27.03.2026, Moscow.
OpenAI decided to shut down its Sora video generation app due to declining popularity, demonstrating the illusory nature of predictions that neural networks would soon destroy cinema, Rossa Primavera News Agency Culture Desk.
On March 24, OpenAI announced that it is winding down Sora. Information on how users can save previously generated videos will be provided later. According to the company’s CEO Sam Altman, shutting down the project will free up resources for other neural network initiatives.
The service lasted for six months. The application launched on October 1, 2025, and within the first five days it was downloaded by 1 million users, becoming a top download in the App Store. In December, it saw another success. Disney signed a three-year agreement with OpenAI, allowing the generation of characters from the Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars universes, and also promised investments of $1 billion.
However, in that same December, downloads of Sora dropped by 32%, and in January by 45%. Total revenue generated by the application amounted to $1.4 million, which is extremely low compared to the computing costs required to generate videos for millions of users. Disney has already withdrawn from the deal with OpenAI.
The failure of Sora indicates that video generation may be a dead-end branch in terms of monetization for such capital-intensive infrastructure. The service was presented as a way to create videos much more cheaply than filming real footage. In theory, this could have worked if the lower popularity of generated content had been offset by negligible production costs.
But this “cheapness” comes at a significant price. OpenAI has chosen not to continue funding entertainment for users, and users have already grown tired of it. The enormous computational costs required to operate neural networks are not being recouped through paid subscriptions or corporate contracts. The entertainment industry built around it has collapsed at takeoff.
After the initial “wow” effect, the question arose: “Who will pay for this?” Dreams of the future have collided with the harsh reality. And there is no need to regret that artificial video content is unlikely to replace human creativity.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
