Report: OpenAI in talks to license Sora to a filmmaker startup

OpenAI is in talks to license Sora, the video generation model it shut down this year, to a stealth startup that would customize it and sell AI video software and services to the film industry, The Information reported on Monday, October 12, 2026.

The startup was co-founded by the Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Sora research lead Bill Peebles and the former Dropbox chief financial officer Sujay Jaswa, according to The Information's report, which is paywalled and was relayed by PYMNTS. The company's name has not been disclosed. Katzenberg and Jaswa co-founded the technology investment firm WndrCo, according to the same account.

The startup is seeking access to Sora to build and sell software and other services for the film industry, DigitalToday reported, citing the same report. It is unclear whether OpenAI would hand over Sora's weights, the parameter values that shape how the model responds, PYMNTS said. If a deal proceeds, the startup would still get deep enough access to substantially customize the model, the report said. A Dealroom summary of The Information's newsletter said OpenAI would take equity if a deal closes; the size of the stake has not been confirmed. Terms between the two sides are far from finalized, AIBase noted.

Sora had a short run and an abrupt end. OpenAI introduced the model in early 2024 and launched the standalone app in September 2025, Variety reported. OpenAI announced on March 24, 2026 that it was discontinuing Sora, and the same day ended a $1 billion content deal with Disney that had been announced a little more than three months earlier and never closed, Reuters reported. Reuters said running the video app required significant computing resources and left other teams with less firepower.

The shutdown came in two stages. OpenAI's help documentation says the Sora web and app experiences were discontinued on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API was discontinued on September 24, 2026. The Sora 2 models and Videos API were shut down on that September date and are no longer available, with no one-to-one replacement, according to OpenAI's developer documentation.

This is the second time the same three founders have surfaced. On September 9, 2026, The Information reported, according to Seoul Economic Daily, that Katzenberg, Peebles and Jaswa were planning an AI video startup for professional filmmakers and were in talks with investors including Andreessen Horowitz on a large funding round. The Verge reported that account as saying the unnamed venture would train its own video models and try to win filmmakers. Peebles led OpenAI's Sora team and left after the company pivoted away from it, The Verge reported. The October 12 report is the first to say OpenAI would license Sora itself to the startup rather than the startup training its own models.

If a deal closes, Sora would not return as an app that any creator can open. The reported plan is to fold video generation into film production pipelines and sell it to studios and professional filmmakers, which would leave the consumer use case that Sora was shut down over unaddressed. Creators who built on the Sora 2 API would not regain access through this route, since the API is already gone.

No terms, financing or timeline have been disclosed. A named company, a closed round or a signed license agreement would be the next visible step.