Christopher Nolan To Shoot ‘The Odyssey’ Entirely In IMAX
Matt Damon on the set of The Odyssey, a Film By Christopher Nolan. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the director’s follow-up to his Academy Award-winning Oppenheimer is being shot entirely in 70mm IMAX, the first time a narrative feature has been filmed entirely in the large format medium.
Nolan, a longtime fan of the format, first used IMAX technology on 2008’s The Dark Knight, and has filmed select sequences for all of his films since in the expanded aspect ratio. Shooting an entire feature in the format has been impractical in the past, as last-generation cameras were too loud to cleanly record dialogue, unlike silent digital IMAX cameras.
After Oppenheimer, which grossed nearly 20% of its almost $1 billion box office gross on IMAX screens, Nolan asked the company to improve their cameras, making them easier to operate, quieter, and improving real-time dailies on-set.
“If [IMAX] can figure out how to solve the problems,” IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond recalled Nolan saying during a panel at Cannes on Thursday, “[Nolan] will make [The Odyssey] 100% in IMAX.”
A render of the new IMAX cameras. Courtesy of IMAX.
Only 40 minutes of Oppenheimer’s 180-minute runtime were shot and projected in the expanded aspect ratio, and while no length has been rumored for The Odyssey, it’s fair to assume that it’ll clock in close to the three-hour mark, at the very least.
Demand for the IMAX format — specifcally 15-perf projection — has increased in recent years, notably with Ryan Coogler’s Sinners selling out nearly every screening it had in the format this year. While Coogler’s film is the only 2025 release to be shot and projected on IMAX film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is set to be released in a number of formats, including 70mm among 35mm, 70mm, and VistaVision projection this fall.
A first look at The Odyssey is likely to debut this summer ahead of Jurassic World: Rebirth.
Universal will release The Odyssey in theaters on July 17, 2026.
