Here’s the latest news from Disney:
- Robin Williams’ voice returns as Genie from ‘Aladdin’ in new Disney short — without AI. Disney animators have brought back Robin Williams’ iconic voice as the Genie from ‘Aladdin’ in a new short film using archival recordings, not AI. The short reunites Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie.
- Disney and Charter settle cable dispute hours before ‘Monday Night Football’ season opener. Disney and Charter Communications reached a distribution agreement to restore ESPN and other Disney-owned channels just hours before the first Monday Night Football game of the season. This ends a dispute that cut service to around 15 million cable customers.
- Disney plans to accelerate investment in its theme parks to $60 billion over the next 10 years. Disney CEO Bob Chapek outlined plans to accelerate capital investments in Disney’s theme parks and resorts from $6-7 billion annually to $6-8 billion annually starting in 2023.
- ‘Hey Disney!’ voice assistant now available for Alexa devices. Disney launched its custom ‘Hey Disney!’ voice assistant experience for Amazon Alexa devices. It provides interactive stories, jokes, trivia, and surprises from Disney characters through an annual subscription.
- Walt Disney World begins rollout of ‘Hey Disney’ assistant in hotel rooms. Disney World started rolling out its Alexa-powered ‘Hey Disney!’ digital assistant in select hotel rooms at the Polynesian Village Resort. It will expand to other resorts and can help guests with planning, requests, music, and more.
- ESPN revenue has been decreasing in recent quarters as part of Disney’s new financial reporting. Disney’s reorganization provided the first look into ESPN’s financials, showing its revenue has declined in recent quarters amid cord-cutting trends.
