Netflix has acquired InterPositive, the AI filmmaking startup quietly built by actor and director Ben Affleck, in a deal that Bloomberg reports could be worth up to $600 million — placing it among the streaming giant's largest acquisitions ever.

Four Years in Stealth

Affleck founded InterPositive in 2022 and kept it under wraps until Netflix announced the acquisition on March 5. The company operated with just 16 engineers, researchers, and creatives, all of whom will join Netflix as part of the deal. Affleck himself takes on a senior advisor role.

The startup built its tools on a proprietary dataset filmed on a controlled soundstage, using the vocabulary of working cinematographers and directors. The result is an AI model trained to understand visual logic, editorial consistency, and cinematic rules — not text prompts or content generation from scratch.

What It Actually Does

InterPositive tools train on a production's own dailies, then assist with post-production work: reframing shots, relighting incorrectly exposed scenes, removing wires from stunt performers, fixing continuity issues, and streamlining color workflows. Affleck was explicit that the system is not about generating new content — distinguishing it from tools like Sora or Veo3.

"The tools are designed for responsible exploration while keeping creative decisions in the hands of artists," Affleck said at the time of the deal.

Hollywood's AI Divide

Netflix plans to make InterPositive's technology available to creative partners rather than selling it commercially. Netflix CCO Bela Bajaria framed it as expanding, not replacing, creative freedom. But Hollywood's labor unions remain skeptical, raising concerns about displacement and whether AI companies are fairly compensating creators for training data.

Rivals aren't standing still: Amazon is building internal AI teams for film and TV, while Disney has an exclusive deal with OpenAI.