by Jason Snell
Apple announces a new set of Immersive film releases
Apple has announced another round of Immersive films for the Vision Pro, including Monday’s premiere of “Tour De Force” from CANAL+ and MotoGP.
“Tour De Force” is a half-hour film about French motorcycle racer Johann Zarco competing for a historic win at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans. It was announced back in June and is the first film shot with Blackmagic’s new URSA Cine Immersive camera, which lets companies that aren’t Apple create films in Apple’s Immersive format.
I watched “Tour De Force” this afternoon and came away impressed. It certainly doesn’t seem like a step down from Apple’s production values, and CANAL+ obviously had access to multiple Blackmagic cameras, which gives the doc an expansiveness that some of Apple’s productions have lacked. (“Tour De Force” also has better luck in its subject than it did with its bull-riding short, which ended in about two seconds of failure. Zarco and his team have better luck!) I’m looking forward to many more Immersive projects now that the Blackmagic camera is out in the world.
This fall, Apple’s also releasing an Immersive and spatial presentation from the BBC Proms, letting viewers get up close with the hands of pianist Lukas Sternath as he performs Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the BBC Symphony Orchestry at the Royal Albert Hall. There’s also a documentary coming in October set in a rainforest in tropical Australia; a film called “Experience Paris” that celebrates French culture (also due this fall); a K-pop documentary about the band CORTIS; and a new episode of Apple’s adventure series Elevated.
Launching in December is a new series, World of Red Bull, that does not feature partying twentysomethings powering down a can on their way to the next club, but extreme athletes in extreme situations. The series begins with an episode about backcountry skiing in British Columbia and will be followed by an episode next year about big-wave surfing in Tahiti.
Also coming next year is a climate doc, due next spring, featuring CNN journalist Bill Weir on a scientific expedition to find emperor penguins in Antarctica.
To recap:
- Today: “Tour de Force”
- October: “Julaymba” (Australian rainforest documentary), Elevated: Maine (Oct. 3)
- Fall: “A Night at the BBC Proms”, “Experience Paris”, “CORTIS”
- December: World of Red Bull: “Backcountry Skiing”
- 2026: World of Red Bull: “Big-Wave Surfing”; “Journey to Antarctica to Find Emperor Penguins” (Spring)