Jon Favreau used Apple Vision Pro to create The Mandalorian and Grogu for IMAX
Jon Favreau has revealed one of the strangest and most interesting technical features behind the Mandalorian series and the Grogu movie: he used Apple Vision Pro to preview how IMAX footage would look in a theatrical-sized frame. In an excerpt from an interview published by several publications, Favreau said they developed software that allows him to put on a headset, sit in a virtual IMAX theater and view the image in full format while aligning frames.
This is a pretty clever solution to a very pressing problem in the film industry.
Favreau's explanation was simple: If you're making a movie for IMAX, viewing the footage on a regular monitor is not the same as seeing what audiences will see on the big screen. He said the team installed special software on top of Apple Vision Pro so he could view takes as if he were already in an IMAX theater, and then judge framing based on that larger image. 9to5Mac quoted him as saying, “I could watch that take and see what people would see,” which is about as blunt as it gets.
This is in line with the larger campaign dedicated toThe Mandalorian and Grog.
This detail is important because Lucasfilm has already made it very clear that The Mandalorian and Grogu is being created as a theatrical event and not just an extended episode of the television series. The film's official page on StarWars.com states that it will premiere on May 22, 2026, and repeatedly emphasizes that the film will be released in theaters and IMAX.The official trailers also state that the film is"shot for IMAX,"making Favreau's Vision Pro workflow less of a publicity stunt and more of a piece of actual production strategy.
And, frankly, it's very Favreau-esque.
This is the same corner of Star Wars that has been heavily leveraging virtual production, game engine workflows, pre-visualization, and technology experimentation for years. Favreau's quote suggests that the team is still using consumer hardware in a very non-consumer way, which was part of his larger point during the call. He presented Apple Vision Pro as existing technology adapted for industrial filmmaking, rather than some specialized tool built from scratch just for one film.
Why fans should care
The most interesting thing here is that this is not just a story about Apple or a curious fact from the world of filmmaking. This is a clue to how serious Lucasfilm is about bringing the film to the big screen. If Favreau uses a headset to simulate the IMAX effect when composing shots, then the extended framing is clearly the result of active work on the film, and not just a marketing gimmick added later. This is an inference from his quote and the official IMAX positioning, but it is very reasonable.
Yes, it's a little boring.
But it's behind-the-scenes details like these that make The Mandalorian and Grogu feel like a real movie set. Not just Dean and Grogu on a big poster, but a project that uses new tools to think about scale, framing and how IMAX scenes should look on the big screen.