Steve Jobs, Pix(AR) and the Future of Immersive Entertainment

The future will be abbreviated in 3D, IMAX, CGI, VR, AR

After listening to an interview with the NYT’s Kara Swisher and Skydance Media’s David Ellison (the son of Larry Ellison), I began thinking about the ways in which Apple may develop its television and film content for AR/VR headsets.

Ellison said, of his first experience with VR: “When I put on the headset, it was one of the most transformative experiences I ever had in my entire life . . . You’re going to see the VR marketplace expand.” To which, Swisher responded: “You know who’s going to do it? It’s going to be Apple — not Facebook.”:

If there’s any leader in the recent history of tech that proved they can navigate the border between science and humanities with grace, it was Steve Jobs. He vouched for the Buddhist philosophy of The Middle Path, after all.* After leaving Apple, Jobs struggled to make his purchase of Pixar worth his investment of time and $5M. CGI was becoming mainstream and, in 1995, Toy Story was Pixar’s first full-length CGI film. Grossing more than $3B worldwide, the film became the 4th-highest-grossing animated franchise, ever.

* The Middle Path (Madhyamāpratipada): refers to the teachings of the Buddha; a spiritual practice that steers away from all-or-nothing thinking, e.g. ascetic or hedonistic lifestyles. This balanced approach to life is said to lead to one’s awakening.

During those twenty years at Pixar, Jobs learned a lot about the entertainment industry. Later, that knowledge would be an integral asset to develop Apple’s entertainment-focused product lineup, including the iPod, iTunes and the Apple TV.

AR/VR movies are nothing new

The 1987 flick Predator used heat scanners and weapon system on a HMD (helmet-mounted display), similar to those used in military training and operations like Microsoft’s HoloLens. In the 2002 film, Minority Report, the production team used AR-based hand gesture recognition, finger tracking, multi-touch interfaces, retina scanners and autonomous cars.

Skydance is the Pixar of the Future

In 2019, Skydance Media enlisted former animation head of Pixar (and Disney), John Lasseter. Ellison praised him as an “industry visionary,” in light of backlash and #MeToo lashings. The company also enlisted Rich Moore, a filmmaker, who previously advised on films like Frozen, Moana, and Tangled, at the height of his tenure at Disney.

In 2020, Apple made a $100M acquisition of the VR company, NextVR. Their specialty was providing live VR streams of sporting events by the NBA, NFL, NHL and Fox Sports. Before the Apple takeover, their products were compatible with devices from PlayStation, Oculus, HTC, Microsoft and Lenovo.l

In 2022, Skydance Media landed a mega put deal with Apple, which is the most lucrative deal received by any production company so far. Skydance is, as a result, guaranteed (at least) two fully-financed feature films per year, with budgets up to $125M, and a guaranteed payout of up to $25M per picture. It probably didn’t hurt to have investments and involvement from Larry Ellison (Steve Jobs’ old friend) and John Lasseter (Steve Jobs’ old colleague from Pixar).

More recently, a top gaming executive from Apple, Mark Bozon, was plucked by Disney to lead its cross-divisional Next Generation Storytelling initiative. The program encompasses the metaverse-based ambitions of Disney. He wrote in a May 20 tweet: “I’m headed to an absolute dream job.”

A room of moviegoers experience a short film in VR at Cannes Film Festival, 2016.

I envision:

• Apple will launch its own Apple TV+ theaters around the country. Before AR/VR headsets become a household item (they’ll reportedly be priced around $3,000), they might make an appearance in theaters for group testing. Moviegoers would pick up a headset at the entrance and get ready to watch Apple TV+ content in virtual reality or augmented reality.

• Disney theme parks will own (and patent) millions of their own VR headsets to help grow the immersive experiences they’ve already been working on, such as at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.