Sora users will soon be able to generate videos of their favourite Disney characters, including those from Pixar and Marvel – all with the company’s blessing. In a joint statement, Disney and OpenAI announced a licensing agreement to bring the former’s characters to the generative AI video platform.
Under this three-year agreement, Sora will be able to draw from a set of more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. This also includes elements like costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments. Starting early 2026, users will be able to prompt the model to generate short clips featuring the characters. The deal is not limited to just Sora, as ChatGPT will also be allowed to generate images of the same characters.
Other than the usual suspects like Mickey Mouse, users will have access to Lilo, Stitch, Simba, and Mufasa, among others. Additionally, characters from Frozen and other stories are fair game. Also included are the animated or illustrated versions of Marvel and Lucasfilm characters. Of course, “animated” is an important keyword here. As per the statement, the agreement excludes talent likenesses and voices. So in theory, the live action iterations of Captain America and the like are off-limits.
In addition to licensing its characters to the platforms, Disney will also be investing US$1 billion (~RM4.2 billion) in OpenAI, with the option to purchase additional equity later. It will also be relying on OpenAI’s APIs to build new tools and products, and will deploy ChatGPT for its employees. Moreover, the company will be streaming “curated selections” of Sora-generated videos on Disney+.
In the past, Disney has relied on AI in some of its projects. So, on one hand, its continued interest in the technology isn’t all that surprising. However, permitting the rampant generation of content of its characters is unusual for a company that aggressively protects its intellectual properties.
What will come out of this still remains to be seen, especially given the concerns surrounding generative AI. Both Disney and OpenAI promise to ensure controls are in place to ensure safety and prevent the generation of harmful content.
(Source: Disney)
