"Avatar 3": Where is the 3D VR cinema?

The first trailer for “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is currently generating anticipation for the sequel to the sci-fi epic. One of the most impressive ways to watch it is with the VR goggles Meta Quest. In the virtual movie theater, the images unfold a special power and plasticity thanks to the flawless 3D display and huge screen.

This once again raises the question of why 3D VR cinema is still a niche application and why films such as “Avatar” are missing on Meta Quest.

The fact that James Cameron and Meta have entered into a multi-year partnership that provides for the production of high-quality 3D content for the Meta Quest at least gives some hope in this direction. There are also reports that Meta plans to launch lightweight VR glasses specifically for media consumption on the market next year. A device that could specifically drive forward the VR cinema use case.

Cameron's heavenly VR moment

In an interview with Meta, James Cameron waxed lyrical about the cinematic experience made possible by modern VR glasses: “It's like a door opened for me, like heaven opened up, a beam of light fell down and a choir of angels sang. I thought: 'Ah! So this is how people can see the movie. Just as I intended it to be.”

We are, of course, talking about “Avatar 3”. For him, the VR cinema experience is at least as good visually as in a cinema with modern Dolby Vision technology. The director left open which VR glasses Cameron was referring to exactly. Meta's current flagship, the Quest 3, cannot keep up with its LCD screens in terms of resolution or contrast, not to mention the audio quality.

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Even if Cameron's judgment at this point may not be entirely unbiased due to his VR partnership, he is absolutely right on another point: VR glasses offer some decisive advantages over the classic 3D cinema experience. They can theoretically achieve significantly higher brightness values and, thanks to completely separate images for each eye, deliver a razor-sharp 3D image without ghost images.

Apple shows how VR cinema works

Apple's Vision Pro, a device marketed specifically as a portable cinema, offers a significantly better cinema experience than Quest 3. Thanks to high-resolution OLED displays, it comes closer to the real movie theater experience and even surpasses it, at least visually, depending on how you look at it. With over 300 3D films available, including the first two “Avatar” parts, there is also an extensive range of content on offer. Meta Quest, on the other hand, lacks corresponding services. If you want to experience 3D movies, you have to extract them from your Blu-rays and transfer them manually to the device.

For Apple, the hurdles for a broad adaptation of VR cinema lie elsewhere: the high price and limited wearing comfort. Meta is likely to want to address the latter point with the planned new VR media glasses. With a headset that weighs around 110 grams, watching entire feature films could become suitable for everyday use for the first time.

James Cameron may have already seen the prototype. He was not allowed to say anything about the devices that Meta showed him, the director explained in an interview. However, he said that the future of VR would be “very fucking cool.”

Interested parties can download the 4K and 3D trailer for “Avatar 3” from the trailer website, The Digital Theater. The paid Skybox VR video player is suitable for correct playback, but the picture format must be adjusted.

(mma)