Jon Favreau Used Apple Vision Pro to Preview The Mandalorian and Grogu in IMAX Format

Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) has long championed cutting-edge technology in filmmaking. During the production of The Mandalorian for Disney+, he pioneered the use of ILM’s massive LED screens—dubbed "The Volume"—to create realistic lighting and backgrounds on set.

For the upcoming feature film The Mandalorian and Grogu, which releases in theaters on May 22, Favreau revealed that Disney developed a custom Apple Vision Pro app to preview scenes in full IMAX format during filming.

"So I'm making an IMAX movie, and I'm looking at a TV screen, and no matter how big your TV screen is it's not an IMAX screen," Favreau said in a recent episode of The Town podcast. "We built software so that I can pop on my Apple Vision Pro and be sitting in an IMAX movie theater and see the full aspect ratio when we're lining a shot up. And I can watch that take and see what people will see."

While Jon Chu, director of Wicked, has used the Apple Vision Pro for post-production work, Favreau is the first to highlight its use for IMAX production. Though still a niche application, the headset’s large field of view and sharp micro-OLED screens make it one of the few tools capable of replicating the IMAX experience at home—with the Meta Quest 3 as a close alternative.

Favreau emphasized his enthusiasm for existing consumer technology over AI in filmmaking. He cited the Unreal Engine as a key tool for previsualizing special effects in The Mandalorian and earlier projects, suggesting that game engines could soon play a direct role in final productions.

"This is what the animation industry has understood from the beginning," he said. "Get it right before you ever paint a cel."