Disney’s 200-Character OpenAI Bet and a Detour Down the Yellow Brick Road (Ep. 337)

Drew Taylor and Jim Hill kick off this week’s show with a genuinely wild media landscape where holiday releases, awards season, and corporate maneuvering are all colliding at once. From a brewing battle over Warner Bros. Discovery to Disney’s latest tech-flavored swing, the first half is a rapid tour through what’s breaking (and what might be breaking next). Then Jim takes the wheel solo for a longer, history-packed trip over the rainbow, tracing how animation veterans, studio deals, and a certain pair of feuding cartoon animals keep finding their way back to Oz.

NEWS
• Netflix and Paramount Skydance are reportedly lining up competing bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, with the situation edging into hostile takeover territory
• Disney signs a three-year OpenAI licensing and investment deal, reportedly tied to short-form character content and platform experimentation
• Zootopia 2 clears the $1 billion worldwide mark, adding to a renewed “WDAS is back” narrative after recent holiday stumbles
• The trailer drops for Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm, with Seth Rogen voicing Napoleon and Angel Studios handling distribution
• A quick remembrance of animator Tony Benedict, whose career path traced the industry’s mid-century churn from Disney to TV animation

FEATURE
• Why Chuck Jones left Termite Terrace, briefly detoured to Disney, then later set up shop at MGM
• How Disney’s MGM licensing deal and the later Turner-Time Warner corporate shuffle complicated who “owned” what in the Oz rights maze
• The surprisingly effective mash-up of MGM legacies in Tom & Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (and why it was successful enough to inspire a return trip)
• A lightning round of other animated Oz side-quests, including costly misfires and international oddities

HOSTS
• Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com
• Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work

FOLLOW
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SUPPORT
Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia.

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Edited by Dave Grey
Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency

SPONSOR
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