Remember the viral “Will Smith eating spaghetti” clip that looked like a nightmare cooked up in a microwave? That was April 2023, and it was painfully obvious the video was AI-generated.
Fast forward to 2026, and that same prompt has basically become an unofficial AI benchmark. With each new text-to-video model, the spaghetti gets less demonic and more disturbingly realistic.
Now Roku $ROKU ( ▼ 0.41% ) CEO Anthony Wood thinks we’re heading somewhere even bigger: the first 100% AI-generated hit movie, and soon.
Roku’s Bold Prediction: AI’s First Real Box Office Moment
In an interview at CES last week, Wood said he believes we’ll see a fully AI-generated hit movie within the next three years.
Not “a short film.”
Not “a viral clip.”
Not “a decent Netflix background movie.”
A hit movie.
It’s a forecast that fits perfectly into the 2026 corporate vibe, where every CEO is either building AI or pretending to build AI.
Why Roku Is Betting on AI So Hard
Roku’s stock is still down about 77% from its 2021 peak, and the company is trying to lean into AI as a way to rebuild momentum.
Wood described Roku’s AI push as covering multiple parts of the platform, including:
voice-activated AI assistants on Roku TVs
more intelligent content recommendations
better ad targeting and personalized advertising
That last part matters most. Roku’s core money-maker is its platform business, which is mostly advertising, and AI is basically the cheat code for squeezing more revenue out of every user session.
The company has also finally returned to profitability for the first time since the pandemic, as platform revenue growth continues to stabilize the business.
Roku Is Bigger Than People Think
Variety recently called Roku “the world’s largest streaming platform,” and while people argue over what “largest” really means, Roku is undeniably everywhere.
According to Roku’s most recent shareholder letter, Roku devices are now in over 50% of broadband homes in the U.S., making it one of the dominant gateways through which Americans actually access streaming services.
Roku is not Netflix. It’s not Disney+. It’s the front door.
The Real AI Opportunity: Cheap Content
If AI can meaningfully lower the cost of producing compelling content, Roku’s streaming ambitions get a massive boost.
That could especially benefit Howdy, the $3-per-month ad-free streamer Roku acquired last year. Wood framed Howdy as going back to the cheaper part of streaming, where the industry “actually started.”
If AI can produce hit-level content at a fraction of today’s Hollywood budgets, platforms like Howdy suddenly have a real shot at competing on content without spending like a studio.
Bottom line: Roku’s CEO isn’t saying AI will just help make movies cheaper. He’s saying AI will make movies, period. And Roku wants to be the platform where the first real AI blockbuster goes mainstream.