Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan states he is pushing for new IMAX camera tech so he can film The Odyssey fully in IMAX.
Great movie directors are always shooting for the stars and trying to bring new experiences to the theaters. The Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan recently spoke with IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond to make new, quieter cameras so he can film his upcoming ancient Greek epic The Odyssey fully in IMAX. This would mean that the aspect ratio of every scene will be shot as a big picture production. Also, The Odyssey is set to make history as the first blockbuster film shot entirely with IMAX cameras.
Nolan has been a major advocate of shooting films on IMAX cameras, which he used for Dunkirk, Interstellar, the Dark Knight movies, and Tenet, as well as extensively on Oppenheimer. On Oppenheimer, he pushed for shooting on 70mm film, which Ryan Coogler’s Sinners recently featured using the special film format too.
Now, Nolan wants his much-anticipated film The Odyssey to be shot completely in IMAX. The only thing preventing him from doing so is that the IMAX cameras are notoriously big and loud. Oppenheimer earned more than $190 million on IMAX screens, roughly 20 percent of its total gross. Nolan challenges IMAX to improve its cameras, to make them lighter and quieter, and to solve issues with scanning and processing the cameras’ 70 mm film stock, to allow him to easily watch dailies as he shoots.
“Chris called me up and said If you can figure out how to solve the problems, will make [The Odyssey] 100 percent in IMAX. And that’s what we’re doing,” said IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond, speaking at the company’s annual press lunch in Cannes on Thursday. “He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new IMAX cameras requested by Nolan are reportedly 30 percent quieter. Gelfond said new film scanning and processing techniques will allow a faster turnaround for dailies. Nothing about the size of the new IMAX cameras has been shared yet. The new cameras are exclusively reserved for Nolan, but after he wraps The Odyssey, IMAX will begin renting them out to other directors.
Many blockbuster films releasing this summer feature some IMAX scenes or are claimed to be “filmed for IMAX.” This includes Coogler’s Sinners, Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Joseph Kosinski’s F1, and James Gunn’s Superman, among others. Even Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia adaptation film for Netflix is shot with IMAX cameras. The Barbie director has not said how much of the production is filmed in IMAX, but Netflix signed a deal with IMAX—giving them a 28-day exclusive theatrical window for Narnia before the film is released on the streamer. Below is a great video with Coogler breaking down aspect ratios, prior to Sinners’ release:
With audiences craving more on the big screen, the push for bigger picture films continues. Documentaries continue finding success in the space, as IMAX cameras began showcasing many documentary films to promote the format at Ontario Place’s Cinesphere in Toronto, Canada. Amazon MGM Studios recently produced a new documentary titled The Blue Angels, highlighting the Blue Angel pilots of the United States Navy’s flight demonstration squad.
