Harry Potter-inspired horror film lands US and UK release after being dubbed into English by AI

The film follows a rebellious teenage girl who must learn witchcraft to save her family

A new Spanish-language horror movie from Argentina has landed a UK and US release after being dubbed into English using artificial intelligence.

The Witch Game, from writer-director Fabian Forte, was partly inspired by the Harry Potter series.

The film follows a rebellious teenage girl (Lourdes Mansilla) who receives a gift on her birthday containing a virtual game that transports her into a mysterious occult world where she must learn witchcraft at a medieval school of magic in order to save her family from the devil.

The film will be released in the UK and US in the first three months of 2025.

Forte’s previous credits include Mala carne, Retratos del Apocalipsis and the Argentine Film Critics Association Award-nominee La corporación.

Along with Mansilla, the film also stars Ezequiel Rodriguez, Virginia Lombardo, Natalia Grinberg, Alexia Moyano, Martin Borisenko, Sebastian Sinnott and Denise Barbara.

Lourdes Mansilla in ‘The Witch Game’ (Jinga Films)

Last month, Ben Affleck raised eyebrows after voicing a very eloquent defence for the use of artificial intelligence in the movie industry, arguing that it will benefit filmmakers in the long run.

The use of AI in film has been a hot topic as of late, with the likes of Robert Downey Jr and James Gunn firmly speaking out against the technology, whereas individuals such as James Cameron have embraced it.

Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha 2024 investor summit, Affleck voiced his support for AI but said that it cannot possibly replace “human beings making films.”

When asked if AI should be perceived as a threat, the Oscar winner said: “Movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI.”

Continuing, the 52-year-old Good Will Hunting star said: “AI can write you excellent, imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan. It cannot write you Shakespeare.”

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He continued: “What AI is going to do is going to disintermediate the laborious, less creative and more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow costs to be brought down, that will lower the barrier for entry, that will allow more voices to be heard, that will make it easier for the people that want to make ‘Good Will Huntings’ to go out and make it.”

The Argo director added: “That’s how large video models and large language models basically work. Library of vectors of meaning and transformers that interpret it in context, right? But they’re just cross-pollinating things that exist. Nothing new is created.

“AI for this world of generative video, is going to do key things more, meaning — I wouldn’t like to be in the visual effects business, they’re in trouble. Because what costs a lot of money is now going to cost a lot less. And it’s going to hammer that space and already is and maybe it shouldn’t take a thousand people to render something but it’s not going to replace human beings making films.”