Christopher Nolan’s latest film, an adaptation of The Odyssey, hit theaters last week with much fanfare. The film, which features an ensemble cast including Matt Damon and Tom Holland, made history by being the first film to be shot entirely on IMAX cameras. Nolan and the cast have mentioned in interviews how this made for a unique filming experience, as each IMAX camera can only shoot for 3 minutes at a time before needing to be reloaded.
Nolan has been an outspoken advocate of the format, which he’s used heavily in past projects. The optimal way to watch the film, according to Nolan, is not digital projection, but rather IMAX 70mm film.
During the press tour for his 2023 film Oppenheimer, Nolan commented:
“The headline, for me, is: By shooting on IMAX 70mm film, you’re really letting the screen disappear. You’re getting a feeling of 3D without the glasses. You’ve got a huge screen, and you’re filling the peripheral vision of the audience. You’re immersing them in the world of the film.”
Notably, only 25 theaters in the U.S. are capable of showing the film in IMAX 70mm, with most having replaced film projectors with digital setups, and no new IMAX film projectors currently being manufactured.
“We’re sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already… There’s certainly more demand, the problem is they haven’t made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said to Variety at the New York premiere of The Odyssey. “So we retrofit them, we rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we could take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I’d like to see more.”
