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On Sunday, Walt Disney laid out a plan for how the entertainment, theme park and consumer products conglomerate will use modern technology to improve the telling of magical stories over the next 100 years.

Speaking to Reuters backstage at the ongoing D23 Expo for fans, CEO Bob Chapek stubbornly avoided the "M word" - Metaverse, despite pushing the company in that direction last year.

Capek described Disney's vision for the Metaverse as "next-generation storytelling."

It wants to use data collected from theme park visits and users' streaming habits to deliver personalized entertainment experiences, including from the company's Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.

"Disney is a way of life," he said in an interview at the convention in Anaheim, California.

"The question is how our next-generation storytelling leverages the relevant guest information in a unique way within this Disney 'lifestyle' and subsequently delivers unique experiences."

Entertainment and tech companies have been quick to secure positions in the Metaverse since Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company's future will be dedicated to creating a stable, three-dimensional, persistent environment in which users' digital avatars will work, meet each other and they will pursue their hobbies.

Last year, Disney began seriously laying the groundwork for exploring new forms of storytelling, appointing media and technology veteran Mike White to head up its newly created Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences unit.

White was tasked with assembling a technology toolkit to be used by Disney's creative executives.

He also develops ideas for using augmented reality and other technologies to add a new dimension to storytelling.

Čapek cited one of the first examples, an 8-minute augmented reality film that premiered this week on Disney+.

"Disney" presented its new projects

"It could be a really big catalyst for what's going to come out there and, you know, in five to ten years," Chapek said.

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