Analyst sees Disney/OpenAI deal as a dividing line in entertainment history

said Nicholas Gross, director of consumer internet and fintech research at Ark Invest luck Tools like Sora effectively recreate the “YouTube Moment” of video production, offering professional-level creation capabilities to anyone with a quick request rather than a studio budget. In his view, this shift will flood the market with AI-generated clips and series, making it extremely difficult for any new creator or franchise to take off from what it was in the early social video era. His comments echoed analysis by Melissa Otto, head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha, who recently said: luck Netflix’s big move for Warner Bros. He reveals that the streaming giant is motivated by a need to deepen its war chest as it sees Google’s AI video capabilities explode with the advent of TPU chips.

As low-cost synthetic videos proliferate, Gross said he believes audiences will begin to mentally divide entertainment into “pre-AI” and “post-AI” categories, giving importance to work that humans largely accomplished before generative tools became ubiquitous. “I think you’ll have a basic division between pre-AI content and post-AI content,” he said, adding that viewers will consider pre-AI content closer to “true art, made solely with human ingenuity and creativity, and not this regression of AI, for lack of a better word.”

Disney’s intellectual property as fuel for artificial intelligence

Within that framework, Gross said Disney’s real advantage lies not just in its access to Sora, but in the depth of its pre-AI catalog across animation, live-action films and television. Famous franchises such as star warsClassic princess movies and vintage animated characters have become the building blocks for a global experience in AI-assisted storytelling, as fans actively test-market new scenarios at scale.​

“I actually think, and this may be counterintuitive, that the pre-AI content that existed, was Harry Potterthe star wars“All the content that we grew up with… is actually becoming increasingly more valuable to the entertainment landscape,” Gross said. On the one hand, Gross said, there are deals like Disney and OpenAI where IP can become user-generated content, but on the other hand, IP represents a solid content path for future shows, movies and the like.

Gross charted a feedback loop in which Disney could watch AI-generated character casts or story settings resonate online, then selectively “pull” the most promising concepts into professionally produced, higher-budget projects for Disney+ or theatrical release. He added: “From a Disney standpoint, we didn’t know that Cinderella walking on Broadway and interacting with this type of character, whatever it may be, was something that would interest our audience.” The OpenAI deal is exciting because Disney can bring this content to its streaming arm Disney+ and make it even more premium. “We will use our studio pieces to turn this into something a little more luxurious than an individual could make.”

Gross agrees that the emerging market for pre-AI film and TV libraries is similar to what happened in the music business, where old catalogs by artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have fetched huge sums from buyers betting on their long-term streaming and licensing value.

The big Netflix-Warner deal

For streaming rivals, the Disney-OpenAI deal is a strategic warning shot. Gross said the high prices in the Warner Bros. bidding war were high. Between Netflix and Paramount shows the importance of intellectual property for the next stage of entertainment. “I think that’s why it’s so tender [for Warner Bros.] The value of the content library is approaching $100 billion and the possibility of a Disney-OpenAI type deal.” In other words, whoever controls Batman and the like will control the inevitable versions of those AI-generated characters, although “they could have a franchise like Harry Potter Then just create the slope around it.

Gross said Netflix has a strong track record of monetizing libraries, and listed an example of how defunct American drama Suits It skyrocketed in popularity once it arrived on Netflix, proving that extensive back catalogs can be revived and monetized when matched for modern distribution.

Gross cited Nintendo and Pokemon as examples of under-monetized franchises that could see a similar upside if their owners strike Sora-style deals to bring characters deeper into mobile and social environments.

In that environment, the Ark analyst notes, Disney’s OpenAI deal is less a one-time licensing win than an early model of how legacy media owners can survive and thrive in an AI-saturated market. Companies with rich pre-AI catalogs and a willingness to try new tools will be better positioned to stand out amid the “AI slump” and turn nostalgia-laden intellectual property into durable, resilient assets for the post-AI era, he said.

Underlying all of this is a broader battle for attention that extends far beyond traditional studios and shows how the sectors between technology and entertainment are murkier than they were when Silicon Valley hackers first rushed into streaming. Gross points out that Netflix itself has long framed its competition as everything from TikTok and Instagram to Fortnite and “sleep,” a mindset that fits naturally with the coming wave of AI-generated videos and interactive experiences. (In 2017, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings said that Sleep was one of the company’s biggest competitors because it was busy pioneering binge-watching.)

Gross also sounded a warning for the post-AI content era: You’ll no longer be satisfied with constant viewing, and there will be some kind of backlash. As critics like New York Times“Increasingly, James Poniewozik notes that streaming shows don’t seem to be as rewatchable as even the latest hits from the golden age of cable TV, like mad men. Gross said he sees a future in which endangered movie theaters make a comeback. “People will want to go outside and meet or go to the theater. We won’t just want to be fed by AI for 16 hours a day.”

Editor’s Note: The author worked at Netflix from June 2024 to July 2025.