Promise shows Disney a gray-box route to AI-assisted filmmaking

Promise Advanced Imagination used Disney Accelerator Demo Day to demonstrate a “gray-box” production workflow that replaces the chroma backdrops of conventional effects shoots with a small neutral-coloured set, digital environments and AI-assisted lighting. In the demonstration, a woman filmed in the space appeared almost instantly on a monitor as if she were standing on a cliff, with lighting and wind effects matched to the setting.

The setup used walls marked with positioning crosses and simple boxes standing in for props to be added later. Promise argues that the approach offers greater freedom of camera movement than green or blue screens, whose coloured backdrops can reflect on skin and objects and may need adjustment when a shot changes.

Dave Clark, a Promise co-founder, said a conventional green-screen changeover can occupy a crew for two to three hours. Keeping the physical space and lighting consistent should allow faster resets and more takes, while AI-assisted backgrounds and post-production lighting reduce work later in the process.

The Walt Disney Company held the 2026 Demo Day on the Walt Disney Studios lot after four months of collaboration between its teams and five Accelerator companies: Promise, OpenArt, FieldAI, Physical Intelligence and Simile. The 12-year-old programme has worked with more than 60 companies since it began.

The demonstration did not signal that Disney has put a gray-box production into development. George Strompolos, a Promise co-founder, told TheWrap that the technique remained at an early, cutting-edge stage and that Disney was not then working on a gray-box project. TheWrap identified Doug Liman’s “Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi” as the first example of a gray-box AI shoot.

Promise and Disney both framed the technology as an aid to filmmakers rather than an automated movie-making system. Most environments used by Promise are made by 3D renderers and visual-effects artists using AI as a tool, although some are wholly AI-created. Clark said the work still passes through human artists; Disney’s Josh D’Amaro said technology itself was not the goal, but a means of giving creators tools for immersive stories.

The company’s broader MUSE platform combines creator tools and production management, linking generative-AI models to workflows from script analysis and budgeting through asset creation and delivery. It is designed for animation, photoreal and hybrid live-action projects, with systems intended to manage provenance, chain of title, compliance and data security.

Promise, founded in November 2024 by Strompolos, Clark and Jamie Byrne, says it has tested its technology with Disney teams and has a series pilot in production at another studio. It also says AI-filled backgrounds can lower the capital needed for pilots while retaining the apparent scale of higher-end productions.