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ILMxLAB

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ILMxLAB
Information
Type Immersive entertainment studio
Industry Virtual reality, augmented reality, immersive entertainment
Founded 2015
Founder John Gaeta, Vicki Dobbs Beck
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Notable Personnel Vicki Dobbs Beck (Vice President, Immersive Content)
Products Trials on Tatooine, Carne y Arena, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge
Parent Lucasfilm
Website ilm.com


ILMxLAB (also styled the ILM Experience Lab) was the immersive entertainment studio of Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Announced in 2015, it brought together the talents of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the sound studio Skywalker Sound, and Lucasfilm's story group to create virtual reality, augmented reality, real-time cinema, location-based, and other narrative-driven immersive experiences.[1][2] The studio is best known for the Star Wars projects Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (2019) and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge (2020), and for its collaboration with director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu on the Oscar-honored installation Carne y Arena (2017).[1] In May 2023 the studio was rebranded as ILM Immersive.[1]

Founding and mission

Lucasfilm and ILM launched ILMxLAB in 2015 as a new division dedicated to immersive storytelling.[1] The unit grew out of Lucasfilm's Advanced Development Group and combined creative and technical staff drawn from across the company, uniting filmmaking, visual effects, and sound expertise under a single banner.[3] Its stated aim was to experiment with storytelling in the emerging fields of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, and to take projects from concept through launch, delivery, and support.[3]

The studio was co-founded by John Gaeta, the Academy Award-winning visual effects artist known for The Matrix (for which he shared the Oscar for Best Visual Effects), and by Vicki Dobbs Beck.[4][5] Gaeta served as executive creative director before leaving in 2017 to join the mixed-reality company Magic Leap.[4] Dobbs Beck, Vice President of Immersive Content for Lucasfilm and ILM, led the studio across its history.[3][1]

Projects

Trials on Tatooine (2016)

ILMxLAB's first publicly released virtual reality experience was Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine, a room-scale experiment built in Unreal Engine 4 for the HTC Vive.[6][7] It was shown at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March 2016 and later released for free on Steam beginning July 18, 2016, letting players repair the Millennium Falcon and wield a lightsaber against incoming stormtroopers.[7][8]

Carne y Arena (2017)

Carne y Arena (Spanish for "Flesh and Sand"; subtitled "Virtually Present, Physically Invisible") is a virtual reality installation directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, created in collaboration with ILMxLAB.[9] Drawing on interviews with Mexican and Central American refugees, the piece places a single visitor at a time among a group of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. It premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2017, becoming the first virtual reality work included in the festival's official selection.[9][10]

In October 2017 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to give the project a Special Achievement Academy Award, which was presented at the 9th Governors Awards on November 11, 2017, in recognition of "a visionary and powerful experience in storytelling." It was the first such special award the Academy had granted in more than 20 years.[11]

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire (2017)

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire was a location-based, multiplayer "hyper-reality" experience produced by ILMxLAB and Lucasfilm together with the location-based VR company The VOID.[12] Teams of four guests, disguised as stormtroopers, physically walked through a mapped set on the lava planet Mustafar to recover intelligence for the Rebellion, with the droid K-2SO from Rogue One as a guide.[12] The VOID's technology added physical effects, including the heat of the lava and the smell of its burning air, along with force-feedback vests, synchronized with the virtual environment.[13] The experience opened at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando on December 16, 2017, and at Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim on January 5, 2018.[12]

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (2019)

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is a three-part interactive VR story developed by ILMxLAB, written and executive produced by David S. Goyer and directed by Ben Snow.[14] Set between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, it takes place at Darth Vader's stronghold on the lava planet Mustafar. Each episode includes a "lightsaber dojo" where players fight waves of enemies using a lightsaber and Force powers.[14]

The series launched on the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift in three installments: Episode I on May 21, 2019, Episode II on September 25, 2019, and Episode III on November 21, 2019.[14][15] All three episodes were later sold together for PlayStation VR, released August 25, 2020.[16] Episode I won the 2019 Game Developers Choice Award for Best VR/AR Game, and the series received the inaugural Innovation Award at the 31st Producers Guild of America Awards in 2020.[17][14]

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge (2020)

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge is an action-adventure VR game developed by ILMxLAB and published by Disney Electronic Content.[18] Inspired by the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme-park lands, it casts the player as a droid repair technician who crash-lands near Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu. It was released for the Oculus Quest on November 19, 2020.[18][19] A major paid expansion, Last Call, followed on September 15, 2021, roughly doubling the play time.[18][20] An Enhanced Edition launched for the PlayStation VR2 on February 22, 2023, and the game also became available across later Meta Quest hardware including the Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest 3S.[18]

Rebranding

On May 31, 2023, Industrial Light & Magic announced that ILMxLAB would be rebranded as ILM Immersive as part of a wider branding initiative at ILM.[1] Vicki Dobbs Beck said the original name had been chosen in 2015 "to reflect the idea that this was a blank canvas," and that the new name better encapsulated the studio's focus and future.[1] Under the ILM Immersive name, the studio continued to develop immersive projects for Star Wars and other properties, including What If...? - An Immersive Story, made with Marvel Studios for the Apple Vision Pro and released in 2024.[21]

Significance

ILMxLAB was among the earliest major film-industry studios to treat immersive media as a primary storytelling format rather than a marketing add-on, leveraging the cinematic visual effects and sound pipelines of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic.[3] Its output spanned free experiments (Trials on Tatooine), gallery installations (Carne y Arena), location-based attractions (Secrets of the Empire), and consumer VR titles for Oculus and PlayStation VR (Vader Immortal and Tales from the Galaxy's Edge), and its work was recognized with a Special Achievement Academy Award, a Game Developers Choice Award, and a Producers Guild of America Award.[11][17][14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Industrial Light & Magic Rebrands ILMxLAB as ILM Immersive (Exclusive)". Variety. May 31, 2023. https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/industrial-light-magic-rebrands-ilmxlab-as-ilm-immersive-1235629284/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Lucasfilm & ILM Launch Interactive Division, ILMxLAB". Animation World Network. June 2015. https://www.awn.com/news/lucasfilm-ilm-launch-interactive-division-ilmxlab. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Seizing the Moment - ILM Leaders Janet Lewin and Vicki Dobbs Beck on the Future of Immersive Storytelling". Industrial Light & Magic. March 2025. https://www.ilm.com/seizing-the-moment-ilm-leaders-janet-lewin-and-vicki-dobbs-beck-on-the-future-of-immersive-storytelling/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Magic Leap Hires ILMxLab Co-Founder John Gaeta". Variety. October 27, 2017. https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/magic-leap-ilmxlab-john-gaeta-1202601125/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  5. ↑ "John Gaeta". Wikipedia. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gaeta. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Lucasfilm Unveils 'Star Wars' Virtual Reality Experience". Variety. March 15, 2016. https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/star-wars-virtual-reality-vr-experience-1201730442/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "GDC 2016: A Glimpse at the Real-Time Future". Epic Games (Unreal Engine). March 2016. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/events/gdc-2016-a-glimpse-at-the-real-time-future. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  8. ↑ "SWCE 2016: David Goyer Working on ILMxLAB VR Project and Trials on Tatooine Comes Home". StarWars.com. July 2016. https://www.starwars.com/news/swce-2016-ilmxlab-david-goyer-trials-on-tatooine. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Flesh and Sand (Carne y Arena)". Wikipedia. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesh_and_Sand. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Alejandro G. Inarritu's Carne y Arena, First VR to Play Cannes". Anonymous Content. 2017. https://www.anonymouscontent.com/5348/alejandro-g-inarritus-carne-y-arena-first-vr-to-play-cannes/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "The Academy's Board of Governors Awards an Oscar to Alejandro G. Inarritu's Carne y Arena Virtual Reality Installation". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 27, 2017. https://www.oscars.org/news/academys-board-governors-awards-oscarr-alejandro-g-inarritus-carne-y-arena-virtual-reality. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "ILMxLAB and The VOID's Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire Trailer and Details Revealed". StarWars.com. 2017. https://www.starwars.com/news/ilmxlab-the-void-star-wars-secrets-of-the-empire-trailer-and-details-revealed. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  13. ↑ "5 Reasons You'll Love Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire". StarWars.com. 2017. https://www.starwars.com/news/5-reasons-youll-love-star-wars-secrets-of-the-empire. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 "Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series". Wikipedia. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vader_Immortal:_A_Star_Wars_VR_Series. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  15. ↑ "ILMxLAB Announces Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, Launching in 2019 on Oculus Quest". Meta. 2018. https://www.meta.com/blog/ilmxlab-announces-vader-immortal-a-star-wars-vr-series-launching-in-2019-on-oculus-quest/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is Coming to PlayStation VR on August 25". StarWars.com. 2020. https://www.starwars.com/news/vader-immortal-coming-to-playstation-vr-on-august-25. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Game Developers Choice Awards". Wikipedia. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Developers_Choice_Awards. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge". Wikipedia. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Tales_from_the_Galaxy's_Edge. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Galaxy's Edge Lets You Choose Your Own Star Wars VR Adventure". Engadget. September 16, 2020. https://www.engadget.com/star-wars-tales-from-galaxys-edge-vr-oculus-quest-130024976.html. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Review: The best Star Wars VR adventure you can get". MIXED. 2021. https://mixed-news.com/en/star-wars-tales-from-the-galaxys-edge-review/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Marvel Studios and ILM Immersive Announce 'What If...? - An Immersive Story,' Coming Exclusively to Apple Vision Pro". The Walt Disney Company. 2024. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/marvel-ilm-apple-vision-pro-immersive-what-if/. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
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