Ever since Oppenheimer blew our minds, we’ve been itching for one more new Christopher Nolan film to observe his Oscar-winning biopic epic, and we’re a 12 months and a pair months away from that day. Again in December, it was introduced Nolan is adapting Homer’s The Odyssey with Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o and plenty of different names. Now been revealed that the filmmaker is also doing an IMAX first with The Odyssey.
The film primarily based on the epic poem from Historic Greek literature will formally be the primary film to be utterly shot on IMAX cameras. Right here’s what IMAX boss Wealthy Gelfond ssaid throughout Cannes Movie Pageant concerning the enterprise (through Deadline):
A 12 months earlier than Chris began filming The Odyssey, he referred to as me and stated he wished to make an entire movie shot with IMAX cameras. That couldn’t be achieved for lots of causes. There have been plenty of points. . . . [Nolan said] ‘I’m going to present you a problem. If you happen to can work out methods to remedy these issues, I’m going to make Odyssey 100% movie with movie with IMAX cameras’, and we’ve solved his issues. So, this would be the first movie ever, not less than filmed 100% with IMAX cameras.
If you happen to’re not conversant in why motion pictures usually are not shot solely on IMAX, there’s a laundry record as to why. To provide you a rundown, IMAX cameras are extremely costly, heavy, loud and their movie masses can solely maintain a lot footage directly. The sound of an IMAX digicam has been likened to a lawnmower as a result of there’s a vacuum that runs contained in the digicam to maintain its additional massive movie strips utterly flat. Think about filming an entire film with a lawnmower sound because the soundtrack? In accordance with Gelfond, IMAX discovered a well beyond a number of the inherent issues with filming.
Whereas the usage of IMAX cameras are often introduced in to shoot purely visible sequences, for instance with the revolving hall battle from Inception. Previous to The Odyssey, Oppenheimer is the closest movie to it to have that a lot of or not it’s shot on IMAX. The 70mm IMAX model of the film, which performed in 30 IMAX theaters, was really 600 kilos and 11 miles lengthy (through CBS Information) attributable to its practically three-hour runtime.
Nolan’s work on Oppenheimer paid off contemplating the film made $100 million in IMAX (and $975.8 million worldwide general on all codecs). The IMAX model was so well-liked that a second 70MM IMAX run occurred three months after the unique and very profitable summer season launch in 2023. The film additionally gained Greatest Image alongside six different Academy Awards, together with Greatest Cinematography. He’s pushing the restrict additional with The Odyssey. As Gelfond additionally stated:
Chris pressured us to rethink how we operated our movie aspect of our enterprise in several methods, so now we have a program now to coach new projectionists, and we’re placing extra components around the globe, and we’re working tougher at growing spare components, and we’re ancillary issues like movie recorders and movie scanners. You understand, it’s not only a digicam factor. It sort of was a problem to take a look at our enterprise differently. And I’m glad he gave us that problem.
It does make you surprise simply how IMAX achieved this, and if the solid of The Odyssey present up on a regular basis on set with earplugs on. We are able to’t wait to be taught extra concerning the making and who large names like Tom Holland are taking part in and see extra pictures of the solely IMAX movie. It’s coming to theaters on July 17, 2026.