Disney Officially Invests USD 1 Billion in OpenAI. Will Sora Take Over Hollywood?

TradingKey – Walt Disney Co. on Thursday (December 11) announced a $1 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI, granting the latter authorization to use its extensive portfolio of renowned intellectual properties, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, within OpenAI's AI video generation tool, Sora. Disney shares closed up 2.42% following the announcement.

This landmark deal means that everyday users will soon be able to input a prompt into ChatGPT, such as “Iron Man and R2-D2 playing golf,” and within seconds receive an officially licensed, high-definition AI-generated short video.

Notably, Disney has transitioned from litigation to collaboration in just 18 months.

In 2023, a core demand of the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union and the Writers Guild of America during their strikes was to prohibit film and television companies from using AI to replicate actors' likenesses and voices. Giants like Disney, Universal, and Warner collectively sided with the unions, viewing OpenAI, Midjourney, and Stability AI as copyright infringers.

By 2024, Disney and Universal directly partnered to sue Midjourney. Furthermore, on December 10, 2025, just one day before the announced deal with OpenAI, Disney sent a legal letter to Google, accusing Gemini and Imagen of generating images of characters like Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man on a massive scale, constituting “industrial-scale infringement.”

Yet, overnight after sending that legal threat, Disney and OpenAI signed a three-year deep collaboration agreement.

The market’s immediate question is why Disney suddenly extended an olive branch to AI.

In fact, Disney's management recognized the inherent risks posed by AI and, after weighing the pros and cons, chose to embrace it.

According to sources familiar with the matter, OpenAI gave Disney a private demonstration in the summer of 2025, generating a 60-second, 4K video using Sora 2 titled "Deadpool riding a lightsaber on the planet Avatar." The astonishing realism of the details convinced Disney that rather than letting unregulated AI freely use their intellectual property, it was better to take control themselves.

Disney annually spends over $25 billion on content, but in the era of short-form video, user attention is largely captured by platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. The cost of traditional animation, compared to Sora generating equivalent quality, can differ by tens of thousands of times. More importantly, Generation Z and Alpha have already integrated "AI-driven humor" into their daily entertainment.

So, what did Disney acquire for $1 billion?

Disney's $1 billion investment secures a partial equity stake in OpenAI, making Disney another heavyweight institutional investor alongside Microsoft, SoftBank, and Coca-Cola.

Additionally, Disney gains access to OpenAI's products. In 2026, Disney will launch a dedicated "Sora Select" section, allowing users to watch official AI-edited short films and also generate their own content within a strictly controlled environment. Disney will also indirectly receive a share of the revenue, as OpenAI must pay licensing fees to Disney for each commercial Sora-generated video featuring Disney characters.

While investors might worry about the potential impact of Disney's AI investment on its existing intellectual property, if Disney can leverage AI to retain the next generation of users and enhance engagement for both new and existing audiences, such a move would be entirely prudent for the company.

For OpenAI, this deal not only expands its AI generation capabilities but also provides direction for future streaming partnerships. Furthermore, it implicitly boosts OpenAI's valuation. Currently, as OpenAI is not publicly listed, retail investors may only gain exposure and potential returns through investments in Microsoft, which holds approximately a 30% stake in OpenAI.

Beyond the surface-level partnership announcement, the deeper significance lies in Disney paving a new path for the streaming industry with a tangible investment, marking the sector's exploration of AI. The market is now betting on other film and TV studios to follow suit, with executives from Warner, Paramount, and Sony already publicly stating they are “evaluating similar deals.” The only remaining suspense is who will be the next member of the “$1 billion club.”