Christopher Nolan’s next epic, The Odyssey, will unveil a nearly six-minute prologue exclusively on 70mm IMAX screens this month, giving large-format audiences the first substantial look at the 2026 release. IMAX 70mm screenings of Coogler’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another will carry the extended preview from December 12, before a shorter trailer rolls out ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash from December 19.
The prologue plays only on film-based IMAX screens, aligning with Nolan’s long-standing preference for that format and with the way he shot The Odyssey itself. Universal and IMAX are using the re-releases of Sinners and One Battle After Another as a platform for the preview, then widening exposure with a standard trailer on Avatar: Fire and Ash in non-IMAX houses, echoing the staggered rollout strategy used for Oppenheimer.
The Odyssey adapts Homer’s epic poem with Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, alongside Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal. The film, scheduled for July 17, 2026, carries an estimated $250 million budget and stands as Nolan’s first project shot entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras, with Hoyte van Hoytema again behind the lens.
Nolan has stressed the physical scale of the production, telling one recent interviewer that he and the cast spent months shooting on real seas with the actors handling a full-size ship to convey the hardship of Odysseus’ voyage. He revealed that the crew exposed more than 2 million feet of IMAX film, a figure that underscores how aggressively he has committed to large-format capture. Matt Damon has described the shoot as the best experience of his career, pointing to vast practical sets such as a full Trojan horse on a beach.
Exhibitors are already leaning into that commitment. London’s BFI IMAX and the Science Museum’s IMAX 70mm season both promote early screenings of The Odyssey in July 2026, with special 70mm shows marketed a full year in advance. Separate trade coverage has highlighted how initial IMAX 70mm tickets in select locations sold out within minutes, with resales listed at steep mark-ups, signaling strong demand from Nolan’s core audience and from viewers who chased premium formats on Oppenheimer.
For IMAX, the December prologue functions as a high-profile advertisement for film projection at a moment when the company is upgrading screens and courting directors who prioritize spectacle shot on celluloid. For Nolan, it extends a clear message: the first sustained look at his Homer adaptation belongs in a dark room, with a towering screen, a film projector and a crowd that has already chosen the largest canvas available.
