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Disney and TikTok Strike Short-form Video-sharing Deal

FILE PHOTO: Disney+ logo is seen in this illustration taken August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Disney+ logo is seen in this illustration taken August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Disney and TikTok Strike Short-form Video-sharing Deal

FILE PHOTO: Disney+ logo is seen in this illustration taken August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Disney+ logo is seen in this illustration taken August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Walt Disney and TikTok on Wednesday announced a deal to let TikTok creators use characters and scenes from Disney movies and TV shows in short-form videos, the first pact of its kind between the popular social media app and a traditional media company.

Under the agreement, a curated selection of videos will stream on TikTok and also on the Disney+ streaming service, Reuters quoted the companies as saying in a statement.

Videos will appear on Disney+ under a Verts tab designed to capture younger audiences ⁠who devour vertical video ⁠on mobile phones. It is the first time TikTok videos will be shown on another platform.

TikTok will offer creators access to assets from hundreds of Disney films and series from brands including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and FX, the companies said.

A pilot program ⁠will start in the US in the coming months with plans to bring it to other markets, the companies said.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Disney+ and other streaming services are starting to embrace vertical video, a format that is growing rapidly in the United States. Peacock, owned by Comcast, and Paramount+ have started to offer vertical series, and Netflix features Clips, or short TikTok-style videos.

In addition to providing new ⁠content ⁠for Disney+, the deal with TikTok could help the company attract additional viewers to the streaming service.

According to TikTok data, the platform's users shared an average of 6.5 million film- and TV-related posts each day last year. Nearly half of viewers in a survey said they watched a movie or TV show after discovering related content on TikTok.

“The best storytellers are fans first,” said Asad Ayaz, Disney's chief marketing and brand officer. “This collaboration creates a new bridge between the stories we tell and the creativity they inspire."

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Entertainment

Netanyahu Says Gaza Documentary ‘NAZA’ Is ‘Shocking Incitement’

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
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Netanyahu Says Gaza Documentary ‘NAZA’ Is ‘Shocking Incitement’

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ‌on Monday that a new documentary film which alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into targeting decisions in Gaza was part of a wave of global incitement against Jews.

"NAZA", directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday and received a 25-minute standing ovation when it was screened on Thursday.

The film takes its title from an Israeli military term for expected "collateral casualties" and is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers involved in the war.

"It's ‌shocking. We are ‌fighting global antisemitic incitement and when it comes ‌from ⁠within us it ⁠is intolerable," Netanyahu said in a video posted on Telegram. "And now two Israeli directors portraying Israeli forces as war criminals receive applause at the Venice festival."

Netanyahu's comments followed a statement from the Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir, who said the film constituted an attack on the state of Israel.

"Based on what has been published thus ⁠far, this is not a film offering criticism ‌of the army, nor is it ‌an attempt to establish the truth. It is based on blood libels, ‌deliberate distortions of reality, and grave, false accusations against Israeli soldiers and ‌commanders," Zamir said.

The military said that Zamir has instructed the Military Advocate General, whose legal powers are confined within the military, "to examine and advance possible legal measures concerning the film and those involved in it."

The filmmakers could ‌not immediately be reached for comment.

"We believe that the denial of a crime is what ⁠helps it persist ⁠and this is why it is especially important for us that Israelis watch this film, it is our country that is doing these crimes," Abraham said in his acceptance speech on Saturday.

Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign that has left much of Gaza in ruins.

The war was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

Israel says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties as it battles Hamas fighters who embed in sites, such as hospitals, schools and shelters. Hamas denies using Gaza's civilians as human shields.

Entertainment

Oasis Announce New 2027 World Tour

Liam Gallagher, right, and Noel Gallagher pose for photographers upon arrival at the "Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger" UK premiere in London, England, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP)
Liam Gallagher, right, and Noel Gallagher pose for photographers upon arrival at the "Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger" UK premiere in London, England, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP)
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Oasis Announce New 2027 World Tour

Liam Gallagher, right, and Noel Gallagher pose for photographers upon arrival at the "Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger" UK premiere in London, England, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP)
Liam Gallagher, right, and Noel Gallagher pose for photographers upon arrival at the "Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger" UK premiere in London, England, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP)

British rockers Oasis on Monday announced a new world tour in 2027 with shows planned in Britain, Europe, and the US after the sell-out success of their surprise comeback tour last year.

The once-warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are set to perform 38 shows including 11 dates in their hometown Manchester, as well as in Glasgow, Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Boston and more.

The tour will kick off in Glasgow in May 2027 and wrap up with four shows in September in Knebworth, 30 years after the duo's legendary gigs at the venue north of London.

The band behind Britpop-era hits like "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Supersonic" has been teasing a second iteration of their reunion tour for weeks.

On Monday, they posted the announcement on social media with the caption "start the celebrations!"

"After a period of reflection, 'The Most Damaging Pop Cultural Force In Recent British History' has declared itself fit for purpose and will once again return to lift the spirits of the people," the band wrote.

"It shall be a sight to behold."

Fans were told to sign up through a registration link for a chance to purchase the tickets when they are released between September 25 and 27.

Successful sign-ups will get a code to access a sale, according to a press release, in order to reduce queuing times and ticket touting.

The Gallagher brothers announced they had ended their infamous 15-year feud and were reuniting for a worldwide tour in August 2024, sparking a mad scramble for tickets.

More than two million people attended the 41 show dates spanning Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, bringing in some £300 million ($400 million).

Some fans had criticized sudden price hikes and eye-watering resale ticket prices that prompted a probe by the UK's competition watchdog.

Entertainment

For Laura Linney, Role in Parkinson’s-Themed Movie Marked a Turning Point

Laura Linney poses for a photograph on the red carpet for "Onwards and Sideways" at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Laura Linney poses for a photograph on the red carpet for "Onwards and Sideways" at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
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For Laura Linney, Role in Parkinson’s-Themed Movie Marked a Turning Point

Laura Linney poses for a photograph on the red carpet for "Onwards and Sideways" at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Laura Linney poses for a photograph on the red carpet for "Onwards and Sideways" at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

Laura Linney usually leaves her roles behind on set, but she couldn't quite do that with "Onwards and Sideways," a drama with a touch of humor that follows two people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease on the same day.

"I left that movie a very different person than when I went in," the American actress said in an interview with AFP during the Toronto International Film Festival.

"I was very rattled by that...in a good way," she said. "The whole experience is still with me."

Directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), "Onwards and Sideways" focuses on how the paths of Emma (Linney) and Tony (Rhys Ifans) cross when, on the same day, a neurologist diagnoses them both with Parkinson's and predicts they have "five good years" left.

The film, which premiered on Sunday at the festival, does not aim to be "a lesson about what that condition might be," its director explained.

"I just wanted to see what would happen with those two people...because then suddenly you are locked into that relationship," the British filmmaker told AFP.

Madden, who received the initial script years ago, stressed that a Parkinson's diagnosis still carries a heavy stigma.

"Always the reaction is, 'Oh no!' because when I grew up, it was something you just didn't want to talk about or hear about, because it was the end of your life, but it isn't that way with Parkinson's," he said.

The director initially decided against working on the project because someone close to him had been diagnosed with the disease.

However, after getting the script again years later, he could not resist the work of writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, who suffers from the condition himself.

"The script was funny. I mean, not only funny... it was as if he had a kind of defiance about the condition thrust upon him, and that was very striking," Madden said.

Mayhew-Archer, who also appears in the film, said "serious illnesses don't need to be treated seriously all the time."

"There's comedy there, and if we just stay miserable about it, we just make ourselves worse," he told AFP on the red carpet at the premiere in the Canadian city.

- 'Responsibility' -

The story also left its mark on Rhys Ifans, who plays a schoolteacher who, unlike the effervescent Emma, keeps his diagnosis hidden.

"It has changed me," he told AFP. "I don't know whether it's softened me, but it certainly made me more aware of my own innate softness."

For both actors, the script presented physical challenges in portraying the bodily changes their characters undergo over the years.

"We both kind of curiously and foolishly said 'yes, let's give this a go,' and then suddenly it dawns on you...the huge responsibility you have because you're representing people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's and who live with it day by day," Ifans said.

"Wanting to represent a community in a way that was appropriate and respectful," Linney added.

For the team behind "Onwards and Sideways," the film was essentially an ode to life.

Mayhew-Archer is one of the hosts of the award-winning podcast "Movers and Shakers," which covers the day-to-day reality of living with Parkinson's. He said the film sought not only to amplify the community's voice but to offer support to those diagnosed with the disease.

"If you have Parkinson's, don't panic, just keep going out there, keep being strong," he told AFP.

"I hope people with Parkinson's gain confidence and strength from this film, as well as having a good laugh."