The Odyssey IMAX release is the purest version of Christopher Nolan’s Homeric epic, the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX film cameras. Here is everything to know about the cast, the format, the shoot and where to see it in the UAE.
The Odyssey IMAX experience is the reason to see Nolan’s $250 million adaptation on the biggest screen you can find. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the Greek king fighting his way home from the Trojan War, and the film opened in the US and UK on 17 July 2026, with UAE cinemas showing it from the same week.
It has been a phenomenon. The film gave Nolan the biggest opening weekend of his career, passed $1 billion within three weeks and became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made.
The Odyssey IMAX at a glance
- Release date: 17 July 2026 (US and UK), after a world premiere in London on 6 July
- Director and writer: Christopher Nolan
- Producers: Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, through their company Syncopy
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Runtime: 173 minutes
- Budget: about $250 million
- Global opening: $264.1 million
- Format: shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film
The Odyssey cast: who plays whom
Nolan assembled one of the starriest ensembles of the decade, with several of his regulars alongside first-time collaborators. The main roles are:
- Matt Damon as Odysseus
- Tom Holland as Telemachus, his son
- Anne Hathaway as Penelope, his wife
- Robert Pattinson as Antinous, leader of Penelope’s suitors
- Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra
- Zendaya as the goddess Athena
- Charlize Theron as Calypso
- Samantha Morton as Circe
- Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, with Benny Safdie as Agamemnon and Himesh Patel as Eurylochus
Elliot Page plays Sinon, John Leguizamo plays the swineherd Eumaeus and James Remar is the prophet Tiresias. Travis Scott makes a cameo as a bard, and Bill Irwin performed the Cyclops Polyphemus on set.
Why The Odyssey IMAX format matters
Nolan has shot sequences on IMAX film since The Dark Knight, and Oppenheimer leaned on it heavily. This time the entire film was captured on IMAX 70mm, using a newly built camera that is lighter and quieter than earlier models.
The scale of the shoot was enormous. According to the film’s Wikipedia entry, the crew exposed more than two million feet of IMAX film, the stock alone cost roughly $3 million, and each camera held only about three minutes of footage at a time.
Behind the camera, Nolan reunited with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, editor Jennifer Lame and composer Ludwig Göransson, the team behind Oppenheimer. Because every frame was composed for IMAX, an IMAX auditorium is where The Odyssey is shown the way its makers intended.
The Odyssey IMAX 70mm: only 41 screens
The rarest version is the film print. Only 41 cinemas worldwide can project The Odyssey IMAX 70mm format: 25 in the US, nine in Canada, three in the UK and one each in Australia, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic. That is up from 30 for Oppenheimer.
Demand for The Odyssey IMAX 70mm shows was extraordinary. Tickets went on sale on 17 July 2025, a full year before release, and some shows sold out within 12 hours. Variety reported that most 70mm showtimes were booked into September.
No 70mm venue exists in the Gulf, so UAE audiences see the film on digital IMAX screens. That still gives you the size, brightness and sound the format is built around.
Filmed across North Africa and the Mediterranean
Principal photography ran for 91 days, from 25 February to 5 August 2025, finishing nine days ahead of schedule under the working title “Charlie’s Tale”. The shoot moved through Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland and Malta, with water scenes filmed in the Aeolian Islands and in a tank on the Universal Studios lot.
For Arab audiences, Morocco is the standout. The ancient fortified village of Aït Benhaddou stood in for the fall of Troy, with further filming in Essaouira and Marrakesh, and the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre praised the production.
A later shoot at the White Dune near Dakhla in Western Sahara, with Damon and Zendaya, drew criticism from the Polisario Front and the Sahara International Film Festival. Filming there had already ended when the festival called for it to stop.
The Odyssey IMAX box office
The opening weekend brought in $264.1 million worldwide, ahead of The Dark Knight Rises as Nolan’s biggest debut. IMAX screens alone took $51.8 million of that, the format’s biggest opening in like-for-like markets.
- Two weekends: $639.6 million worldwide, with IMAX contributing $140 million
- IMAX record: the second-fastest title in IMAX history to pass $100 million, behind Avengers: Endgame, and the format’s biggest second weekend ever
- Three weeks: past $1 billion, Nolan’s first billion-dollar film since The Dark Knight Rises
- By 6 September: $1.627 billion, the second-highest-grossing film of 2026 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time
The Gulf played its part. Saudi Arabia had become a top-ten market for the film by early August, with $13.1 million in ticket sales, according to regional site tbreak, citing Deadline.
Where to watch The Odyssey IMAX in the UAE
In the UAE, VOX Cinemas runs IMAX screens at Dubai Festival City Mall, Mall of the Emirates and Yas Mall, where the new auditorium has a 23.2-metre screen. Gulf News found early IMAX shows in Dubai almost sold out before release, with premium-format tickets starting from Dh75.
Book The Odyssey IMAX screening first and fall back on a premium large-format screen with Dolby Atmos if it is full. The film carries an R rating in the US, so check the UAE age classification in cinema listings before booking for teenagers.
For home viewing, the film arrives on digital platforms and 4K UHD Blu-ray on 17 November 2026, 120 days after its cinema release. Check your local digital stores for UAE availability.
The Odyssey IMAX: why the premium ticket is worth it
Most blockbusters save IMAX for a few set pieces, but here the whole story was built for the format, so the siege of Troy, the sea voyages and the quieter scenes at home all gain from the larger image.
If you can see it only once, make it The Odyssey IMAX version. Nolan’s sound mixes are famously loud, so sensitive viewers may want to bring earplugs for the near three-hour running time.
The Odyssey IMAX FAQs
Was The Odyssey filmed in IMAX?
Yes. It is the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX film cameras, with more than two million feet of 70mm film used.
Can I watch The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm in the UAE?
No. Only 41 screens worldwide can project the 70mm print, none of them in the Gulf. UAE audiences can see it on digital IMAX screens.
How much has The Odyssey made at the box office?
It had taken $1.627 billion worldwide by 6 September 2026, making it Nolan’s highest-grossing film.
For more of the director’s work, catch up with our pick of the top Christopher Nolan films, and find more big-screen stories in our Hollywood section.