All NewsFebruary 21, 2026

Disney is about to fundamentally change

One day, Warner Bros. (WBD) will be sold, possibly not to whom everyone expected, and the streaming wars will change irrevocably, taking on a new form never to return to the old.

Like a butterfly, or when TV switched to color, or when rugby players tried the forward pass, inventing ‘American Football’. The behemoth that emerges will fundamentally change the rules of play.

Disney (DIS), under the leadership of newly appointed CEO Josh D’Amaro, is using its time on the sidelines wisely, changing their business model in anticipation of the new normal (having stepped out of the bidding months ago).

While dominating the 2026 box office remains priority one, the D’Amaro regime’s other business tweaks may be more impactful, influencing both shareholder value and fan experience immediately and long into the future. Whatever changes he makes now will indicate D’Amaro regime’s intended direction for Disney, full stop.

At a Disney town hall on Feb. 4, following the D’Amaro announcement, current CEO Bob Iger spoke on the appointment and that of new Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden:”I feel great about this process. I leave with a tremendous sense of confidence in both Josh and Dana and optimism about the future of this company.” Then, more germane to our purposes here, the Disney brass went on speaking and answering questions, from which the trades were able to isolatethree big-picture areas that D’Amaro will focus on: gaming, AI, and ‘interactivity’.

I’ll be picking those nebulous terms apart for what they mean for the Disney business model in practice, tying in why they’re in focus and what exactly it’ll mean for your favorite Disney movies, shows, and parks along the way.

Disney 2026 business changes

Gaming, interactivity, and AI are the buzzwords, but what will that actually look like for consumers (and, downstream, for investors)? Having been locked in on the Disney beat for some time, I have a selection of examples of D’Amaro’s programs already in practice.

D’Amaro has already teased three major business strategies: cost-cutting (sometimes at customer expense), selling popular-but-spent-IP, and growing AI/interactivity applications.

I find it helpful to group these strategies and buzzwords into two camps: growth initiatives and business practices. Here are both groupings:

Disney 2026 growth initiatives

Some dish on the Epic Games deal – my vote for most evocative of D’Amaro’s approach to growth writ large: “He sees the digital realm — and Epic is a manifestation of that — as a very important place for fans to interact with their favorite characters, franchises and brands in a comprehensive way that you can monetize and that will serve fan interest in a way that, other than a theme park, it’s really impossible to do,” explained Kevin Mayer, former Disney Head of Strategy.

Walt Disney’s 2026 business practices

While those growth initiatives are more numerous and more sweeping, I find the business practices more insightful towards Disney’s bottom line. D’Amaro was previously head of Disney’s Experiences Unit (Parks, Cruises, etc) and his tendencies in his last role clue us in to his future plans.

Josh D’Amaro got the nod to be CEO because of his remarkable ability to keep Disney park-goers happy while increasing per customer revenue. Here’s what that will look like for Parks in the near future (and why it’s needed).

D’Amaro will lean on parks while Disney blockbusters take a risk in 2026

U.S.-based Disney parks are in for an eventful 2026. The more global change to look for (and maybe get a visit in ahead of) is that dynamic pricing is coming — but not here just yet. The material changes in store for Parks are threefold:

Disney U.S. Parks changes in 2026

  • 1. Bluey is coming to U.S. parks via a landmark deal with BBC Studios and creator Ludo Studio
  • 2. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland (California) is getting a revamp
  • 3. Villains Land, an upcoming park concept, is being scrapped in favor of a more comprehensive vision.

Now let’s go global, weighing the business practices against the material changes and growth initiatives an seeing what we can glean. The cost-cutting and single customer spend-maximizing measures won’t stop with dynamic pricing under D’Amaro.

Rather, new and innovative ways to squeeze fans for every last buck will continue to be implemented. That’s capitalism and, frankly, that’s D’Amaro’s genius. He maximizes profits, but keeps the crowds from turning on Disney by keeping a steady flow of exciting, material offerings (like those above) coming.

More Disney:

Some might – fairly or unfairly – call this approach ‘being the baddies’. Really, Josh and Disney have little choice. Its just what’s required by an increasingly cutthroat and monopolistic streaming business, especially with a formidable rival about to emerge in whoever acquires Warner Bros. Discovery.

As I’ve remarked on in the past, box office success is an absolute must for Disney in 2026, with ‘Spider Man: Brand New Day’ anchoring the summer slate on July 31, and megablockbuster ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ thumbing home Dec. 18 to close the year.

Those two tentpoles support a very aggressive theatrical slate, with a lot riding on it. Success in 2026 has long been crucial for Bob Iger’s vision for Disney going forward. Delivering it via butts-in-seats in 2026 is D’Amaro’s first weighty test.

Consequently, Disney Parks die-hards will bear the brunt of Disney’s dream of theatrical dominance. I wager they will do so happily; however, as Disney’s parks remain largely unrivaled and are constantly upping their best-in-class game.

Related: LEGO makes surprise Star Wars brick change amid Disney turmoil