Lead With AI
How Showtime AI Plans to Reinvent Moviegoing by 2030—And Save Cinema Along the Way
Tue, 20 May 2025
In this episode of Lead with AI, Dr. Tamara Nall sits down with Ben Arnon, co-founder of Color Farm Media, and creator of Showtime AI, to unpack the quiet crisis facing movie theaters and delves into the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in revitalizing the movie theater industry. With decades-old infrastructure and seats sitting empty outside blockbuster weekends, theaters are operating at just 15–25% capacity. Arnon shares how Showtime AI is uses a community driven data, dynamic scheduling, and hyper-personalized recommendations to rebuild the movie going experience from the ground up, envisioning "a time where a theater manager sees like a 23% of 35% revenue increase within six months." Instead of static showtimes and unpredictable attendance, Showtime AI will enable theaters to adapt in real time to audience demand, optimizing showtimes, pricing, and even the concession experience to fit viewer habits. Arnon describes a future where every part of the theater journey feels orchestrated just for you; and where the cinematic experience returns to being something truly special and how AI can play a pivotal role in bringing audiences back to theaters and ensuring the sustainability of the cinema industry. If you care about the future of entertainment, this conversation is a must-listen. 📬 Follow Ben’s work and thinking at: benarnon.substack.com
Chapter 1: What innovative approach does Showtime AI bring to movie theaters?
What if you could run an entire movie theater with nothing but AI and a big idea? No developers, no code, no massive budget, just smart tools, clear vision, and what Ben Arnon calls vibe coding. Today on Lead with AI, I'm joined by Ben Arnon, media executive, tech investor, and the creator of Showtime AI. an AI-powered platform that's reshaping the way theaters operate and make money.
With Showtime AI, theaters can now dynamically schedule showtimes, optimize pricing on the fly, allocate screens with precision, and boost concession sales all through AI. If you're fascinated by the intersection of entertainment and emerging tech, I want to know how AI is quietly rewriting the future of physical experiences. This episode is for you.
Chapter 2: How can AI improve movie scheduling and pricing?
Let's dive into the world of a builder reimagining movie theaters from the ground up. Let's get into it. Welcome to Lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall. In each episode, we will take you behind the scenes with the visionary leaders shaping the future of AI across public and private sectors.
Join us as we explore groundbreaking projects and innovations that are transforming industries and making a real impact on people's lives. Let's dive in. So hi, everyone. How are you? My name is Dr. Tamara Nall. I'm the host of Lead with AI podcast. And I'm very, very excited to have Ben Arnon as our guest today. Ben and I actually go way back to Emory University when we were there together.
So I'm just full circle. Very, very happy to have you here, Ben. Glad to be here. Yes, for people to learn about Showtime AI. But first, before we get started, just tell us a little bit about you, who you are at your core. You know, as I've been speaking to guests, every AI product really starts with a deeper vision.
So what was the moment or the problem that you were solving and how does your background fit into Showtime AI?
Chapter 3: What sparked the creation of Showtime AI?
Yeah. Well, thanks for inviting me on here. And this is a great podcast. Um, so my background is a mix of media slash entertainment and technology. And, uh, and I've, you know, produced films and I've worked at places like universal pictures and Jersey films. And, you know, I love, I love film and cinema and I love going to the movie theater.
And there's actually a movie theater, literally two blocks down the street from me where I live. So over the winter, you know, I live in New York, so it was cold. So I went to a lot of movies this winter and, um, You know, in general, I'm always fascinated. I've always kind of been fascinated by the disconnect between technology and traditional industries.
And, you know, movie theaters are running on systems that were designed decades ago, and they're operating at oftentimes like 15 to 25% capacity, especially outside of blockbuster weekends. Like I was going to a lot of movies over the winter, great movies, but I'd be in the theater with like five other people or six other people. And, you know, and so the spark came, you know, around that.
I thought to myself, That doesn't really make sense. And so it hit me. Theaters are kind of using these static schedules and pricing in a dynamic. And what's a dynamic world? They're just doing like static pricing. But, you know, you have airlines and hotels have kind of solved this years ago. Right. With like advanced yield management.
And so the vision for Showtime AI really wasn't about just building another app. It was about reimagining the entire movie ecosystem and really saving an industry that I care deeply about. After COVID and streaming, movie theaters are in trouble. So I think Showtime AI is a solution that can help to bring people back to the theaters and help make it make more sense for people to come to theaters.
That's amazing. Now you, you, you have produced some movies and some films. So just tell us about those. I wanted to sneak that in there too.
Yeah, well, you know, we went to college together in Atlanta, so I'm really proud to have produced John Lewis' Good Trouble about the famed congressman. Yeah, I also produced an Audible series called Finding Tamika, which won a DuPont Columbia Award and a Webby Award. So really excited about that, working on some scripted film and TV content as well, and also a scripted Audible series.
So, you know, lots of exciting things on that front. You know, from a moviegoer perspective, I love the theater. I know it's a little bit of a throwback, but I love going to the movies and watching the movies in the theater. So, you know, so I did a lot of that over the winter.
Yeah, particularly since you live two blocks away from movie theater. I know that lives that close to movie theater.
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Chapter 4: What are the ethical considerations in using AI for moviegoing?
I appreciate that.
Okay. So we always have as a part of our segment, a question call from one genius to another. So our last guest has a question for you. And that is how can people ensure that AI companies design their systems to serve the public good, not just corporate efficiency and profits?
Chapter 5: How does Showtime AI ensure fairness and accessibility?
Yeah, we covered that a little bit before. I think it's the mindset. I think it has to be infused into the DNA of the corporate culture of any AI company, any company that's utilizing AI. Again, like for the most part, we're all using the same model. We're all using that GPT or a cloud or, you know, Google Gemini or what have you.
So, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of the responsible ethical elements of AI are really dependent upon those models. Those models have to get it right. And I know that, you know, anthropic for instance, is like super focused on, you know, responsible AI and, and, you know, chat GPT and Google say the same thing.
But for any layer that's sitting on top of those models, I think it's just important that we also think about all of the... AI, I think, is incredible and has the ability to enhance everyone's life and propel people forward. you know, into a new stratosphere if people can harness the power and potential of AI.
But we can never take for granted that it could also go in a whole different direction and it could be incredibly harmful in a lot of different ways. So that always needs to be on the minds of anyone building with AI. And, you know, we talked about before a little bit how we're thinking about that. Great, great question.
It should be something that anyone, I'm going to throw this to you, anyone leading with AI should be thinking about. There you go.
Love it. Love that, love that, love that. All right, rapid fire, most overrated tech trend?
I'd say metaverse real estate. I think creating artificial scarcity in a world of infinite digital possibility sort of kind of misses the point entirely.
Okay, most underhyped AI breakthrough.
I'd say multimodal reasoning. I know that's kind of dorky to say, but it's AI that can think across text, images, audio, and data simultaneously. It's how humans naturally process the world. And I think it's going to change everything about human to AI collaboration.
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Chapter 6: What does the future of cinema look like by 2030?
all that we could be bombarded with with AI. So that sort of notion of subtracting and gaining more from less, I think is super important.
Okay, got it. What about the boldest AI prediction you believe in?
I think by 2028, the most valuable skill in business will not be prompt engineering or coding. I think it will be defining meaningful problems for AI to solve. We're moving from an era where technical implementation was the bottleneck to one where human integration and imagination evolved. is the limiting factor. And, you know, I started a Substack recently, benarnon.substack.com.
I'm talking a lot about this, about the power of interdisciplinary thinking, the power of that integrative model and orchestration. And so, yeah, I think that that's where it's at. And that's my bold prediction.
All right. Awesome. Okay. So make us believers. What's one thing that our listeners can try and build or explore this week to get a taste of Showtime AI?
I'd say try this experiment this week. So next time you're planning to see a movie, notice all the friction points in your decision process. Like when are the show times? Which theater? What's the right price point for you? Then imagine if an AI already knew your preferences and had optimized all these variables.
And that gap between your current experience and what's possible is exactly what we're addressing. So for those building in the AI space, for instance, look for those similar disconnects in traditional industries and those places where static systems are trying to serve dynamic human needs.
And I believe that that's where AI can create not just incremental improvements, but the transformative new possibilities. And we're approaching the summer season, lots of blockbusters that people love to go to. So lots of movie going experiences. So I'd say run through that experiment.
Awesome. That's amazing. We can do that. We can do that. Figure out all that friction points. That's amazing. Well, Ben, I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I mean, I'm just over here so proud and just smiling. I mean, 30 years ago on the campus of Emory University, we met and here you are today. founder in Showtime AI.
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