The new Disney+ app created for Apple Vision Pro is the perfect demonstration of innovation because it’s the first step in a new form of storytelling at The Walt Disney Company – immersive, consumer facing content. The beautifully crafted environments leverage new technology to transport viewers into the worlds of our films, enhancing the user experience by bringing them closer to our stories. The 3D film library celebrates the amazing craft of Disney filmmaking to its fullest potential, allowing audiences to experience it again having only ever seen it in theaters.

We believe the launch of the Apple Vision Pro is a momentous cultural marker in the history of emerging technology and entertainment. The device provides a new platform for creators to tell stories on, and we wanted to be on the forefront of that.

At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that we would be a launch partner on Apple Vision Pro, promising that Disney+ would be available day one of the device, with the goal to “…bring our fans closer to the characters and stories they love while immersing them more deeply in all that Disney has to offer.”

Storytelling has always been a pillar of culture, and we believe technological advancements have proven to be an ever-evolving element of culture as well. Disney has been at the forefront of technological advancements for more than 100 years. From the multiplane camera to the countless innovations crafted throughout the company, Disney has kept its aim constantly focused on the future. As a company that sits uniquely at the intersection of creativity and innovation, we’re proud to have created an experience that serves as an impressive showcase of a revolutionary cultural moment – a true milestone for both technology and storytelling.

“At Disney+, we’ve always taken great pride in leading the way with the magic that comes from blending tech and creativity, which is why it was so important to us to be on Apple Vision Pro at launch, and partner with Apple to pioneer this next wave of streaming innovation,” says Alisa Bowen, president of Disney+.

Disney+ is an app enjoyed by millions of users worldwide. Our goal was to adapt the application for the Apple Vision Pro in a way that would function as a seamless transition for new users, while taking advantage of the spatial computing elements to further extend Disney+ content.

Disney+ on Apple Vision Pro extends the long-standing history of groundbreaking innovation and collaboration between Disney and Apple. With this project, the world’s greatest storytelling company joined the most innovative technology company to continue delivering real life magic for fans around the world.

Imagine watching a drive-in movie of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from an X-34 landspeeder during a binary sunset or enjoying Avengers: Endgame in the Avengers Tower overlooking a sparkling midtown Manhattan skyline (not to mention, an imposing nearby Hulkbuster).

The goal was to leverage the immersive, high-fidelity elements of the Apple Vision Pro by releasing two ambitious new features to the Disney+ app: placing users in fully immersive environments modeled after iconic Disney locations and streamable 3D films, viewable for the first time ever in this format from home.

Disney+ Environments will bring audiences even closer to the story by transforming their space around them, allowing them to stream content from iconic environments with vivid details.

With 3D movies, Disney’s storytelling will also leap off the screen like never before with remarkable depth and clarity for an unprecedented in-home 3D experience on Disney+ with Apple Vision Pro.

The launch of Disney+ on the Apple Vision Pro was a multi-year partnership with Apple. Our collaboration was officially announced in June 2023 at the Worldwide Developers Conference. The following months were filled with wrapping up principal production and optimization with ILM Immersive. The months leading up to the launch consisted of an integration process between Disney Streaming, Disney Studio Technology, and Apple. On February 2nd, 2024, the app launched on Apple Vision Pro when the device was available to the public.

The Viewing Environments were developed using Universal Scene Description (USD) format, which allowed our developers to work across 3D creation tools and make it easier to build complex development pipelines.

To integrate the environments, we leveraged the nascent Reality Composer Pro app and RealityKit framework. For example, the original rendering of the Tatooine Viewing Environment was 44.5GB, composed of 10GB of geometry and 30GB of textures – containing roughly 100 million polygons. After our optimization process, it is about 150,000 polygons and was processed to less than 1GB. The Apple Vision Pro can render all that geometry in less than 1 second, all while playing 4K UHD-HDR stereoscopic (3D) video at 48 frames per second.

For the 3D Movies, we utilized the new 3D content encoding format (MV-HEVC) and a brand-new Dolby Vision HDR profile to deliver an unprecedented in-home 3D viewing experience for Disney’s iconic stories. To accommodate this new playback experience, we updated the entire media encoding pipeline and delivered high dynamic range using a brand-new Dolby Vision HDR profile. Additionally, we processed the stereoscopic (Left/Right) eye views of 3D in an efficient manner using Multiview, an extension of the existing High Efficiency Video Coding standard.

We have seen great engagement with the app. Users are thrilled with the stunning quality of the 3D movies and Viewing Environments. In addition to the positive response from consumers, we also hoped this product would serve as an entry point into the immersive medium for creatives and leadership at Disney. Their response to Disney+ on the Apple Vision Pro has not only been encouraging, but indicative that this product symbolizes the first crucial step in ushering in the next stage of storytelling at The Walt Disney Company.