Cappu Films Takes Sales Rights to Sci-Fi Thriller “Overstake,” Rebuilt With Generative AI

Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has signed on as worldwide sales agent for “Overstake,” a sci-fi action thriller from writer-director Stas Mareev that pairs a live-action shoot with settings rebuilt through generative AI. The company is introducing the title to buyers at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market.

Mareev has already directed the film. He now plans to rework its environments, action and visual language at a scale he says the original production could not reach. “The performances and story remain the foundation,” he said.

The AI work is unfinished. Buyers in Busan will see a promo and a handful of completed sequences.

The story follows a wounded veteran who joins a deadly betting game for a life-changing payout. He has two hours to cross an industrial city and keep his ex-wife alive, while strangers receive phone offers to save him or stop him. The organizers turn the pair’s fight for survival into a show. Konstantin Adaev, Vika Tokareva, Oleg Chernov, Konstantin Sidikhin, Denis Starkov and Sergey Russkin make up the cast.

Cappu’s Janice Woo said sci-fi and action are core strengths for the company and that Mareev’s promo won her over.

The deal arrives as Busan embraces the technology. The market’s InnoAsia program runs Oct. 10-13 at BEXCO and counts Google DeepMind, Amazon Web Services, Kling AI and Netflix’s Eyeline Studios among its participants. Last year’s market logged 8,438 business meetings and an estimated $71.1 million in transactions.

Rebuilding a finished film with AI is a newer pitch than generating one from scratch. “Hell Grind,” a feature created entirely with Higgsfield AI tools by a team of 15, premiered at Cannes in May. Oscar organizers announced in April that works using generative AI are eligible to win, a rule shaped by controversy over this year’s winners.

Resistance remains. Some film studios have sued over AI apps that produce lookalike versions of their characters, and prominent directors worry the technology could replace jobs and change the artistic language of film. Mareev’s method keeps his actors’ performances at the center, which may ease some of that unease among buyers.

Cappu’s Busan slate also includes Shan Jiang’s Tribeca title “Ephemera,” the martial arts film “Lion Fist” and the Vanilla Ice-led “Zombie Plane.”