amersia represents the next evolution in filmmaker empowerment, giving artists tools to achieve cinematic ambition at previously impossible scales while preserving human creative judgment throughout the process.
Insiders note this launch comes as Hollywood animation workers face mounting anxiety about AI displacement — and amersia's 'Woven' tech is already piloting with major media partners before public rollout, suggesting aggressive enterprise adoption plans.
amersia was founded by James Richardson and Allan Niblo (co-founders of Vertigo Films), who produced and distributed over 100 films and premium TV series. Director Nik Kleverov previously created the first AI-generated commercial for Toys"R"Us at Native Foreign, which co-produced the original 'Critterz' short.
The fluffy critters are just window dressing — amersia's launch signals Hollywood's acceleration toward AI-native production, and traditional animators should be very nervous about what comes next.
The first look from "Critterz," OpenAI's ambitious AI-generated animated feature, has arrived at Cannes — and it's all digitally-crafted fluffiness and wide-eyed creatures designed to make you forget this might be the future of cinema. But don't let the adorable critters fool you: something much more consequential is happening behind those CGI eyes. The film, created by OpenAI producer and creative technologist Chad Nelson with writers from "Paddington in Peru," is serving as the flagship proof-of-concept for amersia — a new AI-native production company unveiled this week by Vertigo Films and Federation Studios.
The venture, which marks its first movie with "Critterz," comesed with Woven: proprietary technology originally developed as amersia's internal production system that automates repetitive aspects of filmmaking. James Richardson, amersia's CEO, positioned the launch as an industry inflection point in a statement to Variety. "Every major shift in entertainment has come when creatives gained access to new tools — from sound to CGI," he said.
"AI is the next inflection point. We built amersia from the ground up to give artists the power to create at a scale and level of cinematic ambition that simply wasn't possible before." The tech is already piloting with select media enterprise partners, with broader rollout planned for coming months — meaning major studios could be integrating Woven into their pipelines sooner than anyone expected. The directing reins belong to Nik Kleverov, whose credits include title sequences for Netflix's "Narcos" and the first AI-generated commercial ever made: a Toys"R"Us spot produced at Native Foreign, the studio he co-founded that created the original "Critterz" short.
Kleverov framed Woven as a tool that enhances rather than replaces human creativity — but industry observers note that's precisely what executives said about every previous technological disruption in Hollywood. amersia itself was founded by Richardson and Allan Niblo, Vertigo Films co-founders who produced and distributed over 100 films and premium television series before the company became part of Federation Studios. With Federation as a founding partner, amersia has deep entertainment infrastructure backing its AI ambitions — and with "Critterz" premiering at Cannes, expect the sales pitch to studios worldwide to get very aggressive, very quickly.
