Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind Blade Runner 2049, has sued Tesla, Inc; Elon Musk; and Warner Bros. Discovery for using imagery from the film at Tesla’s launch event of its robotaxi on 10 October 2023 without permission, even after being refused by the film’s producers, which used AI to create that and is also false endorsement and great financial appropriation.
For one, the event title was a play on the name of the I, Robot franchise, which caught the eye of the latter’s director, Alex Proyas, who claims that Musk simply borrowed some designs from his film. In fact, Proyas even teased Musk by jokingly asking him to “give back” his designs through social media, but some dismiss his claim as far-fetched as the film, too, had its fair share of derivative elements.
The association with Blade Runner is so old for Musk since he has cited the first film several times and referred to the movie as the inspiration for Tesla Cybertruck. This is yet another contentious instance in the public exchanges that go between Musk and popular culture.