Darren Aronofsky’s AI studio seeks $15 million in equity raise
Primordial Soup, the AI-focused studio led by Darren Aronofsky and Dylan Golden, has already sold more than $11 million in equity, an SEC filing says.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
Darren Aronofsky’s Primordial Soup is looking for fresh fuel, with an SEC filing showing the AI-focused studio is seeking to raise $15 million.
The filing, submitted last week to the Securities and Exchange Commission, says the company is offering equity in return for cash investment. It lists Aronofsky and producing partner Dylan Golden as chief executives of the venture.
According to the filing, Primordial Soup has already sold a little more than $11 million in equity this month. A spokesperson for Aronofsky did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
The raise comes after Aronofsky, the filmmaker behind “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan,” began showing what his new studio wants to do with artificial intelligence in film and animation.
Primordial Soup is building around AI production
Variety reported that Primordial Soup has been hiring for a “Head of Studio” and several “Generative Artists,” with the roles tied to AI-centered projects.
The company launched a year ago and partnered with Google’s DeepMind unit on a slate of short films. Under that partnership, filmmakers received guidance from Aronofsky and the DeepMind team, according to Variety.
At the time of the launch, Aronofsky framed AI as part of a long line of filmmaking tools that changed how stories could be told.
“Filmmaking has always been driven by technology,” Aronofsky said in a statement then. “After the Lumiere brothers and Edison’s ground-breaking invention, filmmakers unleashed the hidden storytelling power of cameras. Later technological breakthroughs, sound, color, VFX, allowed us to tell stories in ways that couldn’t be told before. Today is no different. Now is the moment to explore these new tools and shape them for the future of storytelling.”
A Revolutionary War project followed
Since its launch, Primordial Soup has developed the animated series “On This Day… 1776,” Variety reported.
That project used a mix of AI tools and conventional filmmaking techniques to recreate moments from the year America was founded, according to the report. The series also used human voice actors, Variety previously reported.
The new fundraising filing puts a dollar figure on the company’s next step. With more than $11 million already sold out of a planned $15 million raise, Primordial Soup is asking investors to back Aronofsky’s bet that AI can become part of mainstream screen production.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.