Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Disney faces competition as streaming giants ramp up animation production

Disney faces competition as streaming giants ramp up animation production

Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Paramount+ seek foothold in other forms of film and TV production
Tinseltown has gone animation crazy in the wake of the pandemic, which has stalled live action production and accelerated demand for family-friendly content that can be streamed at home.

Studios are now plowing money into making cartoons like never before — despite knowing that toppling the creator of Mickey Mouse and “Frozen” will be tricky, if not impossible, sources said.

“All the streamers wanted animated shows to brand their networks, but the pandemic has made it even more so. Everyone is doubling down,” said Titmouse founder and president Chris Prynoski, who has worked on shows like MTV’s “Beavis and Butthead” and Nickelodeon’s “Baby Shark’s Big Show!”

Animation deals are “exploding,” added a dealmaker with a top Hollywood agency who has also seen budgets for animated content balloon. Before the rise of streaming, animated budgets were between $350,000 and $750,000 per episode. Now, some shows have budgets of over $5 million, said the source.

Netflix has made no bones about its efforts to challenge Disney in the animation space. “We’re very fired up about catching them [Disney] in family animation — maybe eventually passing them, we’ll see, a long way to go just to catch them — and maintaining our lead in general entertainment that’s so stimulating,” Netflix founder and co-Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in January.

But it’s not just Netflix that’s eager to chip away at Disney’s market share. HBO Max, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video, just to name a few, have also jumped headlong into race as the pandemic strangles other forms of film and TV production.

And it’s a trend that’s expected to last for years to come — even after the pandemic ends — as Hollywood studios vie for family-friendly material to help them win the streaming wars.

“I think it’s going to be a really interesting next couple of years in the animation industry,” said Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network studios. “We all have great content. We all have great IP [intellectual property]. We all have studios. I don’t think any one company is absolutely a projected dominant player in this space.”

But experts see the Bob Chapek-led Disney maintaining its perch, thanks to the decades it’s spent building its library of animated content and intellectual property, as well as its solid reputation for providing family entertainment.

“Disney has that platinum brand,” said media analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson. “Even if there’s a little bit of share loss” it will stay on top, he predicted.

“For the other products, HBO Max, Paramount+, you have to convince people, who are new to those brands, that those brands stand for kids entertainment,” he said.

There’s more room to compete in adult animation, Nathanson added.

It’s one reason AT&T’s new streaming service HBO Max — buttressed by its Warner Bros. studio — paid over $500 million for the streaming rights to raunchy cartoon “South Park” ahead of its May 2020 launch.

This year, the studio run by Jason Kilar’s WarnerMedia also scored a family-friendly animated hit with its “Tom & Jerry” movie starring Chloe Grace Moretz, which debuted in cinemas and on HBO Max simultaneously last month. The comedy, based on the 1940 cartoon, raked in $13.7 million on opening weekend — the best domestic opening of the year.

Warner, which created new episodes of “Looney Tunes” for HBO Max last year, is also slated to debut “Gremlins,” an animated prequel based on the 1984 film, later this year.

Amazon also went the adult route with its first original animation series “Undone,” about life after almost dying, in 2019. And in March it will debut the adult animated series “Invisible” by “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman.

The Jeff Bezos-led streamer has also invested in a slew of children’s programs, including “Pete the Cat” and “Lost in Oz,” as well as licensed shows like “Dora the Explorer” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Netflix, which launched its animation studio in 2018, has made the biggest strides by far in both family and adult animation. On the adult side, it has hits like “Big Mouth” about an awkward teen, and “BoJack Horseman” about a washed up Hollywood horse.

For kids, Netflix last year released “The Willoughbys,” about four siblings featuring the voices of Ricky Gervais and Alessia Cara, as well as animated musical “Over the Moon,” which was directed by Glen Keane, a legendary ex-Disney animator.

The streaming giant has also invested an estimated $1 billion for rights to bring Roald Dahl’s works to life in animated form.

“It feels like we’re in the golden age of animation here at Netflix,” head of animation, Melissa Cobb, told The Post. “In a few short years we’ve created a one-of-a-kind studio, one that is breaking down the walls creators face, like a house style, language or borders.”

But even Netflix isn’t predicted to topple Disney anytime soon. “I do not think Netflix will pass Disney, but Netflix has a great track record and I expect them to have some major hits,” said Jeff Wlodarczak, founder and CEO of Pivotal Research Group.

“As for other streamers in animation, to keep up with Disney and Netflix very large dollars will need to be spent and I question whether most will be able. But for the next couple of years,” he added, “I expect others to try.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×