Obsidian, which launched this week with Imagine Entertainment as its lead partner, is an AI-powered studio startup. However, the company’s founders argue that this is not the whole story. They say their venture focuses on using technology to empower creators and make the production of entertainment and advertising more efficient and ultimately deliver even greater emotional punch.
The company was incorporated in January 2025 by Wes Walker, a commercial director from Texas, and Louis Geysens, a Belgian and CEO of the global creative studio Gang Group. The two have been working together for almost two years to launch the company. “AI gives us the opportunity to imagine beyond the limits of production,” Walker says. “This is a way to build new worlds and bring audiences closer to stories that are vivid and human.”
The co-founders say Obsidian’s approach allows them to compress production cycles from months to weeks while preserving human-driven creativity. Although Walker and Geithens both come from advertising backgrounds, they say Obsidian’s approach can also be applied to long-form entertainment productions.
“We always had high-end cinema in mind,” Walker says. The AI-enabled process Obsidian is developing is suited to commercial campaigns, which typically take much less time, but could also be applied to feature films, he said.
Obsidian has a creative partnership with Imagine, a film and television production company co-founded by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. Together, the companies are exploring how Obsidian’s director-led unit of storyboard artists, CG generalists, editors, and AI specialists can serve both Hollywood and global brands. Each unit starts with hand-drawn storyboards and “human-centered design,” Obsidian said, before moving into AI-powered iterations and high-end VFX.
Imagine’s partnership with Obsidian spans development, previs and post-production, including upcoming feature film and documentary projects.
“At Imagine, we are committed to emotionally resonant and human storytelling, and we have already seen how AI can be a valuable tool in that mission,” Justin Wilkes, president of Imagine Entertainment, said in a statement. “Obsidian’s artist-led approach is exactly the kind of collaboration we champion to amplify human creativity, and we’re excited to be working with them.”
To train its AI workflows, Obsidian uses storyboards and custom datasets developed with veteran industry artists such as Mark Vena (Logan, Passengers, War for the Planet of the Apes) and Kunitake Tani (Black Panther, The Matrix, Fight Club, Star Wars: The Last Jedi). The company’s patent-pending technology includes DigitalForge, a live team-based production system that brings AI and CGI directly onto set, allowing artists to collaborate in real-time with directors and brand partners.
“Artists are at the heart of everything we do,” Walker says. “It’s not just the technology that moves you; it’s the emotions that move you. It’s not the tools themselves that make the images feel real, the spirit tangible, and the connection with the audience unmistakable, but rather the artists using the tools.” Although Obsidian develops its own AI models, Walker says the company can work with any AI tool or VFX platform on the market.
Geysens says Hollywood filmmakers and global brands face the same challenge: producing more stories with fewer budgets. Obisidian’s DigitalForge model was “designed to do just that, efficiently scale production while maintaining creative integrity,” he says.
In addition to Imagine, Obsidian is working with Disney’s ESPN to create previs for ad campaigns, allowing sports programmers to A/B test creative beyond just a script, Walker said. Obsidian has also collaborated on films and marketing campaigns with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Longchamp, Crayola, Aramco, Amazon, and the NBA.
Obsidian (obsidian.studio) is owned by Walker and Gang Group, which was co-founded by Gheysens, and has no outside investors. The company has 27 employees and hires freelancers as needed for each project. Its teams operate around the world, including Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Riyadh and Dubai.
Pictured above: Obsidian co-founders Louis Gheysens (left) and Wes Walker.
