Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is the first feature film ever to be shot entirely with IMAX 70mm film cameras. A big milestone, no doubt. But IMAX’s new film camera, The IMAX Keighley Camera also makes its debut with this movie.
The camera takes its name from David Keighley, IMAX’s inaugural Chief Quality Officer, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 77, and Patricia Keighley, who continues to work at IMAX as Chief Quality Guru.
The camera was announced via a social post shared by Geoff Keighley, the son of David and Patricia who's best known as the creator and host of The Game Awards and Summer Game Fest. The Keighleys played a foundational role in shaping IMAX’s global reputation, and fine-tuned the rigorous technical and exhibition standards that distinguished the format from all others.
The Keighley IMAX camera made its first confirmed appearance during the production of The Odyssey, Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with a supporting cast that includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron.
That the camera debuted on a Nolan project is no coincidence. Nolan has long been IMAX’s most exacting collaborator, consistently pushing the format beyond visual spectacle and into extended narrative storytelling. Introducing a new camera under his scrutiny signals IMAX’s confidence not only in the hardware itself but also in the creative philosophy guiding its development.
Experts believe what makes The Odyssey particularly crucial is that it captures IMAX at a moment of transition. Besides the Keighley camera, Nolan’s production also utilised legacy IMAX film equipment. YMCinema previously documented the use of a first-generation MSM9802 IMAX film camera for handheld shots by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.
Insiders believe this is evidence that IMAX is helping its film and digital technologies to exist side by side, and not treating them as competing approaches.
"There’s been a lot of well-deserved attention on my dad and his legacy this year, but my mom has been just as vital to IMAX since the very beginning — and she’s still hard at work there every day. As my dad always said, she was 50% of everything he ever accomplished. I know nothing would make him happier than seeing her contributions recognized as well.
"Chris called me up and said, ‘If you can figure out how to solve the problems, I will make [Odyssey] 100 percent in Imax.’ And that’s what we’re doing,” said IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond, at the company’s annual press lunch in Cannes. “He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.”
IMAX screens made more than $190 million of Oppenheimer's total global gross of $975.8 million, or 20 per cent.
Gelfond further revealed that Nolan gave him a challenge and told him that he will film The Odyssey 100% with Imax cameras if Gelfond could fix IMAX's existing issues.
"Chris forced us to rethink how we operated our film side of our business in different ways, so we have a program now to train new projectionists, and we’re putting more parts around the world, and we’re working harder at developing spare parts, and we’re looking at ancillary things like film recorders and film scanners," Gelfond remarked at the same event.
"You know, it’s not just a camera thing. It kind of was a challenge to look at our business in a different way. And I’m glad he gave us that challenge.”
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