Hollywood, CA – Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan is once again pushing the boundaries of cinematic technology with his latest epic, “The Odyssey,” which is set to become the first-ever narrative feature shot entirely with Imax cameras. This monumental achievement is thanks to new equipment and innovative tests, proving that the notoriously noisy Imax format can now capture intimate dialogue alongside its signature large-scale spectacle.
The Bowie Test: Proving Intimacy on the World’s Largest Format
The path to an all-Imax feature was paved by a compelling test conducted by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who won an Oscar for his work on Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Van Hoytema, a long-time Nolan collaborator (Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet), revealed to Empire magazine how a simple scene—a child reciting David Bowie lyrics—was the decisive factor.
“I presented Chris with a very big close-up of a child on the Imax screen, reciting David Bowie’s ‘Sound And Vision’ from a piece of paper,” van Hoytema explained. “It was very touching: that level of intimacy in both image and sound, fused together, projected in the theatre.”
Nolan called the results “electrifying,” confirming the footage marked a major breakthrough. “We never would have been able to get those shots before,” the director noted, signaling an end to the previous limitation where Imax was relegated mostly to action sequences due to the cameras’ operating noise.
The ‘Blimp’ System: A Game-Changer for Sound
The key technological advancement enabling this feat is a newly developed Imax film casing known as a “blimp.” This equipment was engineered specifically to significantly reduce the noise produced by the 65mm Imax cameras.
“The blimp system is a game-changer,” Nolan declared. “You can be shooting a foot from [an actor’s] face while they’re whispering and get usable sound. What that opens up are intimate moments of performance on the world’s most beautiful format.”
Nolan has been steadily increasing his use of Imax since 2008’s The Dark Knight, which was the first Hollywood movie to integrate the format for select action scenes. His 2023 masterpiece, Oppenheimer, was notable for being the first film to use Imax black-and-white 65mm film—a collaboration with Kodak that required van Hoytema and his team to re-engineer cameras and create new film stock, as black and white film in that format did not previously exist.
An Epic Scale and Astronomical Film Budget
Nolan’s commitment to the format is reflected in the production’s massive footprint. The director previously told Empire that he “shot over 2 million feet of film” during the 91-day principal photography earlier this year. With Kodak estimating 65mm film costing $1.50 per foot, the total cost for the film stock alone is estimated to be around $3 million.
Based on Homer’s classic Greek epic, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon—reuniting with Nolan after Interstellar and Oppenheimer—in the lead role of Odysseus. Tom Holland plays his son, Telemachus. The sprawling, star-studded ensemble also features Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.
On choosing to adapt the ancient myth, Nolan cited a desire to fill a cinematic void: “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before… I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, Imax production could do.”
Universal is set to release The Odyssey in theaters on July 17, 2026.