‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Spider-Man’ Digital-Human Pioneer Remington Scott to Head Eros Imagination (EXCLUSIVE)

The Hollywood technologist who led Gollum’s motion capture on “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” and built the first digital humans made with Light Stage technology for “Spider-Man 2” will run Eros Imagination, a new creative technology and experiences business set up by Eros Innovation.

Eros Innovation, an AI company founded by the Lulla family that draws on the film, music and IP library of Eros Media World, announced Remington Scott’s appointment as head of the unit in London. Scott will oversee creative production, the development of specialist talent and international partnerships.

The new outfit will mix human artists with visual effects, AI, digital-human tools, real-time production and games. Beyond serving Eros’ own businesses, it will go after deals with outside studios, streamers, filmmakers, game developers, musicians, estates and rights holders. It will work next to Eros Brahmand, the group’s film and content studio, and supply technology and production support for films, series, franchises and live immersive shows. Planned services run from AI-assisted filmmaking and post-production to immersive concerts, virtual production and playable game characters.

One of its first projects centers on Mohammed Rafi, the celebrated Indian playback singer. Eros has a signed deal with Rafi’s family, and the plan is an immersive music experience that combines an authorized digital performance with cinematic storytelling, high-end visuals and audience interaction. The project depends on rights and creative approvals. Eros said it is meant to introduce Rafi’s music to younger audiences. It will also give the unit digital-human and production workflows that it could reuse with other authorized artists and properties.

The unit will use Eros Innovation’s in-house Large Cultural Model (LCM) family, multimodal AI that covers language, images, video, voice and music. Eros built the models on its rights-controlled catalog, using about 1.5 trillion rights-cleared cultural tokens. Eros Imagination will team with the company’s India-based AI researchers and engineers to link the models with performance capture and real-time rendering, with humans leading the creative work. A system called Nexus will help choose the AI models and tools for each job, weighing quality, creative control, rights and cost. Eros said filmmakers and artists keep creative control.

The unit will also draw on the AI-powered Creator Studio work Eros Innovation has done with U.K. government bodies and the British creative tech sector.

Eros wants characters, artists and properties made for a film or live show to move into games, interactive stories, social content and new commercial formats where the rights allow it. The unit is also set to build digital identity systems that let artists and estates store, authorize and license digital versions of their faces, voices and performances. The company named consent, authenticity, provenance and IP protection as core principles.

Ridhima Lulla, co-founder and co-president of Eros Innovation, said Eros Brahmand is where the company develops and produces stories, while the new unit “will help build the creative technologies and experiences that allow those stories, characters and artists to move beyond the traditional boundaries of film, music and entertainment. We are not simply bringing together a production team and third-party AI tools; we are building on Eros’s own Large Cultural Models, multimodal intelligence and extensive cultural IP. Remington brings an exceptional combination of filmmaking experience, technical expertise and creative vision, and our Mohammed Rafi partnership provides a meaningful starting point.”

Scott has worked for more than 30 years across film, games and immersive entertainment. He was motion capture director on “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” and oversaw digital humans for “Superman Returns,” “Beowulf” and “Watchmen.” “Spider-Man 2” won the Academy Award for visual effects. On the games side, he has worked on “Call of Duty,” “Assassin’s Creed,” “Spider-Man” and “Just Cause.”

He also worked on two Emmy-nominated immersive productions: the Notorious B.I.G. virtual concert “Sky’s the Limit” and a Fox Sports tribute to coach Jimmy Johnson for Super Bowl LIX. His other credits include a Madison Beer virtual concert that won awards and Netflix’s “Altered Carbon” AR experience, which won a Lumiere Award. TheWrap put him on its 2022 Innovators List.

“Artificial intelligence, digital humans, real-time production and immersive technologies are giving filmmakers and creators tools that can fundamentally expand what is possible,” Scott said. “What excites me about Eros Imagination is combining these capabilities with Eros’s filmmaking heritage, extensive intellectual property and cultural intelligence. The Mohammed Rafi experience offers an opportunity to demonstrate how technology can celebrate a legendary artist while preserving the authenticity and emotional connection that made his work timeless.”

Eros said more partnerships and projects for the unit will be unveiled later.