Lionsgate Takes Equity Stake in Runway, Expanding AI Partnership to Mine Its IP for Short-Form Content and New Franchises

Lionsgate has deepened its pioneering collaboration with generative AI company Runway by acquiring an equity stake in the startup and launching a joint development program aimed at creating new intellectual property.

The move, announced on June 11, 2026, builds on a 2024 partnership that made Lionsgate the first major Hollywood studio to team up with an AI firm for content creation tools.

The expanded agreement positions the studio to leverage Runway’s advanced video generation technology to produce AI-assisted short episodic series drawn from its existing library of film and television properties, as well as entirely new original franchises developed with AI at their core.

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From Tools to Content Creation

The initial 2024 deal focused on Runway training a custom AI model on Lionsgate’s proprietary content library. This enabled filmmakers and creatives to generate cinematic video clips that could be further refined using Runway’s controllable tools, primarily for internal uses like storyboarding, pre-visualization, and augmenting traditional production workflows.

The new phase shifts from supportive tools toward actual content output. Lionsgate and Runway will now co-develop and produce a slate of projects that blend AI generation with traditional storytelling. The first wave of releases is expected to be AI-generated short-form episodic series based on Lionsgate’s existing intellectual property.

While the studio has not yet disclosed which specific titles will be tapped, its vast catalog includes major franchises such as John Wick, The Hunger Games, Twilight, and thousands of other films and series. These short AI-driven projects could serve as low-risk experiments to test audience interest, expand universes, or create companion content.

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Creating New AI-Native Franchises

Beyond repurposing existing IP, the partnership includes a dedicated joint development program to build original intellectual property from the ground up using generative AI. This represents a more ambitious — and for some observers, bolder — bet on the technology’s creative potential.

Lionsgate executives have framed the initiative as a way to expand storytelling capabilities rather than purely as a cost-saving measure. “Runway is a great creative partner, an exciting part of our AI strategy and a valuable driver in expanding our storytelling capabilities,” said Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns. “This is an iterative process.As we continue to expand the use cases of Runway technology across our production operations and introduce its tools to more of our filmmakers, we believe it will help our talent redefine and reshape the art of the possible in their creative endeavors.”

Runway co-founder and co-CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela echoed the creative focus: “We consistently see that the studios most serious about AI are thinking about it as a creative resource, not a cost-cutting tool. Lionsgate gets that. This expanded partnership will help more stories be told, faster.”

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A Broader AI Strategy

The Runway deal is part of Lionsgate’s wider embrace of artificial intelligence. The studio operates under the guidance of Chief AI Officer Kathleen Grace and an AI Steering Committee. Lionsgate is also serving as a presenting partner at the Runway AI Festival in June 2026.

Industry watchers note that Lionsgate has been among the more aggressive major studios in exploring AI, viewing it as a means to increase output efficiency and explore new formats like short-form episodic content that might be difficult or expensive to produce traditionally.

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Implications and Outlook

The partnership highlights a growing trend in Hollywood: studios moving from cautious experimentation with AI tools toward integrating generative technology directly into content pipelines and IP development.

Short-form AI series could offer a fast, scalable way to engage fans between major theatrical or streaming releases, while new AI-native franchises represent a true test of whether generative tools can help birth the next generation of iconic entertainment properties.

Financial terms of the equity stake were not disclosed. The collaboration remains focused on creative augmentation, with human filmmakers and storytellers still central to the process.

As Lionsgate and Runway push forward, the entertainment industry will be watching closely to see how audiences respond to the first wave of AI-assisted shorts and whether this model can successfully spawn entirely new franchises. For now, the studio’s willingness to invest equity and co-develop original IP signals strong confidence in AI’s role in the future of storytelling — even if the full scope of that future remains to be seen. 

The coming months will likely reveal more details on timelines, specific projects, and the balance between AI generation and human oversight in these hybrid productions.