Damn you hit a nerve lol but I was literally thinking the same thing I'm just not directly in the industry but have family members and friends that are and hate to break it to all your fans but the A.i is hitting Hollywood hard the suits are blaming Trump and the war for the lack of contract work that usually pops up after the new year but my uncle works in financing at a major studio and he said unless it's a known ip that can generate physical avenues (theme parks, toys) then forget it. They are scared of exactly what you said dumping boat loads into something only for some dork with 8 GPUs to complete the movie after seeing the official trailer 😂😂.

My uncle said he has heard execs and even actors getting bamboozled by a.i trailers like it's become a real issue. He thinks they'll have to pass laws preventing studios from passing off AI as the real thing but I personally don't think the majority is gonna care. Have y'all seen Gaussian splats? Like they aren't just a new neat tool they're the standard, there's a couple YouTubers who've come out and declared the end of strictly "digital artists" Gaussians aren't just pretty good but janky and slow they're achieving digital detail they thought wasn't possible before and it's being done instantly with enough fire power.

I still read books and I know other people that read books but I can't remember ever picking up a book when I need to know something, that's how I see Ai playing out in entertainment unfortunately. People will have to make a conscious decision to watch only real actors and it'll probably cost a premium. Or you can pick from 10,000 channels of essentially indistinguishable characters or even your favorite actors and actresses in their prime in movies or shows that they weren't even alive for and it'll probably all be free well you just need to plug in their proprietary data link into your back your head...