Toys‘R’Us, the renowned toy retailer, made waves at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival with the debut of its "first-ever brand film" created using OpenAI's upcoming text-to-video tool Sora, with the collaboration of Emmy-nominated creative agency Native Foreign.
The one-minute film, titled "The Origin of Toys‘R’Us," narrates the inspiring journey of Charles Lazarus, the creator of Toys‘R’Us and the son of a bicycle shop owner. The film brings the company's beloved mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, to life with stunning visual effects created with the help of Sora, which generates visuals based on text prompts.
Reactions and Controversy Surrounding the Brand Film
The release of the AI-generated brand film sparked a mixed reaction online. While some viewers praised Toys‘R’Us for embracing AI and pushing the boundaries of storytelling, others criticized the film for its shortcomings.
AI videomaker Allen T. pointed out the film's issues with depicting details like hands and maintaining characters consistent and visually smooth upon changes of scenes.
American actor, writer, and producer Luke Barnett went as far as calling the film "shitty-looking" and expressed disappointment in Toys‘R’Us for contributing to the use of AI in creative work. Actor Elias Toufexis even criticized the company, stating that he was glad Toys‘R’Us went out of business.
AI in Filmmaking and Industry
The adoption of AI in filmmaking and creative work has been divisive, with the 2022 arrival of ChatGPT being a major point of contention.
Advocates for AI in creative industries have faced widespread criticism and skepticism. OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, acknowledged that “Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first place,"
Toys‘R’Us is not the only company exploring the capabilities of AI-generated content. Shy Kids, a multimedia production company, also used Sora to create their short film called "Air Head."
Recently, actor Ashton Kutcher sparked outrage by suggesting that AI tools like Sora could save time and money in film production. Despite the backlash, he defended the adoption of AI as inevitable and emphasized its potential to enhance creativity.
Sora is presently in a closed beta phase, while competitors like Synthesia, Lumalabs, Runway, and Chinese tech firms such as Kuaishou and ShengShu Technology are developing comparable or more advanced text-to-video AI models.