Sky-based entertainment powered by drones is a nascent entertainment medium that just got a boost from Jeffrey Katzenberg. WndrCo, the investment firm led by Katzenberg and partner Sujay Jaswa, has joined a $50 million funding round for Nova Sky Stories, the drone light show company co-founded by Kimbal Musk. The younger brother of billionaire Elon Musk acquired the technology from Intel in 2022 and says it’s in the early stages of what’s possible. Katzenberg has joined Nova’s board of directors and will serve as a strategic advisor, helping to grow the company’s studio of animators and storytellers.

Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” with Kimbal Musk, Katzenberg said he saw a Nova Sky display at Burning Man the year Musk acquired it and was intrigued.

“What he’s built out over these last two or three years is something that is going to blow people’s minds,” Katzenberg told CNBC, comparing it to his first glimpse of a Pixar first short when the company was still owned by Steve Jobs.

The sky “is becoming the new creative canvas,” Katzenberg said on CNBC, while Musk explained that the goal is to turn the medium from one of pure spectacle to a storytelling vehicle.

The first Nova “‘sky story,’ co-developed with Katzenberg will debut in 2026, touted as a ‘large-scale public experience,’” writes Variety, which explains Nova Sky shows can use as many as 10,000 drones.

Katzenberg told Variety the sky stories will be “multidimensional, 70-80 minute shows … with beginnings, middles and ends.” Further details will be shared later this year.

An announcement notes the company will craft “narratives in the sky through light, music and motion,” ushering in “a new era of family entertainment.”

Kimbal Musk, who serves on the board of Tesla and SpaceX, has headquartered Nova Sky Stories in Boulder, Colorado, but told Deadline that “we have fleets all over the world — London, Nice, the Netherlands, San Francisco, Australia,” with each locale drawing “between 3,000-5,000 paying customers per evening.”

This year, Musk tells Deadline the company is “on track to sell half a million tickets.”

In 2023, Nova produced a drone light show for a Dead & Company tour and in 2024 did one for the NBA All-Star Game. While owned by Intel, the division provided halftime entertaiment for the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show featuring Lady Gaga, the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show with Maroon 5 and the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.