(Credit: Disney)
The Apple Vision Pro ships next month, and Disney fans might be tempted to shell out $3,500 for it. Disney just announced that unique 3D experiences on Disney+ will be available on the upcoming VR headset.
According to Disney, dozens of its movies will be available in 3D on the Vision Pro, including Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Endgame, Encanto, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (a full list of any other Avatar, Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars films hasn't yet been released).
The films will be viewable on the Disney+ app, and users who don't subscribe to the service will be able to rent or buy most of them through the Apple TV app. If you already bought any of the supported movies through the app, you'll be able to watch the 3D versions of them without paying anything else.
The Disney+ app will let you watch these movies, along with any 2D Disney+ or (if you have a bundle) Hulu content, in one of four new 3D environments. They include Avengers Tower, the cockpit of Luke Skywalker's X-34 landspeeder, the Scare Floor from Monsters Inc., or a classic movie palace inspired by Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre.
A choice of 3D environments to watch videos in isn't new to VR, but these Vision Plus-specific settings will likely be particularly detailed, considering Disney's preoccupation with presentation and Apple's obsession with polish. Disney also claims that they will be filled with animations, sounds, and Easter eggs for fans.
The environments were developed in the Universal Scene Description format, an open-source 3D development framework originally created by Pixar. The format doesn't ensure that the settings are more complex than other virtual theaters on its own, but it does enable many, many artists and programmers to work together using many, many different tools.
Disney+ on the Apple Vision Pro might be the first headset-based 3D movie support on a major streaming service. Currently Amazon Prime Video, Max, and Netflix lack any way to watch movies in 3D on VR headsets, even if their content can be viewed in 2D on dedicated apps or in web browsers on devices like the Meta Quest 3.
Some 3D movies are available on the services, but these are holdovers from the 3D TV trend of the early 2010s; since 3D TVs are no longer available, they can generally only be viewed in 2D. Watching 3D movies on those TVs was often a clunky, dim experience, and if the Vision Pro is comfortable to wear and shows a bright picture, it could prove the best (and most expensive) way to watch those films as intended.
Otherwise, Apple says the Vision Pro can download and stream content from Apple TV+, ESPN, NBA, MLB, PGA Tour, Max, Discovery+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi, Fubo, Crunchyroll, Red Bull TV, IMAX, TikTok, and Mubi. Or watch videos via the browser.