Industrial Light & Magic used Meta Connect 2026 on September 23 to reveal Disney Immersive Cinema by ILM, a new way to watch Star Wars: A New Hope and Avengers: Infinity War where parts of the movie spill out of the frame and into the room around you. ILM also announced National Geographic: Beyond, a wildlife experience filmed in Africa. Both are in development for Meta’s new VR Glasses, and for Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets that fans already own.
What Is Disney Immersive Cinema by ILM? – ILM describes Disney Immersive Cinema as a home base for VR-enhanced versions of feature films. The important part for fans is that the movie itself doesn’t change. You still watch the original film on a virtual screen, but during key scenes, effects and story elements reach past the edges of that screen and fill the space around you. ILM says the goal is to make you feel more present in the film without rewriting it.
The two launch titles are a fitting pair. Industrial Light & Magic was founded by George Lucas in 1975 to create the effects for the original Star Wars, and the studio also worked on the visual effects for Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War. In other words, ILM is going back to its own shots and giving them room to grow.
ILM executive producer Shereif Fattouh said the goal is to bring fans “closer to real places, beloved characters, and iconic moments.” ILM hasn’t said which scenes get the expanded treatment or which films will come next.
National Geographic: Beyond Heads to Africa – The second project comes from ILM’s work with National Geographic, which is part of The Walt Disney Company. National Geographic: Beyond uses 3D, 180-degree footage shot on location in Africa, filmed specifically for Meta’s devices. The idea is to put viewers right next to the animals and the scenery instead of watching from a couch across the room. ILM says the experience will also try out a few other storytelling approaches, though it didn’t share specifics.
Both experiences are in development for Meta VR Glasses as well as Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S. Meta revealed the VR Glasses at the same Connect keynote. They weigh about 100 grams, connect by cable to a phone-sized puck that holds the processor and battery, and run the same apps as Quest. The glasses are IMAX Enhanced certified with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support, which tells you Meta is chasing movie fans with this one. They go on sale in spring 2027 for $1,299.99.
That price is steep, which is why the Quest 3 and 3S news matters. If you already have one of those headsets, you won’t need new hardware to try Disney Immersive Cinema or National Geographic: Beyond. ILM says more details, including release timing, will come later.
Why ILM Is the Right Studio for This – ILM’s immersive team, which started in 2015 as ILMxLAB, has spent a decade putting Disney fans inside its stories. It made Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series in 2019 and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge in 2020, a VR adventure set on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, the same planet you visit at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The team also worked on Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, the VR experience that played at Disney Springs, and on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
More recently, it brought What If…? An Immersive Story to Apple Vision Pro in 2024 and released Star Wars: Beyond Victory, a mixed reality podracing game for Quest 3 and 3S, in October 2025. Disney Immersive Cinema is a different kind of project. It isn’t a game. It’s a new way to rewatch movies fans already love.
If a friend asked us about this, we’d tell them it’s worth getting excited about, but it’s not a reason to buy anything yet. Nothing here has a price or a release date, and ILM hasn’t said how you’ll get the movies. It could come through Disney+, a separate app or something else entirely.
The part we like most is the promise that the film stays untouched. Nobody wants a remix of A New Hope. What fans want is the feeling of being in that galaxy while the movie plays, and ILM is the studio that has been delivering that for Star Wars fans for years, from Batuu at home to the cockpit of the Falcon at Hollywood Studios. The best news for most families is that you won’t need $1,300 glasses to try it. If there’s already a Quest 3 or 3S in your house, you’re covered.
We’ll update this story as ILM and Disney share release dates, pricing and the next films in the lineup. For more Disney entertainment news, keep up with our latest coverage at Fantasy Land News, and read ILM’s full announcement on its newsroom.
