Oscar-Nominated Film and TV Studio XTR Acquires AI Animation Studio Late Night Labs (EXCLUSIVE)

Oscar-nominated film and television studio XTR has acquired Late Night Labs, an AI film and animation studio that describes itself as artists-led. With the acquisition of Late Night Labs and its proprietary AI technology, XTR is launching and creating a holding company, Asteria Film Co., which will focus on producing animation, fiction and non-fiction film and television, as well as house XTR’s streaming platform and Fast channel Documentary+.

Asteria Film Co. is named after the Greek goddess of constellations and was co-founded by Bryn Mooser, a filmmaker and entrepreneur. The studio expects to debut its first projects later this year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Late Night Labs has been building the Pixar of AI. They are a best-in-class team of animators, engineers and artists and have built groundbreaking new technology that enables artists and filmmakers to unlock creativity like never before,” Mooser said. “They empower rather than replace filmmakers by amplifying their vision and ultimately making more stories possible.” 

“We are thrilled to join Bryn in launching and building Asteria,” said Late Night Labs co-founder Benjamin Michel. “Bryn has been leading the industry in this work by innovating and creating new formats of entertainment — first in virtual and augmented reality with his last company RYOT and then with distribution and production with XTR.” 

Late Night Labs, co-founded by Michel, Eric Day and Nick Confalone, boasts proprietary AI technology that it says gives artists more control and agency over AI tools used to produce creative work. Using this technology, Asteria will produce a slate of narrative films and television with leading filmmakers. XTR will continue to make non-fiction films, series, podcasts and shorts. Its channel, Documentary+, will continue to be offered on smart televisions (it has a reach of over 120 million American homes).

Mooser added: “We sit at a crossroads in the entertainment industry and AI represents the most significant leap forward in technology since the computer. It is in these moments of change that the future gets written. And we want to make sure we help shape this moment responsibly and in service of the artists, not the other way around.”

XTR is best known for its feature documentary “Daughters,” which earned raves when it premiered at Sundance and scored a deal from Netflix. It is considered to be a 2025 Oscar contender. The company has also worked on the Oscar-nominated feature documentary, “Ascension” (MTV Documentaries), the Oscar-nominated animated short “Ninety Five Senses” (Documentary+), the Emmy-winning and Peabody Award-winning documentary, “The Territory” (National Geographic/Disney+), the Emmy-nominated film “Lakota Nation vs. the US” (IFC Films) and the Emmy-nominated series “They Call Me Magic” (AppleTV+).

Founded in 2019, XTR is backed by the venture-capital firm General Catalyst.