“Lies as Easily as Breathing”: Musk, Altman and Zuckerberg Become Hollywood’s New Villains

Zuckerberg becomes a screen villain as ‘Social Reckoning’ bombs at the box office

Amazon abandons distribution of ‘Artificial,’ due in theaters in December, amid pressure allegations and a dismal showing

The Silicon Valley titans who lead America’s “big tech” companies and the billionaire founders of “artificial intelligence (AI)” firms are being portrayed as Hollywood’s new villains, drawing intense scrutiny from popular culture.

On Dec. 11, a number of documentaries and films targeting Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX; Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta; and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, had either recently opened or were preparing for release, according to the U.S. technology and film industries. But the projects have been caught up in “pressure allegations,” including abandoned distribution deals and rejected advertising. Despite generating widespread buzz, they have performed disastrously at the box office.

Tech titans portrayed as power-hungry psychopaths

The film ‘Social Reckoning,’ which opened Dec. 9, is a sequel of sorts to David Fincher’s 2010 film ‘The Social Network,’ arriving 16 years after the earlier film focused on Zuckerberg. It examines whistleblower Frances Haugen’s “internal whistleblower case,” which exposed the dangers of Facebook’s algorithms, and has been praised for portraying Zuckerberg as an even more ruthless figure than in the original. In ‘Artificial,’ which is scheduled for release during the Christmas season in December, Altman appears as an unambiguous villain. The film covers the 2023 ouster crisis inside OpenAI. The technology news outlet The Verge panned it, describing Altman as “a power-hungry psychopath who lies as easily as he breathes to get what he wants.”

Alex Gibney’s documentary ‘Musk,’ which opened at the same time, likewise labels him “an extremely dangerous man” and bills itself as “a film that starts as a dark comedy and ends as a horror movie.” ‘You Can See Everything,’ which tells the story of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving a prison sentence for fraud, will also reach audiences on Dec. 16.

Big-money distribution roadblocks meet a chilly audience response

These projects have run into the vast financial power and influence of “giant technology companies,” with problems emerging as early as production and promotion. X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and owned by Musk, entirely refused to run paid trailer advertising for the documentary ‘Musk.’ MGM Studios, a subsidiary of Amazon, also abruptly abandoned distribution of ‘Artificial,’ which had a production budget of $40 million (about 54 billion won), sparking an uproar. The prevailing view in and around Hollywood is that Amazon’s $50 billion investment in ‘OpenAI’ and the close relationship between Altman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may have played a role. Neon, the independent distributor that released ‘Parasite’ in the North American market, ultimately acquired the film’s rights.

Hollywood’s negative portrayal of technology executives reflects social anxiety over “AI technology” and the public’s increasingly cold view of the tech industry. Margaret O’Mara, a professor at the University of Washington, said, “The relationship between the public and technology was once passionate, but the speed at which that love cools is frighteningly fast.” J.M. Tyree, editor of Film Quarterly, likewise said the trend “reflects the public’s concern over the structural contradiction of power being concentrated in the hands of a few at the expense of the many.”

Outside the screen, however, the films’ box-office performance has been dismal. According to The Numbers, a U.S. box-office tracking site, ‘Social Reckoning’ grossed just $5.5 million (about 7.4 billion won) during its opening weekend, Dec. 9-11, from 2,606 theaters in North America. That stands in stark contrast to the $22 million earned by ‘The Social Network’ during its opening weekend. The documentary ‘Musk’ has also suffered a box-office flop, taking in just $68,900 (about 90 million won) from four theaters.