Christopher Nolan unveils The Odyssey, first feature shot entirely on IMAX film

Christopher Nolan and correspondent Scott Pelley visited FotoKem in Burbank as finishing touches were being made to The Odyssey, a production IMAX says is the first feature ever shot entirely on IMAX Film Cameras. The film is set to open in IMAX 70mm on July 17, 2026, giving theaters with the format one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how far premium large-format moviegoing can be pushed.

FotoKem, which processes, prints and innovates with 16mm, 35mm and 65/70mm film, sits at the center of that workflow. Nolan’s film passed through a lab built around the very stock and print formats that have become increasingly rare, underscoring how much of the movie’s identity depends on specialty infrastructure as much as on the camera system itself. IMAX has said the production used a newly engineered camera enclosure, called the blimp, to allow synchronized sound on IMAX film at scale for the first time.

Nolan said in the interview that he wanted to make the film “100% in IMAX,” but the team did not know whether it could be done. That uncertainty helps explain why he had used IMAX cameras selectively in earlier films, rather than for an entire narrative feature. The Odyssey is being presented as the breakthrough that finally made full-length performance scenes possible on the format, after years in which the cameras were considered too noisy and cumbersome for sustained dialogue work.

The technical stakes are high for theaters and studios alike. CBS News says IMAX film can deliver image quality up to three times higher than digital cameras, and IMAX has paired that claim with a new iteration called the IMAX Keighley Film Camera. For exhibitors with IMAX 70mm screens, the release is a major showcase for a format that depends on specialized projection, rare film prints and a limited number of venues able to show it as intended. For studios, the film is a test of whether a premium big-screen event can still pull audiences away from home viewing by offering something digital streaming cannot match.