The Odyssey (July 17, 2026) - Christopher Nolan and Hoyte Van Hoytema

[Giovanni Louisor]

[Gautam Valluri]

Not too thrilled by this but will go watch it, hopefully in 15/70 IMAX as its the first full feature shot in this format.

[Scott Pickering]

I got my two sets of tickets for the Langley IMAX in 70mm. Theres a lot of blah-zeh interest in this film by many, saying nothing in the trailers really grabbed them, making them want to see the film. Yet 70mm tickets have gone through the roof. Theres still tickets for 70mm here in Langley, weeks after going on sale, unlike US theaters. I have heard the comments about Nolans films, saying how self indulgent he is, how his movies lack soul and are just a technical exercise, how he's become vain making IMAX 70mm movies that no longer have highlights (as its all large format now). Lets not forget the backlash to his casting choices which seem Woke and catered to appease the Academy so he'll win more Oscars.

I still love seeing movies this way, so I'll reserve judgement when I go in a months time. I took a week off right during the first week of this film, just to not have work keep me from seeing this. I question if I'll see it a third time though. Twice was enough last time with Oppenheimer. And 3 hours is a long time to sit in those uncomfortable seats. But Im curious how well this film will do based on all my previous comments. At least this time we wont see differences in contrast between shots with format changes.

Someone mentioned this may be the last time we see a big IMAX movie like this, as Hollywood is recoiling back from making big films like this in the future because of cost and how movies in general are not selling well. I disagree. I think its the start of more.

[Jon O'Brien]

I think it's great Nolan is shooting film, but I'd be perfectly happy watching a 70mm 5 perf film print, or even a 35mm print. Both of those also look great in a theatre. A 35mm print has a bit less definition and a bit more grain but I like that look.

But if he wants to shoot IMAX film, why not, if that's what it takes to sell tickets.

Edited June 20 by Jon O'Brien

[Mark Wiggins]

Got my tickets for the IMAX at the Science Museum in London. I was number 5 in the queue!

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

12 hours ago, Scott Pickering said:

I disagree. I think its the start of more.

Not a huge fan of Nolan's approach to film construct, framing and especially character and story development, except "Memento".

But, I wholeheartedly respect and admire his copious contribution in keeping film alive and theaters packed.

I agree 100% with your sentiment.

 

[Tyler Purcell]

15 hours ago, Scott Pickering said:

I disagree. I think its the start of more.

If you look at the schedule for 15P films, there are 3 more in various stages of pre-production and production slated for release in 2027. There is even an 8P film being shot which will incorporate 15P and 8P footage optically to 15P release. We are getting 2 more 15P films AFTER the Odyssey this year alone. The odyssey is getting 42 IMAX prints and there are nearly 200 5P prints being made as well. Forget about the 35mm prints, probably an additional 100 of those easily. So yea, this is a pretty incredible release, especially considering Fotokem is making all the prints AS WELL as doing all the finish post work. 

[Tyler Purcell]

The full frame IMAX trailer leaked: 
 

 

[Tyler Purcell]

IMAX installed 9 refurbished 15P projection systems and put them back into digital theaters for the upcoming releases, one of them is landing at the Chinese theater (TCL) which in the past has not been able to screen 15P without installing a new booth into the seating area of the theater. This is not the case for the Odyssey evidently. 

The interesting thing is, the 5P roll out is much larger, with screens that have never shown 5P before, so they are spending a considerable amount of money prepping theaters and I believe it's a semi-permanent arrangement because there are so many 70mm films slated for the next few years, the studio's have woken up to this and are helping theaters install projectors. 

For instance, the Alex theater in Glendale, which hasn't been a movie theater for decades, is getting a whole new retrofit for the Odyssey. 

The repertory theaters like; AC's Village, Fine Arts, Vista, Aero, all getting 5 perf prints. I have never seen this in all the years of living in Los Angeles. 

[Aapo Lettinen]

3 hours ago, Aristeidis Tyropolis said:

Not a huge fan of Nolan's approach to film construct, framing and especially character and story development, except "Memento".

But, I wholeheartedly respect and admire his copious contribution in keeping film alive and theaters packed.

I agree 100% with your sentiment.

 

I think Nolan just loves visuals and characters are mainly a way to justify the impressive visual language. He usually has brilliant actors who save the characters more or less but apart from visuals most of the films feel kind like empty shells. You feel pretty much nothing most of the time except the beauty of the images and the not-always-nice over-the-top music and sound effects.

I really hated Memento but remember liking Insomnia quite much, probably it was just the visuals and really good actors. Most of his films like Interstellar and such feel like puzzles for kids which claim to be super advanced, and Dunkirk was really meh apart from Tom "I talk with my eyes" Hardy scenes😅

[Aapo Lettinen]

"Locke" is much better Tom Hardy movie though😁 

I think Nolan has pretty much the same thing than Alfonso Cuaron has with Children of Men and Gravity: the whole story is there just to justify the visuals which are the only content of the movie  and the characters are basically walking through the movie without audience feeling pretty much anything.

It is not about them being bad directors or anything, they probably are just not interested. Look at those Odyssey trailers, it is just like cool image, cool image, freaking Matt Damon again, cool image, why the heck I want to pay 30 euros to see that when I can watch nicely painted wall for free😂

It is like George Lucas who seemingly just wants to invent new funny robot characters and has no interest in other aspects of the Star Wars films at all and it shows on every movie😅 

Compare for example to the "Where the wild things are" which has really nice visuals but entirely different approach to characters like the manipulative father figure etc. Or most Inarritu films etc. You feel like the characters have souls. Not just empty paper shells with nice colored wrapping

[Giray Izcan]

8 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

The full frame IMAX trailer leaked: 
 

 

It does look really good. I hope the film lives up to it.

[Tyler Purcell]

11 hours ago, Giray Izcan said:

It does look really good. I hope the film lives up to it.

It'll be typical Nolan, probably closer to Tenet/Dunkrik than Interstellar/Oppenheimer. 
Which is fine, ya don't go to see Nolan's movies for the story. 

[Giray Izcan]

Actually you should... cinema is more than just pretty pictures, shooting on film and cool practical effects which were really just any other day at the office in the 90's and before...

Edited June 21 by Giray Izcan

[Giray Izcan]

Closer to Tenet and Dunkirk.. I hope not.

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

1 minute ago, Giray Izcan said:

Actually you should... cinema is more than just pretty pictures and cool effects..

I agree,

I'd argue that cinema is an expressive medium rather than a demonstrative one - which aligns with my opinion about how Nolan makes movies, I think he was always someone who aspired to be a Kubrick, was able to find the means to make movies at and at a much bigger scale, but was able to achieve the dramatic depth of "Weekend at Bernie's".

As for the Odyssey, I mean as a Greek and a lover of ancient drama and storytelling...yeah...No.

I still wish he succeeds (and he will).

 

[Giray Izcan]

11 minutes ago, Aristeidis Tyropolis said:

I agree,

I'd argue that cinema is an expressive medium rather than a demonstrative one - which aligns with my opinion about how Nolan makes movies, I think he was always someone who aspired to be a Kubrick, was able to find the means to make movies at and at a much bigger scale, but was able to achieve the dramatic depth of "Weekend at Bernie's".

As for the Odyssey, I mean as a Greek and a lover of ancient drama and storytelling...yeah...No.

I still wish he succeeds (and he will).

 

It's not about being demonstrative or expressive.. it's about having some depth, some substance while being a visual feast.. Personally, I prefer his earlier films, where it wasn't just about bragging what format they were shot on and what kind of effects were employed.. nowadays it feels a lot more like technical flex than anything else. Every single movie of his in the later years, the biggest promotion for each has been what format they were shot on and what format they would be presented on rather than what the film is telling us. 

Edited June 21 by Giray Izcan

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

8 minutes ago, Giray Izcan said:

It's not about being demonstrative or expressive.. it's about having some depth.

I understand, my point was similar (I think) to yours - if you're only demonstrating capabilities and/or production value then what are we really watching here, other than a demo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Giray Izcan]

In my opinion,  Christopher Nolan could be more flexible when it comes to incorporating CGI in his work. Just look at Dunkirk, imagine had he enhanced the practical effects with cgi to do the justice to the whole event, or actually hire hundreds of extras like they did back in the day.. Instead, we have a handful of soldiers hanging out on the beach and that one plane.. The same applies to Oppenheimer, had he applied some cgi to his underwhelming gas explosion to enhance it, it would have been much better. The explosion was covered in close ups of fire basically rather than showing us the whole thing, which takes away from its grand scale and turns it into an ordinary gas explosion. Even back in the 80's they had more impressive explosion shots.  

Edited June 21 by Giray Izcan

[Giray Izcan]

2 minutes ago, Aristeidis Tyropolis said:

I understand, my point was similar (I think) to yours - if you're only demonstrating capabilities and/or production value then what are we really watching here, other than a demo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think so too haha. Just watch some Bela Tarr films and you'll see both substance and criticism of the system, life etc while being visually striking. 

[Giray Izcan]

Also, large format film just really looks more or less indistinguishable from high end digital. Just as sharp and sterile. Personal opinion of course. 

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

21 minutes ago, Giray Izcan said:

Just look at Dunkirk, imagine had he enhanced the practical effects with cgi to do the justice to the whole event, or actually hire hundreds of extras like they did back in the day..

I agree, I was always left with the impression that, that movie felt shot with a few people and one plane...

I think the Zenith of CGI meets practicals, meets miniatures, meets extras, was Weta with LOTR. 

We never got any of that ever again.

Not that these movies, were that deep compared to the books, but damn if they did not inspire a whole generation of film folk. 

Plus nice grainy film scenes and Viggo Mortensen kicking that helmet and getting actually hurt.

 

 

 

Edited June 21 by Aristeidis Tyropolis

[Giray Izcan]

He should use cgi how filmmakers used to use in the 90s and the 2000s, to enhance practical effects or extend the practical worlds into the cgi world rather than creating the whole thing in cgi like in Marvel movies etc.. imax camera shaped popcorn boxes for this film, ugh.. who cares? Just tell us a compelling story and keep the technicalities to yourself. This is what my inner audience voice wants to say. 

Edited June 21 by Giray Izcan

[Tyler Purcell]

2 hours ago, Giray Izcan said:

Closer to Tenet and Dunkirk.. I hope not.

Yea... sadly, that's what I've kinda been hearing through the grapevine. 

Obviously it will have split stories and timelines. 

[Giray Izcan]

I'll say one more thing, 65mm in Oppenheimer did not add anything to the film in my opinion. The same result could have been acheieved with digital or 35mm.. again it is all about bragging rights and flex...