Netflix took the industry by storm earlier this year when it acquired Ben Affleck’s mysterious AI company Interpositive.
What kind of company was it? What tools have they created for filmmakers? How will Netflix use them, and how will they use Affleck, who in the deal committed to serve as a senior advisor to the company?
Then there was the issue of price. How much was the company worth to the streaming giant? Thanks to a new securities filing, we now know the answer to that last question.
Netflix disclosed in an SEC filing on Friday that it paid $587 million in cash for InterPositive. The disclosure was made on the company’s Form 10-Q, which read, “In March 2026, the Company completed an acquisition for approximately $587 million in aggregate cash consideration, accounted for as a business combination.”
Netflix announced the deal on March 5, although InterPositive was not named in the filing. The sale price was also disclosed in the company’s first quarter 10-Q filing in May.
InterPositive was founded in 2022 when the multi-hyphenate began exploring the AI space, with a special focus on innovative visual effects, without affecting the creative part of filmmaking, from writing and directing to acting and production design.
“I knew I had a responsibility to my colleagues and the industry to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it. In creating Interpositive, I sought to do just that,” Affleck wrote in a post at the time. “From the invention of video to the transition to digital, from motion capture to virtual production, technology has evolved along with the artists who use it. Our shared commitment to continuing this tradition, coupled with Netflix’s decades of experience responsibly applying and extending technology, makes working together a natural next step.”
The company acquired its own data set with a closed soundstage, which ultimately led to the company’s first model. Affleck wrote that the model was “trained to understand visual logic and editing consistency while maintaining film rules under real-world production challenges such as missing shots, background substitutions, and incorrect lighting.”
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during the company’s earnings call this week that about 300 productions are currently using AI in their processes, primarily post-production.
“Gen AI is rapidly scaling across the entire creative process, from concept to previs, post and delivery,” Sarandos said. “We are creating high-quality output more quickly and efficiently than using traditional methods. That’s why the gen AI workflow is currently being used on about 300 titles, with the greatest concentration so far being in post-production. However, we leverage gen AI for the most complex shots and sequences.”
Netflix co-head cited Tom Hanks-backed doc as example american experimentincluded 17 minutes of what Sarandos called “AI-enhanced” footage. “This has allowed us to expand the range of the series in a way that was not previously possible. At 17 minutes, it was produced twice as fast and at half the cost compared to previous options,” he added.
