Odyssey” To Run Shorter Than “Oppenheimer

Due to the way IMAX 70mm film projectors work, films hit a limit at the 150-165 minute range.

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” was able to fudge that limit ever so slightly – allowing him to get up a 180-minute/three-hour runtime by special technique workarounds. Even so, those hit an absolute limit.

With his upcoming film adaptation of “The Odyssey,” the first major budget feature shot entirely on IMAX film, one of the big questions remaining is how he intends to adapt Homer’s sprawling epic poem into a feature runtime without it feeling like a Cliff Notes version.

One way would be a long runtime, but Nolan himself has now confirmed that’s not the case. Speaking with The Associated Press for a Summer movie preview feature, the outlet says the film will be shorter then “Oppenheimer” and Nolan tells them:

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands, but it is shorter [than ‘Oppenheimer’]… Anyone taking on ‘The Odyssey’ is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility. What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation. They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Tom Holland star in “The Odyssey” which opens in cinemas on July 17th.