How Hollywood Choked Sora 2’s Rise
The numbers don’t lie. And it turns out this industry still knows how to close ranks
I cover the intersection of Hollywood and AI for paid subscribers. I wrote about eight companies doing AI the right way, explored Disney’s deal with OpenAI and dove into what AI performer Tilly Norwood means for actors.
For a few wildly hyped weeks — roughly late September through early November 2025 — it felt like the internet had finally crossed some invisible line with respect to AI video.
That was when Sora 2 debuted. The original Sora, first teased in early 2024, was interesting as a thought-starter but technically limited in terms of consumer choices. Sora 2, released on Sept. 30, 2025, was different: a fully consumer-facing AI video generator that paired realistic video with synchronized sound and dialogue. It was Sora’s first serious shot at public scale and usability.
Within days, the app topped the U.S. App Store and hit more than one million downloads faster than ChatGPT ever did, even though Sora was invite-only at launch. Analysts and influencers called it “the AI TikTok” and “the next frontier of social media,” while creators and studios alike felt blindsided by how quickly powerful AI video was suddenly in the hands of anyone with a phone.
The industry (me included) freaked out — particularly around the blatant theft of copyrighted materials:
But then — almost as fast as the hype built — it began to collapse:
By December, Sora’s downloads had dropped 32 percent month-over-month — according to Appfigures Intelligence data reported by TechCrunch — even during holiday season, usually a boon for mobile app installs. By January, downloads declined another 45 percent, landing at about 1.2 million for the month.
Consumer spending on the app was down 32 percent month-over-month in January, from about $540,000 in December to roughly $367,000 in January.
On the U.S. App Store, Sora slipped out of the Top 100 free overall apps and has languished around No. 101, while on Google Play its ranking is even worse. In total, the app has about 9.6 million lifetime installs and roughly $1.4 million in consumer spend.
Third-party engagement estimates show a flattening and slight decline in day-to-day use. Sora peaked in early rollout at around 1 million daily active users, but more recent analytics suggest that figure has settled to about 750,000 daily users while still trending slightly downward.
So what happened?
Today, I dig into why Sora 2 isn’t meeting the promise — or threat — of its big, splashy launch, and how collective Hollywood resistance helped choke its rise, buying the industry something it rarely gets during a tech panic: time.
Here’s what the data and backlash show:
How the industry’s default instincts — protecting IP and celebrity likenesses — proved unusually effective in blunting Sora’s momentum
How tightened guardrails, generation limits and ethical constraints choked the virality that powered Sora’s early surge
What Disney’s OpenAI deal reveals about legacy media buying into AI after the hype crest, not at its peak (hint: MySpace)
The basic Business 101 mistake Sora’s slowdown exposes about confusing noise with demand
Why text-to-video generation remains astronomically expensive — undermining the idea that AI video is an immediate “efficiency” play for studios and streamers
The huge Hollywood opportunity in the Sora stall, and the risk of repeating old mistakes