MICKEY MOVE OVER: THERE’S A NEW M-WORD AT DISNEY

The metaverse and NFTs will likely figure into the near term future of The Disney Company’s theme parks and entertainment creations.

The news is significant for the crypto sector, since Disney has long been one of the major movie studios and entertainment companies in the world.

Speaking in an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Disney CEO Bob Chapek outlined the plans for a more immersive and accessible entertainment experience to Disney theme parks, and a nextgen storytelling development plan utilizing metaverse and gaming technologies, though he was coy about the Metaverse aspects.

Asked whether the metaverse was the future of Disney, Chapek said:

“We call it next-gen storytelling. We tend not to use the M word too often, because it has a lot of hair on it. But yes, Disney+ will not just be a movie-service platform, but it’s going to become an experiential lifestyle platform. A platform for the whole company to embody both the physical things that you might be able to experience in a theme park, but also the digital experiences that you can get through media.”

Chapek noted that as popular as Disney theme parks are, most people never get to one. He said new technologies would change that, in an experiential sense at least:

“…we have before us an opportunity to turn what was a movie-service platform to an experiential platform and give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint. The utility isn’t just to have the same experience. Maybe we’ll give them the opportunity [that] every single person in the park wants to do, and unfortunately too many of them do it, just to get off the attraction. See how it works, see how those ghost dancers move…”

Theblock.co has subsequently reported that Disney put up a job post on LinkedIn for a transaction lawyer to pursue aspects of emerging technologies like NFTs on an “accelerated and aggressive timeframe.”

The employment would include working with business teams as they create new global emerging technology projects in other areas like the metaverse and decentralized banking.

According to the job description, Disney is seeking help with sophisticated agreement negotiations and writing for NFT, blockchain, third-party marketplace, and cloud provider projects.

Transaction lawyers typically examine merger and acquisition agreements as well as other intricate commercial transactions, theblock.co noted.

This past July, Disney announced that the Polygon layer 2 blockchain was one of six companies being partnered with in the technology accelerator program.

According to law firm Piper Alderman (via Lexology.com), Disney said at the time that their accelerator program would focus on Web3 experiences, and providing users low-cost, high speed transactions for things like NFT purchases.

The Polygon network works in conjunction with the Ethereum network to greatly reduce gas fees and speed transactions.