Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Becomes First Feature Shot Entirely in Full-Frame IMAX

Christopher Nolan’s upcoming project The Odyssey has been filmed completely with IMAX film cameras, marking the first time a commercial feature has been engineered to utilize the tall 1.43:1 aspect ratio from beginning to end.

Standard theatrical distribution prints, such as 35mm film transfers, crop the upper and lower portions of the frame to conform to traditional widescreen dimensions. In contrast, authentic IMAX 70mm prints preserve the full native image captured by the camera sensors, displaying additional vertical detail across backgrounds, architecture, and character framing.

The Exhibition Bottleneck

While the production captures an unprecedented amount of visual information on celluloid, the vast majority of theatergoers will not see the uncropped presentation. Venues equipped with functional 15-perforation, 70mm IMAX film projectors represent a tiny fraction of global theatrical screens, leaving standard digital auditoriums to display cropped adaptations of the native composition.

Nolan has consistently championed photochemical film over digital workflows, using his studio leverage to keep analog large-format production and physical print distribution viable in a largely digital theatrical landscape.

Why It Matters

The move underscores a persistent divide between high-end analog capture and mass exhibition infrastructure. Even as exhibition chains transition almost entirely to digital laser projection, ultra-premium analog formats serve as valuable marketing tools to drive destination viewing and premium-format ticket sales. For Nolan, pushing the technical limits of IMAX remains central to defining theatrical cinema as an exclusive physical event.