Is this finally the end of Hollywood?
OpenAI this week unveiled Sora 2, a video generator app that many analysts are warning could spell the end for Hollywood and the wider film industry.
“Sora 2 can do things that are exceptionally difficult — and in some instances outright impossible — for prior video generation models,” the company said in a statement.
”Olympic gymnastics routines, backflips on a paddleboard that accurately model the dynamics of buoyancy and rigidity, and triple axels while a cat holds on for dear life.”
This is one of the best Sora 2 vids I’ve seen, everything works perfectly. pic.twitter.com/OQ499mAt9E
— . ᴹᴰ ️️ (@Vox_Oculi) October 3, 2025
Slate magazine notes:
Hollywood is getting absolutely rolled here. It’s barely an open secret that the film and TV industries are already using generative A.I. under the radar (sometimes to patronize an “ethically” trained machine), with the attendant effects felt by visual workers who once anchored so much of mass media.
But if certain entertainment executives and celebrities think they’ll be able to save themselves by openly embracing auto-generation, they are fools.
OpenAI and other tech firms are already seizing upon legal uncertainties and long-tied, slow-moving court cases to declare any of their actions and business moves fair game; it helps they have friends in the Trump administration who loathe liberal Hollywood and are sympathetic to their A.I.-accelerationist arguments, whether for the sake of beating China or propping up our fragile economy or ensuring that the burn of billions upon billions upon billions of dollars won’t singe them too much.
The New York Times reports that Hollywood executives are working out how to protect their intellectual property:
Hollywood has spent the past 36 hours concerned over how Sora could make it simple for users to rip off likenesses with no compensation. A day after the app’s release, executives at the talent agency WME sent a memo to agents saying they would fight to defend their clients’ work, according to a copy viewed by The Times.
“There is a strong need for real protections for artists and creatives as they encounter A.I. models using their intellectual property, as well as their name, image and likeness,” the memo said.
WME said it had told OpenAI that all of its clients were opting out of having their likenesses or intellectual property included in Sora’s videos.
Breitbart News, meanwhile, argues that this is Hollywood’s “most terrifying nightmare”:
The latest version is far from perfect. It sometimes struggles with dialog, and some have noticed when you slow the video down, a lot of strange glitches appear to flick in and out of the frame — but they are often glitches that go unseen when the video is played in normal time, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
But the program is still shockingly good for what it can do and it has Hollywood on edge, fearful that anyone with access to Sora 2 can create a cinematic quality video by just talking through their scenes with the program. No studios, producers, actors, directors, costumers, musicians, or artists of any kind required.
My favorite new trend in the Sora app is putting Pikachu in every movie.
This is “Saving Private Pikachu” pic.twitter.com/pV8JYUb9SZ
— Justine Moore (@venturetwins) October 1, 2025
How, when, or even whether fully generative AI video will be adopted in mainstream film production remains uncertain.
What is clear, however, is that whatever path the technology takes, vast sections of the industry are likely to be wiped out.
Read the full article here