As Avatar 2 becomes the third-highest grossing movie of all time, Apple says its new Vision Pro headset promises a 3D movie experience like no other. Perfect for watching Avatar movies, then.
During the WWDC 2023 keynote, partner Disney announced that the streaming home of Avatar 2 — its Disney Plus service — would be available on the Vision Pro on Day 1 of release, which will be sometime next year. Apple’s Allessandra McGinnis showed footage from Avatar 2 as she announced the 3D capabilities of the headset.
“There is no other device in the world that can deliver this quality of 3D movie experience,” McGinnis said.
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McGinnis also touted the “super cinematic” capabilities of the Vision Pro, which will also display normal 2D content in “true 4K.” Apple says its micro-OLED display offers over 23 million pixels combined and this leads to a greater-than-4K resolution for each eye. For reference, 4K resolution has 3,840×2,160 pixels, or 8,294,400 in total.
McGinnis said you could watch a movie in an “environment like Mount Hood” that “feels 100 feet wide,” and it could also block out the space you’re watching it in, such as on an airplane. It’s unknown if users will be able to watch a movie fullscreen — that is, without virtual backgrounds appearing at the top and sides of the movie — as that capability wasn’t shown during the keynote.
Footage from Avatar 2 was shown during WWDC.
The first Avatar movie was almost single-handedly responsible for the 3D craze in the 2010s, though the second film has yet to entice a similar reaction. If one were to read between the lines of the announcement, the inclusion of Disney Plus means it could make 3D content available for the Vision Pro, and perhaps even for other (legacy) 3D devices in the future.
Apple says its headset will be available in 2024, starting at $3,499 (around £2,815 or AU$5,290 converted).
