o, we’re all curious about how Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” will turn out—how choosing to adapt such a weighty literary source will translate on screen—but early details suggest it won’t match the marathon length of his previous film.
A longer runtime of over three hours might seem like the obvious solution, but that doesn’t appear to be the direction. Producer Emma Thomas had previously indicated the film would come in “under three hours,” and Nolan has now confirmed it will be shorter than “Oppenheimer,” which ran exactly three hours. Speaking with The Associated Press, he said:
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.
Given it’s “The Odyssey,” condensing such an expansive story into a single feature remains a challenge. Can we really call Nolan’s version—whether it lands at 2 hours 40 minutes or 2 hours 50 minutes—“stripped down”? He has, by his own account, shot an enormous amount of footage: roughly two million feet of IMAX film, which would equate to well over 100 hours.
Of course, there are also technical constraints at play. IMAX 70mm projection generally tops out around the 165-minute mark. Nolan managed to stretch that limit with “Oppenheimer,” reaching a full three-hour runtime through specialized projection solutions, though even those methods have their limits.
Truth be told, Nolan has only crossed the three-hour mark once in his career, with “Oppenheimer” running exactly three hours. His next longest films are “Interstellar” (2 hours 49 minutes) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2 hours 44 minutes). However, “The Odyssey” is a different beast entirely—a story sprawling in both scale and ambition.
While the film centers on Matt Damon’s portrayal of Odysseus and his arduous journey home following the Trojan War, the ensemble cast reflects the scope of the material. It includes Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth.
“The Odyssey” is reportedly budgeted at around $250 million and will make use of new, state-of-the-art IMAX cameras, with cinematography by Nolan’s frequent collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema.
The film is set to hit theaters on July 17.