Josh D’Amaro hasn’t even officially taken the CEO chair at Disney yet, but he’s already dropping hints about where the House of Mouse is heading next, and it involves your favorite battle royale game.
During a recent Q&A, D’Amaro floated the idea that future Disney movies could premiere inside Fortnite, turning Epic Games’ massive platform into an actual movie theater.
“It’s not just gonna be one character,” D’Amaro told Puck News. “It could be a new film premiering there, it could be the place that you decide to book your next cruise vacation. You could participate in the Super Bowl in some way there.”
The incoming CEO, who officially takes over from Bob Iger on March 18, 2026, is clearly thinking beyond traditional distribution models.
The $1.5 billion bet on gaming
This isn’t just talk. D’Amaro personally championed Disney’s massive $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games back in February 2024, positioning it as Disney’s biggest entry into gaming ever.
The deal wasn’t just about throwing money at Fortnite, it was about building a “persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem” where Disney’s entire universe of characters from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Avatar could live and breathe.
The foundation for in-game movie experiences already exists. Back in May 2025, Disney and Epic premiered the first two episodes of Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld exclusively in Fortnite’s Watch Party Island, two full days before the series dropped on Disney+.
Players could sit and watch the animated shorts or jump into battle arenas with lightsabers while the episodes played in the background. It was chaotic, immersive, and totally worked.
Why Fortnite makes perfect sense
D’Amaro understands something crucial: younger audiences aren’t hanging out where their parents did. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are spending more time in games than watching traditional TV or movies.
Fortnite isn’t just a game anymore, it’s a social platform with hundreds of millions of active players. It’s hosted concerts, NFL events, and movie screenings of classics like Inception and The Prestige. Epic even premiered Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill short film The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge as part of their mature-rated Fortnite After Dark experience.
For Disney, this represents a way to meet audiences where they already are. D’Amaro currently oversees Disney Experiences, which includes theme parks, cruise lines, and consumer products.
He’s made his career understanding how people want to engage with Disney magic, and he sees Fortnite as the digital extension of that philosophy. Under his leadership since 2020, the Experiences division has grown revenue nearly 40%, even after weathering the pandemic shutdowns.
The vision extends beyond just movie premieres. D’Amaro mentioned booking Disney cruises inside Fortnite and participating in Super Bowl experiences, Disney owns ESPN and ABC, which will broadcast Super Bowl 61 next year.
Imagine watching the halftime show as your Fortnite avatar, surrounded by friends from around the world, then immediately jumping into a themed mini-game. That’s the kind of synergy D’Amaro is talking about.
No specific Disney movies have been announced for Fortnite premieres yet, but the infrastructure is there, the precedent is set, and the new CEO is all-in on the idea.
D’Amaro describes himself as a risk-taker who believes trying new things is essential to Disney’s success. If movies premiering inside Fortnite sounds wild, that’s exactly the point.
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