The Sora-Disney Collapse: What Does It Mean?

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment On Tuesday afternoon the bomb dropped. OpenAI was closing down Sora, and its Disney deal was over. The big video-generation tool that was supposed to turn Disney+ into a user-generated paradise — or a field of memeslop, depending on your point of view — is no longer. And maybe, with it, OpenAI’s Hollywood ambitions are gone too. Three veteran Hollywood Reporter editors — editorial director David Katz and senior editors Steven Zeitchik and Julian Sancton — convened to make sense of the news. Steven Zeitchik : Gentlemen, we have the biggest story in Hollywood and tech in many months. Sora is dead and Disney+ won’t be Sora-fied. What’s your first reaction? Related Stories Business OpenAI to Shut Down the Sora Video App Movies Disney's Live-Action 'Cinderella' Spinoff 'Stepsisters' Lands Director Akiva Schaffer, 'Naked Gun' Writers David Katz: From a Disney perspective I’m thinking of [new CEO] Josh D’Amaro and what a crazy development it is for him. They probably sold this to Wall Street as a future-proofing 100X opportunity. And now they have to explain why the opportunity went away. SZ: The next earnings call is going to be a trip — giant Gilda Radner-style “never mind” incoming. Of course he can just put the blame on Bob Iger — gently — and say this was his predecessor’s questionable decision. DK: It’s a lot for a new CEO to deal with but it’s true he wasn’t the man in charge when the deal was done. And at least it does get him out of something that was unpopular in Hollywood. They will — presumably — get their billion-dollar investment back, even if now it can’t earn that supposed multiple and all that Valley-style growth they were eyeing. Julian Sancton: I think it’s clear how much Disney was annoyed by this. They put out a statement sayi...