Why India Won't Experience Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey in Full IMAX Glory

New Delhi: "The Odyssey" marks the culmination of a lifelong dream for Christopher Nolan -- shooting an entire feature film using IMAX 15/70mm film cameras, a format widely considered the pinnacle of theatrical presentation and one that has never been attempted before.

But while audiences in a handful of countries will get to experience the film exactly as the Oscar winner intended when the film makes its worldwide debut on Friday, moviegoers in India will not be among them.

The reason lies in the technology behind IMAX.

Originally developed in Canada in the late 1960s, IMAX -- short for "Image Maximum" -- is a filmmaking and exhibition system designed to provide a far more immersive experience than conventional cinema through larger screens, specialised projection systems, custom-designed theatres and precision-engineered sound.

Unlike traditional multiplex auditoriums, IMAX screens are significantly taller and wider, often stretching from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, allowing images to occupy a much larger portion of a viewer's field of vision.

The format also relies on high-resolution cameras capable of capturing substantially more image detail than standard cinema cameras. When projected on IMAX screens, the result is sharper visuals, brighter colours, deeper contrast and greater clarity.

Another key differentiator is the aspect ratio -- the shape of the image. While most films are presented in widescreen formats that leave unused screen space, scenes shot with IMAX cameras expand vertically, allowing audiences to see up to 26 per cent more image than in conventional presentations.

On specially equipped IMAX 15/70 screens, the image expands further to a towering 1.43:1 aspect ratio, filling the giant screen from top to bottom.

The highest expression of the format is IMAX 15/70, the system Nolan used to film "The Odyssey."

The term "15/70" refers to 70mm film running horizontally with 15 perforations per frame, creating an image nearly 10 times larger than conventional 35mm film.

The enormous film frame captures extraordinary detail, with Nolan previously describing its resolving power as being equivalent to roughly 18K resolution -- far beyond that of standard digital cinema.

Nolan, who was in India for the premiere of "The Odyssey" over the weekend, described how they were not able to shoot earlier films with IMAX technology.

"... Because we didn't have a way of silencing the cameras. So on this film, for the first time, we had this blimping system where you could put the camera into this box and it was quiet enough that we could shoot these guys performing their most dramatic scenes. The entire film was in IMAX," he recalled.

Nolan said in a statement recently that he saw documentaries on IMAX as a child and would always wonder -- "What if you did a fictional film that way?"

"Not just a great documentary, like the incredible work directors like Toni Myers did about the space program. What if you made a Hollywood action film that way? And so, for me, it has been a long-held dream since I was about 16, to do an entire film in IMAX."

Nolan, who made his debut as a director with "Following" in 1998 but broke out with his 2000 movie "Memento", has long championed the format, using IMAX cameras for key sequences in his films, beginning with "The Dark Knight" and later expanding its use in "Interstellar", "Dunkirk", "Tenet" and "Oppenheimer".

The filmmaker said the biggest hurdle to shooting an entire feature with IMAX film cameras had long been the noise they generated, which made filming close-up dialogue scenes difficult as actors had to raise their voices to be heard.

Ahead of his 2020 film "Tenet", Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema worked with IMAX engineers to develop a sound-dampening casing, dubbed "the blimp" but it still failed to sufficiently reduce the camera noise.

While writing "The Odyssey", Nolan said he challenged IMAX engineers to revisit the problem. Their efforts resulted in a next-generation IMAX camera known as "The Keighley", named after late IMAX Chief Quality Officer David Keighley and his wife Patricia, longtime advocates of the format.

"I went to IMAX, without telling them what the film was. And I said, 'I know you guys are building new cameras. If you can find a way to encase them so that I can record sound with them, we are going to commit to making the entire new film with IMAX cameras.' And they stepped up to that," Nolan said.

Speaking to PTI about the technicality that went into shooting "The Odyssey", its lead star Matt Damon said Nolan poured in all the knowledge of his career to make the film.

"It's all been captured on the largest format that's ever been done on... They invented a system that could quiet the camera, which when it was on the camera, weighed over 300 pounds. So imagine these grips (camera technicians) carrying this stuff around like up mountains," Damon said.

Although IMAX has steadily expanded across the country, none of India's roughly 35 IMAX theatres is equipped with a 15/70mm film projector.

Existing IMAX auditoriums in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kochi operate using Digital IMAX or IMAX with Laser systems.

These formats still deliver significantly brighter images, enhanced contrast, immersive sound and superior picture quality compared to conventional multiplex screens.

However, they cannot project 70mm IMAX film or reproduce the full 1.43:1 image captured by Nolan's cameras.

As a result, Indian audiences will see a digitally remastered IMAX version rather than the original 15/70mm film presentation.

Globally, only 41 theatres are equipped with functioning IMAX 15/70mm film projectors capable of screening "The Odyssey" in its highest-quality format. Most are located in the United States and Canada, with a handful in the United Kingdom, Australia and parts of Europe.

The limited number of venues is not due to a lack of demand but the scarcity of the projectors themselves.

IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond told Variety that the company has not manufactured new IMAX 15/70mm film projectors in about 50 years and instead refurbishes existing ones.

India does have one true IMAX 15/70mm film projector and it is located at the Gujarat Science City (GSC) facility in Ahmedabad.

It is the only venue in the country that still houses a fully operational 15/70mm analogue film projector paired with a giant 1.43:1 screen. However, as a government-run educational facility, it is used for documentary and educational screenings rather than commercial movie releases.

Not having the specific projector does not mean that viewers will not be able to enjoy the immersive experience that Nolan intended when he shot the movie.

At a press event during his India visit over the weekend, Nolan praised the screening presentation of the movie in one of the IMAX theatres in Mumbai.

"...There are increasingly many beautiful theatres in India showing these large screen presentations... What we try to do is shoot the film in the best way possible so that all of these places around the world, and in India in particular, where an audience can go and see it on one of these massive screens, they have the most incredible experience they've ever had," he said.