Christopher Nolan is doing it again, and this time, he is taking us to Olympus. After the seismic global success of Oppenheimer, which raked in over $975 million (Rs 8,313.1 crore) worldwide and crossed a staggering $100 million (Rs 855.76 crore) just from IMAX screenings alone, Christopher Nolan is back, and he is not just aiming high, he¡¯s aiming for the gods.
The Odyssey, set for a July 17, 2026 release, promises to be unlike anything cinema has ever seen. It will become the first-ever feature film shot entirely using IMAX film cameras, not digital, but the glorious, old-school, large-format film that Nolan has long championed.
At the Cannes Film Festival 2025 press event, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond dropped the mic with a reveal: a full year before production began, Nolan challenged IMAX to do the impossible. Fix the long-standing technical barriers that had made full-length IMAX filming a logistical nightmare. Noisy cameras. Endless reloading. Delayed dailies.
Nolan¡¯s words to Gelfond? ¡°If you can fix these problems, I¡¯ll shoot the whole film in IMAX.¡± Challenge issued, and accepted.
The result? A complete revolution. IMAX had to rethink its entire filmmaking infrastructure. They are now training a new generation of projectionists, stockpiling spare parts like they are prepping for war, and developing modern film scanners and recorders. Gelfond admitted: Nolan¡¯s vision forced them to invest in their film division like never before.
The Odyssey features Matt Damon as Odysseus, leading a star-studded ensemble that reads like a dream: Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong¡¯o, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, and Mia Goth. Behind the lens, Nolan¡¯s trusted visual magician Hoyte van Hoytema returns as cinematographer. Shooting is already underway across breathtaking landscapes in Greece, Morocco, and Sicily.
?This is also a bold new frontier for 54-year-old Nolan, his first journey into the mythological realm, after dissecting war (Dunkirk), time (Tenet), and theoretical physics (Interstellar). Based on Homer¡¯s timeless epic, the film will follow Odysseus¡¯ perilous journey home after the Trojan War, bringing to life legendary moments including the Cyclops, Circe, and the haunting Sirens.
After the monumental success of Oppenheimer, The Odyssey marks Nolan¡¯s second film with Universal Pictures, and let¡¯s be real, the stakes are sky-high. Nolan has already turned the mid-July release window into his personal playground with Inception, Batman: The Dark Knight, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer. Now, he is back to claim the date once again.
But this film is more than just another mega-blockbuster. It is redefining the very future of filmmaking. Nolan¡¯s Odyssey is not just epic in scope, it is epic in every single frame.