According to Deadline, YouTube has turned off monetization for Screen Culture and KH Studio — two channels that are notorious for their misleading, AI-generated trailers. The move comes on the heels of a Deadline-produced deep-dive investigation into the world of fake movie trailers.
While KH Studios, for instance, describes its trailers as “concept trailers,” how they are titled and presented on the channel can be misleading. For example, a trailer entitled Venom 4: King In Black includes 2025 in parentheses in the video title to indicate a release date.
The title also includes the phrase “first trailer,” while the thumbnail is designed in a way that’s visually similar to official trailers.
Why Are Fan Trailers So Popular?
In an interview with Deadline, YouTuber and fake trailer-maker VJ4rawr2 said: “The majority of fan trailers today are only popular because they’ve effectively fooled people into thinking they’re real.”
Some creators’ trailers, like VJ4rawr2’s, are outlandish, featuring the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio participating in Squid Game. The trailers from KH Studio are more grounded, with the creator making concept trailers of actual upcoming movies. As Deadline notes, these trailers “borrow heavily from official footage, but splice in AI imagery to tease irresistible details about a movie that appeal to their giant fandoms.”
Screen Culture lies somewhere in the middle, creating content based on actual movies/TV shows and aspirational fandom-driven content like Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern.
Why Isn’t Hollywood Taking Action?
You’d think that Hollywood studios would want to shut fake trailers like this down. However, according to Deadline, “a handful” of these studios allegedly let it slide in exchange for ad revenue.
This makes the fact that YouTube is clamping down on it even more intriguing. Obviously, this is a reaction to the Deadline investigation, but it also raises other questions. Is the platform taking a stand on copyright issues? Or is it finally trying to address the AI slop that now dominates most of the website?
It may well be a mixture of both, but given that the fake trailer problem is so prolific, it will take more than demonetizing two accounts to make a real difference. AI movie trailers are just one head of the AI slop hydra.
