Netflix buys Ben Affleck AI studio for $587M

Netflix paid $587 million in cash to acquire InterPositive, a generative AI filmmaking startup co-founded by actor and director Ben Affleck. The streaming giant announced the deal in March but only revealed the financial terms in a new regulatory filing. The final price falls just below a subsequent Bloomberg report that estimated the acquisition could be worth up to $600 million.

Affleck will join Netflix as a senior advisor, and the entire InterPositive team is moving to the streaming company. At the time of the announcement, Affleck said his goal was to “protect the power of human creativity.” The startup’s tools focus on post-production, specifically helping filmmakers navigate "real-world production challenges such as missing shots, background replacements or incorrect lighting."

The price tag underscores how aggressively media companies are willing to spend to secure proprietary AI capabilities rather than relying on third-party vendors. For investors, the acquisition represents a tangible deployment of capital toward margin expansion. Automating post-production fixes traditionally requires expensive manual labour, meaning successful integration of these tools could eventually lower the cost of producing high-volume content.

Netflix is already deep into the technology. In its most recent earnings report, the company disclosed that around 300 of its titles have already used generative AI. The purchase of InterPositive suggests this usage is moving beyond early experimentation into a core, internalised production function.

The deal also highlights the evolving role of Hollywood creators in the artificial intelligence supply chain. Rather than resisting the technology outright, high-profile figures like Affleck are building and selling the tools, shaping how AI is adopted on studio lots. For the broader entertainment industry, the $587 million valuation sets a new benchmark for what studios will pay to control their own AI infrastructure.