The Odyssey
The Odyssey is Christopher Nolan's 2026 adaptation of Homer's epic, releasing in IMAX on July 17, 2026. It's the first feature shot entirely on the newest IMAX film cameras, following Odysseus's ten-year journey home from war. Expect a deep ensemble cast, practical filming across the Mediterranean, and the largest-scale theatrical experience of the year — best seen on a genuine IMAX screen.
Every few years a film arrives that the entire industry quietly organises itself around — and in 2026 that film is The Odyssey. Christopher Nolan's follow-up to Oppenheimer trades the desert of Los Alamos for the wine-dark sea, adapting the oldest adventure story we have into something that feels startlingly new.
This is a myth everyone half-remembers: a soldier named Odysseus trying to sail home from a war that already cost him ten years, and the gods, monsters and temptations that keep the horizon just out of reach. In Nolan's hands it becomes a story about time, memory and the enormous price of getting back to the people you love.
A mythic action epic shot across the ancient world with brand-new IMAX film technology.
An ensemble built like a heist
Nolan has assembled one of the deepest casts of his career, the kind of line-up that usually only shows up in awards-season fantasy brackets. On paper it reads less like a movie and more like a summit:
- A weathered, movie-star lead as Odysseus — a hero who lies, schemes and grieves his way home.
- A new-generation young cast carrying the story of the family left waiting in Ithaca.
- A roster of prestige character actors as the gods and monsters standing between him and the shore.
Why the format is the story
The Odyssey is the first feature shot entirely on the newest IMAX film cameras — lighter, quieter bodies that let Nolan drag the format's enormous negative out onto real boats, real cliffs and real water. The promise is simple: scale you feel in your chest, not just see on a screen.
If you have a genuine IMAX screen anywhere near you, this is the release to save it for. The image expands to fill your peripheral vision, and a storm at sea stops being a special effect and starts being an experience you have to sit inside.
Should it be on your list?
If you like your blockbusters loud, practical and swinging for the fences, clear your calendar. The Odyssey is the rare tent-pole that wants to be both the biggest movie of the summer and the one people are still writing essays about a decade from now.