The agreement, negotiated over nearly two years, gives OpenAI access to more than 200 characters, costumes, props, vehicles, and environments across Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. Sora users will be able to generate short, user-prompted videos featuring those assets, with some of the best clips scheduled to appear on Disney+.
Cash, stock, and a one-year exclusive window
Financially, the deal runs in both directions. Disney will put $1 billion into OpenAI and receive warrants that allow it to buy additional equity at a valuation of around $500 billion, giving it upside if OpenAI continues to grow. In return, OpenAI will pay Disney licensing fees for the use of its intellectual property.
The WSJ reports that Disney also gets a one-year exclusivity period for this kind of deep IP integration: for at least 12 months, no rival studio will be able to sign a similar character-level deal with OpenAI.
Strict rules: no likenesses, no “dark” prompts
The partnership arrives after a tense year in Hollywood, where studios and unions clashed over how AI tools might remix copyrighted characters, actors’ faces and voices without consent. Disney has been particularly aggressive, recently sending a legal warning to Google over alleged misuse of its IP in generative models.
To avoid those issues with OpenAI, the companies have drawn clear red lines:
- No use of actor likenesses or voices — AI can animate the character, but not imitate the performer behind it.
- Content filters that prevent characters from being placed in sexual, violent, hateful, or overtly political scenarios, even if users request it.
- Internal review processes for how iconic characters appear in user-generated video and interactive stories.
In other words, users might soon be able to prompt Sora to create a short video of an animated Marvel hero visiting Beirut, but not to have that hero endorse a real-world candidate or participate in extremist content.
Why Disney is doing this now
Disney’s streaming business, especially Disney+, faces pressure on growth and profitability. Younger audiences are spending more time on short-form platforms driven by algorithms — TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts — and less time watching traditional, pre-programmed content. The OpenAI deal is designed to bridge that gap.
By allowing user-prompted videos and interactive stories that still live within Disney’s brand boundaries, the company hopes to:
- Make Disney+ feel more dynamic and personalised
- Experiment with new formats, from “co-created” shorts to AI-assisted localizations and trailers
- Introduce familiar characters to users who primarily interact with stories through chatbots and AI tools
For OpenAI, the deal is a high-profile answer to one of the biggest questions about generative models: how to legally access big cultural franchises without being accused of scraping or copying. If it works, Disney could become the template for other rights-holders.
What this means for creators and audiences
The deal will not neutralise all tensions. Independent artists and smaller studios worry that as tech platforms strike direct agreements with major IP owners, the playing field tilts further toward giants that can afford billion-dollar investments. At the same time, actors and writers are still negotiating how — and whether — their work should feed AI training systems.
For audiences in Lebanon and the region, the change will be felt first as new kinds of content: Disney-branded Sora clips circulating on social media, ChatGPT experiences where children can chat with a family-friendly version of a Marvel or Pixar character in Arabic or English, and possibly new formats on Disney+ tailored to mobile-first viewers.
The long-term question is not just “What can AI do with Disney?” but “Who gets to decide the rules of our shared stories?” With this $1 billion move, Disney and OpenAI are betting that they can answer that question together — without losing the magic that made those characters valuable in the first place.
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