In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Christopher Nolan revealed that his upcoming film The Odyssey used over two million feet of film. Nolan had previously used a small 16mm camera for his early work and went on to incorporate IMAX film in The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer. However, The Odyssey will be the first movie to be filmed entirely on an IMAX camera. According to Nolan, principal photography spanned over eighty-one days and was completed exclusively on large-format IMAX film. Nolan explained that the decision to shoot on this scale was driven by his desire to fill “gaps in cinematic culture”—in his words, “things that haven’t been done before.”

Filming began in February 2025 and took place in locations such as Morocco, Sicily, Greece, Scotland, Iceland, and Western Sahara. Nolan emphasized the importance of capturing the “vast and terrifying” themes of the tale, with the cast—led by Matt Damon as Odysseus—working in physically demanding environments and being brought onto real ships in the open sea. Nolan said they “got the cast … out there on the real waves, in the real places” to authentically represent the scale of Odysseus’s journey.

The ensemble cast features stars such as Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth, Anne Hathaway, and Jon Bernthal. With a reported budget of $250 million, The Odyssey is Nolan’s most expensive film to date and highlights his commitment to authentic, practical filmmaking.

Overall, there is much to look forward to with Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey. Featuring a star-studded ensemble, the film is one of the most grand-scale productions of his career. Shooting with over two million feet of film not only showcases Nolan’s unwavering commitment to analog craftsmanship but also highlights his ambition to provide audiences with a fully immersive cinematic experience. The film is set to be released in July 2026. While main plot details remain private, a 70-second teaser was released in July 2025.