Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
So Josh D'Amaro officially took over as Disney CEO just about a week ago, and honestly the guy has had absolutely no time to settle in. Before the ink was even dry on his new title, three pretty significant fires landed on his desk all at once and it's a lot to unpack.
First up, OpenAI just pulled the plug on Sora, its AI video platform, and that decision took Disney's $1 billion investment deal straight down with it. The deal is not moving forward according to a Disney insider, and remarkably, no actual money ever changed hands since the deal was never fully finalized.
Disney had big plans for Sora including allowing users to interact with over 200 Disney characters on the platform and eventually bringing user-generated content to Disney+.
Now all of that is just gone. Reports indicate Sora was costing as much as $15 million per day in computing power alone Yahoo Finance, which gives you a pretty good idea of why OpenAI pulled the plug. The timing could not have been worse for D'Amaro.
Then there's Epic Games. Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games back in 2024 Variety to help build out a massive gaming and entertainment ecosystem. Well, Epic just announced layoffs of over 1,000 employees, with CEO Tim Sweeney citing a downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025, saying the company is spending significantly more than it's making and needs to make major cuts to keep the company funded. That's a 20% reduction in their workforce, and it raises real questions about where that Disney investment stands.
And then on top of all of that, over on the ABC side of things, Disney pulled Taylor Frankie Paul's season of The Bachelorette just days before its premiere after TMZ published a video showing Paul attacking her ex, Dakota Mortensen, in front of her daughter back in 2023. NBC News The season was already filmed and ready to go. Disney said in a statement that in light of the newly released video, they made the decision not to move forward with the new season at this time.
Three completely different situations, three different parts of the Disney empire, all landing in week one of the D'Amaro era. In this video we're breaking all of it down and talking about what it could mean going forward for Disney under its new leadership.
Drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you think D'Amaro is up for the challenge? Let's hear it.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you never miss our latest Disney and theme park coverage!
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So Josh D'Amaro officially took over as Disney CEO just about a week ago, and honestly the guy has had absolutely no time to settle in. Before the ink was even dry on his new title, three pretty significant fires landed on his desk all at once and it's a lot to unpack.
First up, OpenAI just pulled the plug on Sora, its AI video platform, and that decision took Disney's $1 billion investment deal straight down with it. The deal is not moving forward according to a Disney insider, and remarkably, no actual money ever changed hands since the deal was never fully finalized.
Disney had big plans for Sora including allowing users to interact with over 200 Disney characters on the platform and eventually bringing user-generated content to Disney+.
Now all of that is just gone. Reports indicate Sora was costing as much as $15 million per day in computing power alone Yahoo Finance, which gives you a pretty good idea of why OpenAI pulled the plug. The timing could not have been worse for D'Amaro.
Then there's Epic Games. Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games back in 2024 Variety to help build out a massive gaming and entertainment ecosystem. Well, Epic just announced layoffs of over 1,000 employees, with CEO Tim Sweeney citing a downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025, saying the company is spending significantly more than it's making and needs to make major cuts to keep the company funded. That's a 20% reduction in their workforce, and it raises real questions about where that Disney investment stands.
And then on top of all of that, over on the ABC side of things, Disney pulled Taylor Frankie Paul's season of The Bachelorette just days before its premiere after TMZ published a video showing Paul attacking her ex, Dakota Mortensen, in front of her daughter back in 2023. NBC News The season was already filmed and ready to go. Disney said in a statement that in light of the newly released video, they made the decision not to move forward with the new season at this time.
Three completely different situations, three different parts of the Disney empire, all landing in week one of the D'Amaro era. In this video we're breaking all of it down and talking about what it could mean going forward for Disney under its new leadership.
Drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you think D'Amaro is up for the challenge? Let's hear it.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you never miss our latest Disney and theme park coverage!
► SUBSCRIBE
Capture The Magic / @capthemagic
CTM Podcast / @ctmpodcast
#Disney #JoshDAmaro #DisneyNews #OpenAI #Sora #EpicGames #Fortnite #TheBachelorette #TaylorFrankiePaul #DisneyCEO #WaltDisneyWorld #DisneyEntertainment #ABCNews #Disney2026 #EntertainmentNews
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UCtv-SO4xuwrXwu2MuDh6wZw/join
*CTM Podcast YouTube:* youtube.com/@ctmpodcast
*CTM Apparel:* https://ctmapparel.store
*Sponsored by Zip Travel Co*
Make your vacation planning a breeze and get some free gifts when you book at travelwithzip.com
