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Geek Tyrant
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY Will Be Shot Entirly in IMAX Which No Movie Has Done Before — GeekTyrant
If you've ever sat in a true IMAX theater watching films like The Dark Knight , Dune: Part Two , or Oppenheimer and thought, 'Why can't the whole movie look like this?', you're not alone. Director Christopher Nolan heard you, and now he's doing something no one else in Hollywood has managed to pull off. For decades, directors have only used IMAX's massive 1.43:1 format for select sequences. The cameras were too bulky, too loud, and just too impractical to roll for an entire feature, especially one with lots of dialogue. But Nolan, never one to back down from a technical challenge, asked IMAX to rethink that entirely. And they did. IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond revealed at Cannes this week: 'Chris called me up and said If you can figure out how to solve the problems, we will make [The Odyssey] 100 percent in IMAX. And that's what we're doing. He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.' What came out of that collaboration is a set of smaller, substantially lighter IMAX film cameras, reportedly 30% quieter than their predecessors. These new models are being used right now to film The Odyssey , making it the first major Hollywood blockbuster to be shot entirely in native IMAX 1.43:1 film format. To put this in perspective, while plenty of movies advertise as being shot for IMAX, most of them use digital IMAX cameras that don't fill the full screen in an IMAX theater. Other movies mix formats, jumping between widescreen and the square-ish, towering IMAX frame. Nolan was one of the pioneers of that technique, first using it in The Dark Knight . But now, he's pushing the format into entirely new territory. And it won't stop with The Odyssey . Once Nolan wraps production, these new cameras will become available to other filmmakers. That means this moment isn't just a cool milestone, it will mark the beginning of a new wave in cinematic visual storytelling. So what does this mean for moviegoers? If you're lucky enough to live near one of the few true IMAX theaters that can project in 1.43:1, you're going to want to plan ahead becauset those showing are for sure going to sell out. Universal has described the film as a 'mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new Imax film technology. The film brings Homer's foundational saga to Imax film screens for the first time.' The Odyssey follows Odysseus' 10-year journey home from the Trojan War, encountering a cyclops, sirens, a sea monster, and more along the way. Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, his wife Penelope must fend off suitors vying for the throne in his absence. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron, as well as Mia Goth, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, John Leguizamo, Will Yun Lee, Benny Safdie, Himesh Patel and Bill Irwin. The Odyssey opens July 17, 2026.
The Verge
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Christopher Nolan's Odyssey will be the first movie shot entirely on IMAX film
When it launches next summer, Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Greek epic The Odyssey will be historic in more ways than one: it will be the first feature film ever shot entirely on IMAX film. The Odyssey isn't the first film to be shot entirely using IMAX hardware — that honor belongs to Avengers: Infinity War — but it's the first to do so while shooting on film, rather than digital. IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond announced the news during a press lunch as part of the Cannes film festival on Thursday, revealing that it began as a challenge from Nolan. 'Chris called me up and said, 'If you can figure out how to solve the problems, I will make [ Odyssey ] 100 percent in IMAX.' And that's what we're doing,' Gelfond told The Hollywood Reporter. 'He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.' The new cameras are reportedly both lighter and 30 percent quieter. Gelfond says the company has also developed new film scanning and processing techniques to make it quicker and easier to watch footage back as it's shot. For now the new cameras are exclusive to Nolan, but will be available to other directors after The Odyssey wraps production. Nolan has been one of IMAX's biggest proponents ever since he used the cameras to shoot some of The Dark Knight 's action scenes in 2008. He's used IMAX cameras in every film since, with 2023's Oppenheimer the first film to use black-and-white 65mm film in IMAX, which required both modifying the IMAX cameras and developing new film stock with Kodak. That film's cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema, is also shooting The Odyssey.
Gizmodo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Christopher Nolan's ‘The Odyssey' Is Doing Something No Film Has Done Before
Movies like 'Sinners,' 'Dune: Part Two,' and 'Oppenheimer' had IMAX scenes, but 'The Odyssey' will be in IMAX throughout the whole movie. Christopher Nolan has done it again. He was one of the first Hollywood filmmakers to have scenes from his films expand on IMAX screens and now he's finally answering the question anyone who saw The Dark Knight, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Dune: Part Two, Sinners, Oppenheimer, or dozens of other movies in IMAX has thought: 'Why isn't the whole movie like this?' Well, because up until now, it was impossible. The cameras were too big and too loud to film an entire Hollywood movie like that. It was a privilege held for select action sequences, concert films, or nature documentaries without dialogue. But for his new film, The Odyssey, Nolan asked IMAX to make smaller, quieter cameras capable of capturing footage that would screen in that massive, signature 1.43:1 aspect ratio and the company did just that. So, Nolan has been filming The Odyssey entirely with IMAX film cameras, making it the first Hollywood blockbuster ever to do so. 'Chris called me up and said If you can figure out how to solve the problems, we will make [The Odyssey] 100 percent in IMAX. And that's what we're doing,' IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond said at the Cannes Film Festival this week. 'He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.' The cameras are reportedly 30% quieter than the previous iterations and 'substantially lighter,' according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nolan has all the cameras working on his film now, but when he's done, other filmmakers can use them too. Of course, it had to be Nolan. It was Nolan who changed the game with The Dark Knight when he decided to showcase select scenes by filming them with IMAX film cameras, making the footage bigger and clearer than the rest of the movie. In the years since Nolan himself, and several other filmmakers—including Michael Bay, Brad Bird, Denis Villeneuve, and Ryan Coogler—have done similar things with their films. You go to see a movie on a true IMAX screen, and while most of it is in a traditional aspect ratio, certain scenes change the ratio and the whole screen is filled, basically going from a rectangle to a giant square. That's different from most of the movies you see in IMAX these days. Those are shot with smaller, digital IMAX cameras which capture images that can be projected larger than a standard aspect ratio, but not that full 1:43:1. Here's a, now slightly dated but still helpful, explainer released by Total Film when Oppenheimer hit theaters. Nolan's film is being filmed entirely in the IMAX film format in the top left. Coogler also recently released a video about film stocks and aspect ratios that he used filming Sinners, which was shot partially with IMAX film cameras. That's also very helpful and you can check that out here. So, yes, other films have been filmed entirely with IMAX film cameras before. But not a big Hollywood blockbuster. What this means for the audience member is, if you don't know already, time to do some research. Are there IMAX theaters by you that can show films in the 1:43:1 aspect ratio? If so, you are going to want to keep an eye out for when advanced tickets for The Odyssey go on sale next summer. We're sure it'll be great however or whenever you see it. But to see the whole thing in full 1:43:1 IMAX will literally be witnessing a new era of film history. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, The Odyssey is set to open July 17, 2026.
