ILM filmed National Geographic: Beyond in Africa for Meta VR Glasses and Quest 3

Industrial Light & Magic has filmed a National Geographic experience on location in Africa for Meta's headsets, and it is being built for Meta Quest 3 and 3S as well as the Meta VR Glasses that arrive in spring 2027. ILM says National Geographic: Beyond uses "stereoscopic 180-degree footage filmed on location in Africa", shot specifically for Meta's devices.

ILM adds Quest 3 and 3S to the list

The device list is ILM's own. Meta announced the app at Connect on September 23, promising 180-degree 3D access to African wildlife, and named no device for it beyond the glasses the announcement was built around. ILM says both of the projects it announced that day are in development for Meta VR Glasses and Meta Quest 3 and 3S, with more details to come later.

That is not a shipping commitment. ILM also describes both experiences as "developed for the recently revealed Meta VR Glasses", and all three devices sit under the same "in development" wording, so Quest 3 and 3S owners have a development target rather than a confirmed release.

ILM's card for its Meta Connect 2026 announcements. The studio announced two immersive experiences on September 23. Image: Industrial Light & Magic

National Geographic: Beyond was shot in Africa for Meta's devices

ILM says the experience was created in collaboration with National Geographic, and that the 180-degree footage was filmed on location specifically for Meta's devices. The pitch is proximity: ILM says the format puts the viewer at the centre of the story rather than in front of it, and that the experience "also explores additional approaches to immersive storytelling" without saying what those are.

There is no runtime, no release window and no price, for this or for ILM's other project.

The format itself is familiar on Quest. Galapagos VR arrived on Meta Quest in 2023 as an 8K 3D documentary narrated by David Attenborough, and Oceans of Light took viewers diving with wild dolphins in the Bahamas. What ILM describes is new capture commissioned for Meta hardware rather than a port of a finished film.

ILM worked on both films in its second project

The other experience, Disney Immersive Cinema by ILM, carries VR enhanced versions of Lucasfilm's Star Wars: A New Hope and Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War. ILM contributed the visual effects to both films when they were made, so the studio is going back into its own work rather than licensing someone else's.

Shereif Fattouh, executive producer at ILM, framed the two projects as one experiment: "Both experiences reflect our belief that the future of entertainment is about crafting a new canvas for storytelling that allows creators to immerse the audience in ways never before possible."

In development is not a release date

Meta VR Glasses do not exist yet. They were announced at Connect on September 23 and go on sale in spring 2027 for $1,299.99 in the US, which puts the earliest date either ILM project could reach that device more than a year out.

Quest 3 and 3S are the variable. Both have been on sale for years, so a version for them could in principle come sooner, and ILM has not said whether the three versions arrive together or how far apart.

For now the firmest detail either company has given about National Geographic: Beyond is where it was filmed.