Watch the Skies: AI “Visual Dubbing” Film Hits US Theaters May 9

The relationship between artificial intelligence and the world of cinema is tense... but inevitable. We already have deepfakes, voice synthesis, accent correction, digital de-aging, and now it’s the turn of “visual dubbing”. What does that mean? Someone can film a movie in one language, prepare the dub into another, and then use AI to alter/sync the movement of the actors’ lips. The Swedish production Watch the Skies from 2022 has been presented as “the first” to use this technology, and it will arrive in US theaters on May 9.

The cinema and television have “gifted” us multiple cases of immature or misapplied CGI and artificial intelligence. Not to go too far, the deepfakes of Rogue One and the second season of The Mandalorian were fairly poor, but the deepfake of Luke in The Book of Boba Fett was a huge leap in quality, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright lost several decades in age in Here, and The Brutalist (which won three Oscars) received AI treatment to “optimize the Hungarian accent” of its main characters.

In short, the technology is improving... so much so that in 2023, SAG-AFTRA went on strike for nearly four months to protect its members “from the threat of AI”, and its demand is still ongoing in the video game field (since July 2024 to date). But what happens when the actors themselves participate in the generative process? The answer is something like Watch the Skies, a Swedish production from 2022 that uses “visual dubbing” to English.

Watch the Skies: From Swedish to English with AI

Starting May 9, the AMC chain will bring to its theaters an alternative edition of Watch the Skies with two major changes: English dialogue recorded by the original actors, and the synchronization of their lip movements in the film. This was made possible by TrueSync technology from Flawless, which seeks to reduce the difficulty of certain foreign productions entering new markets. That is especially true in the US, where the rejection of subtitles is widespread. I still remember Bong Joon-ho, director of Parasite, when he invited the audience at the Golden Globes to “overcome the one-inch barrier” of subtitles, without much success.

Variety reports that the TrueSync tool is compatible with SAG-AFTRA’s new demands, but it will be very interesting to hear the union’s word once Watch the Skies (original title UFO Sweden) reaches a hundred AMC screens. How well does it work? Logically, Flawless chose the best frames to show off its technology, but the full trailer should appear in the coming days. Radar on.