Jon Favreau has revealed one of the stranger and more interesting bits of tech behind The Mandalorian & Grogu: he used Apple Vision Pro to preview how the movie’s IMAX shots would actually look in a theater-sized frame. In an interview clip highlighted by multiple outlets, Favreau said they built software so he could put on the headset, sit in a virtual IMAX auditorium, and view the full aspect ratio while lining up shots.
That is a pretty smart solution to a very real movie problem.
Favreau’s explanation was simple: if you are making an IMAX movie, watching footage on a normal monitor is not the same thing as seeing what audiences will actually get on a giant screen. He said the team layered custom software on top of Apple Vision Pro so he could review takes as if he were already in an IMAX theater, then judge framing based on that larger presentation. 9to5Mac quoted him saying, “I could watch that take and see what people will see,” which is about as direct as it gets.
This fits the bigger Mandalorian & Grogu push
The detail matters because Lucasfilm has already been very clear that The Mandalorian & Grogu is being built as a theatrical event, not just a bigger episode of TV. StarWars.com’s official film page says the movie opens May 22, 2026, and repeatedly emphasizes that it is playing in theaters and IMAX. Official trailer coverage also describes the film as “filmed for IMAX,” which makes Favreau’s Vision Pro workflow sound less like a gimmick and more like part of the actual production strategy.
And honestly, it is a very Favreau kind of story.
This is the same corner of Star Wars that has leaned hard into virtual production, game-engine workflows, previsualization, and tech experimentation for years. Favreau’s quote suggests the team is still using consumer-facing hardware in very un-consumer ways, which was part of his broader point during the conversation. He framed Apple Vision Pro as existing tech that they adapted for an industrial filmmaking purpose, rather than some bespoke tool built from scratch just for one movie.
Why fans should care
The fun part here is that this is not just an Apple story or a filmmaking trivia nugget. It is a clue about how seriously Lucasfilm is taking the movie’s big-screen presentation. If Favreau is using a headset to simulate the IMAX experience while composing shots, then the expanded framing is clearly something the production is actively designing around, not just a marketing badge slapped on later. That is an inference from his quote and the official IMAX positioning, but it is a very grounded one.
So yes, this is a little geeky.
But it is also exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes detail that makes The Mandalorian & Grogu feel more like a real movie swing. Not just Din and Grogu on a bigger poster, but a production that is actually using new tools to think about scale, framing, and what those IMAX scenes should feel like once they hit a giant screen.
