Pocket.watch has partnered with Chicago-based AI software company Vermillio to create a website where fans can make their own superhero character and then print it on products such as apparel, wallets, mugs, lunch boxes and water bottles. 

On Ryansworld.ai, kids can take a picture of themselves striking a superhero pose, and Vermillio’s AI will use that pose to create a character in the style of pocket.watch’s upcoming film Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure. The site is available worldwide (English-language only), and its merch ships internationally. To protect kids’ privacy, the platform doesn’t save any biometric data. When kids strike their superhero pose to get an image generated, no photo is actually taken. Parents should be operating the app for kids, according to a pocket.watch spokesperson. The platform is a first for pocket.watch and marks the first time personalized prints are available via on-demand products, the spokesperson adds. 

Consumers can put their AI-generated superhero onto various productss, including apparel and a lunchbox.

Pocket.watch created the site to promote and start a consumer products business based on its Ryan’s World live-action/animated film, which premieres in US theaters on August 16. The pic’s distributor, LA-based Falling Forward Films, is aiming to release it on 2,100 screens. Titan Universe Adventure (83 minutes) focuses on Ryan’s quest to save his sisters after they are sucked into a mystical comic book. 

Ryan’s World, the biggest brand in pocket.watch’s stable, has amassed more than 61 million subscribers and 83 billion lifetime views with its nine YouTube channels. This deal with Vermillio extends the company’s efforts to monetize its first theatrical film, coming on the heels of a deal it signed with Republic Records: Kids & Family earlier this month to launch a movie soundtrack. 

Vermillio has been busy carving out a niche for itself by bringing AI tech to Hollywood. In January, the company partnered with WME to build a system for the agency’s clients to track and manage the use of their likenesses and voices in generative AI content, and to license their digital images to third-party companies. And in May 2023, it struck a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment that’s similar to its pocket.watch partnership. To promote Sony’s Across the Spider-Verse film, the companies launched a generative AI platform where fans could create a Spidey version of themselves.