As audiences around the world gear up for actor Matt Damon’s return to the big screen in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (2026), Indian moviegoers are also preparing to spend between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000 for an IMAX ticket. However, despite paying premium prices, audiences in India will still be unable to experience the film in the format Nolan intended.
The limitation begins with the projection format. Nolan shot The Odyssey entirely using the 1570 IMAX format — 70mm film with 15 perforations per frame — making it the first feature-length film to be captured completely in this format. Often described as the "vinyl record" of cinema, 1570 is regarded as the pinnacle of film presentation. Yet Indian audiences will only be able to watch a digital IMAX version, which displays a cropped image and omits a significant portion of the original frame.
According to The Guardian, only 41 cinemas worldwide are capable of projecting the 1570 format. One of them is IMAX Melbourne in Australia, which reinstalled its 1570 projector in 2017 after Christopher Nolan encouraged IMAX theatres to screen Dunkirk in the format.
The rare format has become an attraction in itself, with cinephiles travelling to destinations including Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and Los Angeles to watch the film as intended. IMAX Melbourne has also emerged as a major destination, as it is the only theatre in the Southern Hemisphere screening The Odyssey on a 1570 film print. The reel stretches over 17 kilometres, weighs around 240 kilograms and has been described by IMAX Melbourne technical manager Dan Drobik as "a precious commodity." India, meanwhile, does not have a single IMAX 1570-equipped theatre.
As a result, audiences watching The Odyssey on standard digital IMAX screens in India will miss part of Nolan's composition. The top and bottom sections of the frame are cropped to fit the digital screen's aspect ratio, reducing the visual scale of scenes depicting Odysseus' sea voyage, the Trojan War and encounters with mythical creatures. Much of the towering imagery and expansive landscapes captured by Nolan's cameras will not be visible.
Nolan has long advocated for the 1570 format because of its exceptional image quality. Named after its 70mm film stock and 15 perforations per frame, it is widely regarded as the highest-resolution motion picture format currently in use.
Filming The Odyssey in 1570 presented several technical challenges. The cameras are bulky, noisy and require fresh film stock every three minutes. To enable dialogue recording while using the 180-kilogram cameras, Nolan collaborated with IMAX to develop a soundproof enclosure, known as a "blimp," making synchronous sound recording possible in the format for the first time.
For Indian audiences, digital IMAX remains the closest available alternative. The country currently has 34 operational IMAX theatres spread across major cities.
In Delhi, IMAX screens are located at PVR Select City Walk, PVR Priya, PVR Vegas Mall, INOX Vishal Mall and INOX Paras. Noida has PVR Superplex Logix and PVR Superplex at Mall of India, while Gurugram is home to PVR Ambience Mall.
Mumbai's IMAX venues include Miraj Cinemas Wadala, PVR ICON Phoenix Palladium, INOX Sky City Mall, INOX R City Mall, EROS INOX, INOX Maison at Jio World Plaza and INOX Megaplex at Inorbit Mall. Additional options in the Mumbai metropolitan region include Cinepolis Nexus in Navi Mumbai and Cinepolis Lake Shore in Thane.
Pune has IMAX screens at INOX Phoenix Mall and Cinepolis Nexus Westend Mall. Bengaluru offers PVR VR Mall, PVR Vega City, PVR Nexus Mall, INOX Mantri Square, INOX Galleria Mall and Cinepolis Shantiniketan.
In southern India, Chennai has PVR Palazzo and INOX Phoenix, Coimbatore has Broadway Cinemas, Kochi has Cinepolis Centre Square Mall, and Thiruvananthapuram has PVR Lulu.
In eastern India, Kolkata is represented by INOX South City Mall. Lucknow has INOX Megaplex at Phoenix Mall, while Gujarat's IMAX locations include PVR Palladium Mall in Ahmedabad and Rajhans Precia in Surat.
Although The Odyssey is expected to attract large audiences to IMAX theatres across India, viewers will still be watching a digitally cropped version rather than the full-scale 1570 presentation Nolan envisioned.
At a time when entertainment is increasingly driven by digital formats and streaming platforms, The Odyssey stands out as a film that physically exists on a massive 17-kilometre reel. Yet for Indian audiences, that analogue spectacle will remain inaccessible, with the film available only in its reduced digital IMAX version.
Based on Homer's ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon alongside Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez and Mia Goth.
The film is produced by Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas and is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on July 17.
