Antonio Banderas will star in Utopai's AI-enabled film Cortés

Antonio Banderas will star as the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in "Cortés," an AI-enabled historical epic directed by French filmmaker Paul Mignot from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Nicholas Kazan, produced as a co-production between Utopai Studios and Ex Machina Studios. The two studios announced the project on October 12, 2026; Variety reported it the same day, and Deadline followed.

Both studios co-finance the film and split worldwide sales: Utopai Studios leads in the United States, Canada, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, while Ex Machina Studios leads most of Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Variety reported. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Production is underway in Paris, with additional shooting scheduled in Spain, according to the studios' press release. The studios describe "Cortés" as AI-enabled, not AI-generated. The release says the film is being brought to the screen "through a new production approach that combines traditional filmmaking with next-generation production technologies," and Utopai Studios' project page says the studio will use "AI-enabled production tools" to overcome the scale and cost limits that kept the project off screen. Variety's headline calls it "AI-powered."

"Cortés is exactly why we built Utopai Studios," said Cecilia Shen, co-founder and CEO of Utopai Studios, in the release. "Our job is to build the production around that vision. Nicholas has written an extraordinary screenplay, Paul has a clear cinematic point of view and Antonio brings the humanity needed at the center of it."

Marco Weber, CEO and co-founder of Ex Machina Studios and a producer on the film, said "a historical epic works best if you believe the people at the center of it," adding that Banderas "gives us a Cortés who can be commanding, complicated and deeply human." Weber is a former co-CEO of Utopai Studios.

Utopai Studios launched in 2022, founded by former Google engineers Cecilia Shen and Jie Yang, and grew out of Cybever, a video-generation company, Screen Daily reported. It has developed PAI, a proprietary cinematic storytelling engine, and holds 25 original projects including three feature films. Ex Machina Studios launched in January 2026, founded by Weber, filmmaker Martin Weisz and Pluto TV co-founder Tom Ryan.

Banderas is the latest Hollywood veteran to attach to an AI-focused studio. Netflix acquired InterPositive, Ben Affleck's AI filmmaking technology company, in March 2026, paying $587 million in cash according to a regulatory filing reported by TechCrunch. Amazon MGM Studios runs an AI Studios division and in May 2026 announced Project Nara, an AI production platform built on AWS. Google and A24 announced a research partnership in June 2026, with Google investing roughly $75 million, The Verge reported, citing The Wall Street Journal.

Utopai Studios' other slate includes an AI-assisted animated adaptation of "The Most Serious Fart," a fully AI-generated "Journey to the West: The Lost Five Hundred Years" with Huace, and the live-action feature "Half Moon."

For creators, the deal points to more studio-grade productions moving through AI-enabled pipelines. "Cortés" is an announced production, not a finished film, and the studios have not named the tools it will use.

"Cortés" is in production in Paris, with shooting in Spain to follow; Utopai Studios lists the film for release in 2027.