous movies, computer-generated voices similar to the later FifteenDotAi or UberDuck systems, and advanced AI-based computer animation). No human actors, scriptwriters, or photographers were needed, making it one of the most unorthodox movies of the 21st century. Crystal Stainton was the director of the film; supervising the work of the computers while production was going on. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but became a box-office success due to its gimmick.

Bao-Bao was released in theatres on June 21, 2019 in North America.

Summary
Jointly produced by MTM Films, Seven Arts, and Entertainment One (for administrative purposes only as no human hands were ever involved in the film beyond some editing certain scenes that were dubbed "unrealistic" by a panel of psychiatrists), the movie stars a bunch of penguins calling themselves the Bao-Bao who suddenly became intelligent and started to move around in the human world. They also developed the ability to survive warm temperatures, so they moved to Vietnam in order to learn from humans.

Production
The idea came to Crystal Stainton, working at the ArgosyMTM Group subsidiary Stainton Labs, founded by her father Robert. The lab had started working on “predictive text” AIs in 2016, and, while Crystal was bored, she fed the AI the complete scripts of almost every feature film owned by ArgosyMTM. She expected nonsense, and was surprised to find that the AI could generate decent scripts. Stainton called Ellen Peck, the head of ArgosyMTM, to show her that “this could be the future of movies”. Peck was astonished at the quality of the scripts made by this AI, and started her own experiments with TV episode scripts. When the AI kept producing plausible scripts, Peck hastily started production of a movie with a script written by this AI. Coincidentally, at the same time, automated CGI systems (an advanced form of text-to-image known as “script-to-animation”) and realistic synthetic voices were being worked on at Stainton Labs. None of these were meant to be used in movies at the time; they were meant more as playthings to test out. However, Peck demanded that these be used as well.

Reception
Critics say that this film was family-friendly and said it was appropriate for its PG rating. Amateur filmmakers and human actors were concerned that these films would become mainstream, resulting in them losing their jobs. However, most saw it as just ArgosyMTM Group being experimental as usual. Others called it a shameful rip off of characters ranging from Disney to South Park.

Similar to how automation took the jobs of manual laborers in the 20th century, it was feared that computerized movies would take away the photography and film acting jobs by the middle of the 21st century. The film was praised by some critics, and panned by other critics. Some critics in the United Kingdom hated the film for its unnatural qualities and the forced romance between Blossom Penguin and Milo Penguin near the end of the film.