Will Missing IMAX Mean You See “Half” of The Odyssey? Here’s What Changes

The Odyssey is the first movie ever filmed entirely using Imax cameras, and that distinction has kicked off a familiar debate: if you don’t catch it in the most specialized presentation, will you end up seeing an incomplete picture? Let’s break down what changes between formats and how worried you really need to be.

Release date and viewing options

The Odyssey arrives in theaters on July 17, and it’s being offered across a range of projection and home-viewing-style formats. Online discussions—especially on social media and Reddit—focus heavily on whether the headline 70mm Imax run is the only way to see the full intended frame.

The Odyssey New Images May 2026

One Reddit user, “CP_Chronicler,” raised the obvious concern: “So audiences will have six different choices of how to see this film, with only one of them being the full image?”

Another commenter, “MooseBoys,” sounded more frustrated, calling it “stupid gatekeeping.” Their point is that if a movie is shot for a specific aspect ratio, the ideal approach would be to avoid cropping when the image is displayed on screens with different proportions: “It’s fine if you want to shoot the film for that aspect ratio, but don’t cut parts out for screens with other ratios — just don’t use the whole screen. Linear scaling is completely arbitrary anyway.”

This kind of format conversation isn’t new for major releases. In 2023, a comparable situation popped up for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Then, in 2025, two well-known titles—Sinners and One Battle After Another—were projected in different presentation formats depending on where you watched them. Sinners used a blend of 70mm Ultra Panavision and Imax cameras, while One Battle After Another was filmed on 35mm VistaVision.

The Odyssey is a closer match to Sinners than to the all-different-everywhere model, because Nolan has used Imax selectively in the past—only in certain scenes—something that has long been common for Imax productions. The reasons are practical: the format is expensive, and it’s difficult to operate at that scale, especially considering the sound generated when the film is running through the projector. For this project, though, Nolan worked with Imax to create a quieter camera version that would allow the entire film to be shot on over 2 million feet of film.

With all that technical groundwork, it makes sense that people want the most “complete” viewing experience possible. And since the options span multiple presentation types—70mm Imax (only if you live near a theater that can project it), 35mm, standard Imax, Dolby Vision, and more—the choice can feel overwhelming fast.

Here’s the straightforward answer: 70mm Imax is the closest thing to the “truest” way to see The Odyssey. The catch is availability. Only about 30 cinema locations worldwide can show it in this specific way, so for most viewers it won’t be the most realistic choice.

There’s also the aspect-ratio issue. At 1:43:1, the image is noticeably “squarer” than what most standard theater screens use. The result is a taller composition that fills more of the frame vertically. Put differently, 1:43:1 means that for every “100” units of height, the image spans “143” units across.

That’s why there’s genuine worry that watching the film in another format could mean missing parts of the picture—or at least not seeing it the way it was intended. To some extent, that concern is valid.

If you see The Odyssey at a standard Imax venue without the specialized 70mm projection setup, you’ll get an aspect ratio of 1:90:1. That translates to roughly 40% less of the frame compared to 1:43:1. The reason is that, on a film of this size, each “100” units of height correspond to “190” units of width—so to fill the screen properly, some of the top and bottom will be trimmed away. Without that cropping, the framing wouldn’t land correctly.

The same idea becomes even more pronounced in the other film-based versions. The 70mm and 35mm options are listed at 2:20:1 (100 tall, 220 wide) and 2:39:1 (100 tall, 239 wide), respectively. Those wider frames mean you’ll lose even more vertical space at the top and bottom.

Digital presentations add another layer of variability. Dolby Vision and Premium Large Format can shift between 1:85:1 and 2:39:1 depending on the theater, so your exact experience may vary venue to venue. And that’s before you even start factoring in the different audio systems being used.

So where does that leave you? If you live close enough to one of the small number of theaters that can project 70mm Imax—and you’re able to pay for it—then that’s the best option for the most faithful framing. If that’s not on the table, standard Imax remains a strong alternative.

Either way, The Odyssey should still look impressive on regular cinema screens. Nolan and his long-time director of photography, Hoyte van Hoytema—who has worked with him on Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer—have a track record of crafting images for these large-format systems. The Academy Awards wins and nominations tied to their collaborations are evidence of that track record.

Even if you don’t get the full vertical sweep of the widest presentation, the essential story beats are centered. The middle third of the frame is where the key action will happen, so while you may miss some of the full spectacle of those expansive Greek landscapes, the movie itself won’t be cut down.

What format are you planning to see The Odyssey in? Living in London, the writer notes they’re close to two 70mm Imax cinemas, so they plan to treat themselves at least once. Share your plans in the comments.

How Will You Be Watching The Odyssey?

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets.