Hollywood's AI anxiety is a distribution problem, not a creative one.

The consensus read on Hollywood passing on the Guadagnino film is that it reveals institutional cowardice around AI subject matter. That reading flatters the studios. The likelier truth is simpler and less interesting: the film is an unproven commercial property about a technology executive, a format with a poor box office track record regardless of the director's name. The AI conflict-of-interest narrative gives studios a principled-sounding excuse for a decision that was always going to be made on projected returns. Neon and Mubi staying interested does not contradict this: both platforms regularly acquire films that major studios would not touch precisely because their economics require critical prestige rather than mainstream volume. The story is less about AI anxiety and more about a fairly ordinary risk calculation dressed in a culturally convenient frame.