Back in May 2025, Christopher Nolan revealed his next epic, “The Odyssey,” would be the first feature film shot entirely with Imax 70mm cameras.
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As “The Odyssey” sails to nearly $650 million globally, including $140 million in Imax — and with the company’s coveted 70mm screenings sold out for weeks — a source at Imax suggests the success could spark outsized interest among other filmmakers who might want to shoot entirely with Imax film cameras.
But which directors other than Nolan have the skills and resources to pull off such a feat? After all, filming with Imax cameras isn’t cheap. “The Odyssey” cost $250 million to produce, marking the expensive film of Nolan’s career to date. Raw film stock alone costs approximately $1.50 per foot, and with the production sailing through two million feet of film, that total alone equates to roughly $3 million.
Then there’s the reality that Imax film cameras are loud and cumbersome. Not to mention the developing and processing costs. One print of “The Odyssey” costs $50,000, with the source adding that “it’s up to the studio how many prints they actually want to create.”
Denis Villeneuve seems like a likely candidate after he revealed that much of (but not all!) of December’s “Dune: Part Three” was shot on Imax 70mm film. At the film’s trailer event, the director said, “A big part of it was shot in Imax film, which was the first time for me, but I kept the desert in digital because I like the brutality of the digital Imax.” Filming with the “epic” Imax cameras was unique, he said. “When you see the result on screen, it’s quite unmatchable,” he added. “I hope I will have the chance to do it again.” Villeneuve’s next project is the newest James Bond movie, which could be the perfect large-scale canvas.
Then there’s Ryan Coogler, whose next film is Marvel’s superhero adventure “Black Panther 3.” Coogler, working with his longtime collaborator, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, shot sequences of his prior blockbuster “Sinners” using a combination of 15-perf Imax film (for a towering 1.43:1 ratio) and Ultra Panavision 70 (for an ultra-wide 2.76:1 ratio). While it’s not yet confirmed if Durald Arkapaw will shoot “Black Panther 3,” Marvel Studio revealed during its Comic Con panel that the film will partially be shot in large format on 70mm film – becoming the first Marvel movie to be made in that way.
“Ryan is an amazing partner. We were deeply involved in ‘Sinners’ and very supportive of that film,” says the Imax source. “He shot sequences on film. We hope that he would do it again without question.”
The source continues: “We cannot speak at all to whether they’re interested in the challenge of taking it on fully. But we have enough cameras and we have enough blimps that if those guys wanted to do it, we would figure out a way to make it happen.”
With the success of “The Odyssey,” and audiences filling seeking out Imax screens, there’s no question the format will continue to draw interest — whether it’s shooting on film or in digital. Michael B. Jordan’s “The Thomas Crown Affair” remake was shot for Imax, which means it is optimized in post production –as were upcoming releases like “The End of Oak Street,” “Resident Evil” and “Digger” (filmed in VistaVision and shown in Imax). Meanwhile this spring’s “Project Hail Mary” was shot using Imax-certified digital cameras, with the company then creating film prints.
So, it is possible for Villeneuve or Coogler, or any ambitious filmmaker, to shoot their next film entirely on Imax film cameras. But few directors could justify the enormous costs that come with using the company’s equipment.
“As long as we’re able to handle it from like a scheduling perspective in terms of the cameras, and as long we have enough time to work on each production to create the film prints, we’re willing to do as much as people want to do,” says the Imax source. “If people want to create for our format, we do everything within our power to enable them to do that. We try to create a lot of different options so we can serve a variety of different filmmakers.”
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