Hollywood Week: Disney Invests $1B in OpenAI, Google, Paramount Launches Hostile Bid, Peter Greene

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Saturday, 13 December 2025 08:17

Written by Janet Walker

It was inevitable that Artificial Intelligence would move from an extra role to the lead, embraced by Hollywood studios who understand the critical importance of allowing next generation users to embrace the tentpoles of their business.

While many have heralded this week's announcement by Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, that the company would buy a $1 billion dollar stake in Open AI's Sora, a generative AI platform, and bring many of its beloved characters into the fold to be used in short form video, as brilliant others have voiced concern.

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"A curated selection of videos made with Sora will be available to stream on Disney+ as part of the three-year deal, giving the streaming service a foothold in a type of content that younger audiences, in particular, enjoy viewing and that has proved powerful for competitors like YouTube and TikTok. Sora users will be able to start generating videos with Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Yoda early next year," The New York Times reported.

Generative AI, which is commonly used, allows users to generate short form content through text. This translates to users of any AI text-to-image platform by simply typing their choice of characters (generating) into a chat window and waiting while the platform generates the AI image or video.

Even as the fingerprint of AI can be seen across the entertainment industry, Disney, the home of Mickey Mouse and one of Hollywood's oldest animated characters, has become the first major studio to join forces and control the use of its treasure trough of animated characters. In this, Disney has also issued a cease and desist letter to Google, accusing the search giant of copyright fraud on a massive scale, and using the company resources to train AI image models.

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As AI is artificial intelligence, each platform or model needs to be trained, schooled, taught, and to do this ChatGPT, Midjourney, Meta, Google, and others gather intelligence from external sources, human sources, already created, built, stored, developed, and uses tools to enhance the result.

The rapid advancement of AI has nearly every industry at a juncture of lead or catch up, many in the Entertainment Industry see this as a threat to creativity, and royalties.

"This does not, in any way, represent a threat to creators — in fact, the opposite," Mr. Iger said in a CNBC interview. "I think it honors them and respects them, in part because there's a license associated with it." He added, "Let's be mindful of the fact that these are 30-second videos," The New York Times reported.  

There is also the possibility of building residuals into the use of certain characters, such as Baby Yoda, who seems to be commonly used, and measured against downloads or usage the original creator could receive a negotiated based residual. Although as employers typically own intellectual property developed by their employees, unions would be responsible for negotiating residuals.

It may all reduce to the adage, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." AI is here to stay, whether it is an enemy of the creative industry or not, embracing the possibilities, and keeping a more watchful approach on the use, essentially allows companies to impose strict controls and boundaries on which characters are released for use.

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Paramount Launches a Hostile Takeover

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, who attempted two earlier attempts to buy Warner Bros., attempted to counter the Warner Bros., Netflix deal by launching a full scale hostile takeover.  

Netflix co-CEOs, Ted Sarandos, and Greg Peters, addressed Ellison's full on campaign to persuade Warner Bros., shareholders that the Netflix deal of $23.25 per share, plus $4.50 in Netflix Common Stock, cheated them of the full value of their share, and the Paramount/Skydance offer of $30 per share, was the better deal. Paramount's all cash offer may appear appealing, but the Netflix Common Stock outperforms Ellison's offer.

Ted Sarandos, said, during this week's USB conference in Manhattan, "In this transaction, we pick up three businesses basically that we're not currently in, meaning we have no redundancies currently, but one of them is a motion picture studio with a theatrical distribution machine. There's been a lot of speculation what we would do with this. I think it's important to note that all we are going to do with this is staying deeply committed to releasing those movies exactly the way they've released the movies today, all three of these new businesses we want to keep operating largely as they are, the theatrical business we have not talked a lot about in the past, about wanting to do it, because we've never been in that business. When this deal closes, we are in that business, and we're going to do it," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

For a company who has provided more entertainment access to a broad range of consumers, Netflix has pledged to continue to transform the living room experience, and has been presented with an opportunity to increase their offerings to an even broader base by expanding into the theatrical distribution business model, which is a boon for the industry, from the consumer to the theater owners.

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Peter Greene, Pulp Fiction Actor, Dies

Peter Greene, 60, a New York based film and television actor best known for his villain roles in "Pulp Fiction" and "Training Day," was found dead in his Manhattan apartment, on Friday, after police were called to perform a wellness check.

While details surrounding the actor's death have not been released, media reports indicate that neighbors called the NYPD to request a wellness check after Christmas music could be heard playing for more than 24 hours. When access to the apartment was finally gained, on Friday, at 3:25 pm, Greene was found dead in a pool of blood.

The New York Daily News stated, "There was no immediate indication as to the cause of death or whether foul play was suspected. Greene has a documented history of drug use, telling Premier magazine in an interview about his struggles with addiction in the 1990s."

Greene, who was someone easily recognized, even if his name remained elusive, was known for his many roles as the antagonist. His longtime manager, Gregg Edwards, said "he could play a villain better than anyone." Greene starred in Quintin Tarantino's classic "Pulp Fiction," "Training Day," and "The Mask."

This is a developing story.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five award-winning screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," a non-fiction narrative, "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," and "Songs of Freedom: A Collection of Biblical Teachings," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.