DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Tesla (TSLABoard member Kimbal Musk are joining forces to tell stories in the sky - by using drones.
"This is about now taking this brilliant technology and art form and bringing classic storytelling to it and doing it, you know, on this unlimited canvas in the sky," said Katzenberg on Yahoo Finance's Market Catalysts.
Katzenberg, a prominent Democratic donor, is joining the board of Nova Sky Stories, a drone entertainment startup founded by Elon Musk's younger brother, Kimbal. He's also investing through his tech firm WndrCo.
WndrCo has made a series of major, early technology investments in recent years, including Figma (FIG) and DataBricks.
Nova says it will stage its first co-developed "Sky Story" with Katzenberg in 2026. A "Sky Story" is a live show that uses choreographed drones, lights, and music to create an immersive aerial performance for large audiences.
Drone light shows are not new. Disney (DIS), the Olympics, and music festivals like Lollapalooza have all used them for years, even utilizing Nova's technology. But the business remains niche, highly competitive, and expensive to scale.
Investors previously burned by hype cycles around cutting-edge entertainment might approach the project with more caution. Take Quibi, the short-form video venture Katzenberg co-founded, which shut down just six months after its launch in 2020 despite raising $1.75 billion.
Still, Nova says it's offering something different. Musk told Yahoo Finance that the company's technology is "designed for 80 to 90 minute shows" and compared it to Broadway theater. "These go into stadiums and venues that are very underused right now," he said.
Katzenberg's addition validates Nova's global ambitions, Musk added. Whether the project succeeds in generating sustainable revenue remains to be seen. Musk, who launched Nova in 2022, has long aimed to bring art to the sky — even acquiring 9,000 of Intel'sINTC) light drones as part of the effort.
Nova is privately held, but the idea could touch entertainment giants like Disney and Netflix (NFLX), which are under pressure to find new revenue streams as some of their core businesses cool. In late June, Netflix said it wouldteam up with NASAto boost its live programming.
Separately, Musk said the drone startup has been preparing for Trump's tariffs. The company is "pretty well set up," as it owns, builds, and manufactures its drones in factories across the US, Europe, and China.
"You've got to be able to manufacture in the markets you're going to serve," he said.
Francisco Velasquez is a Reporter at Yahoo Finance. He can be reached onLinkedInandX, or by email atfrancisco.velasquez@yahooinc.com.
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