Universal Pictures was released A fantastic tripa new feature for Christopher Nolanhis much awaited film The Odyssey. The film adapts Homer’s ancient Greek epic about Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, and his long return home after the Trojan War.
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The Odyssey opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026, with a star-studded cast led by Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o, along with Zendaya and Charlize Theron. Christopher Nolan wrote and directed the film and produced it with Emma Thomas through Syncopy, with Thomas Hayslip as executive producer.
The featurette focuses on the scale of the production and the physical demands behind Nolan’s approach. Shot entirely with IMAX film cameras and new IMAX film technology, The Odyssey brings Homer’s epic to IMAX movie screens for the first time. Rather than presenting the story as a studio-made fantasy, the footage shows a production shaped by real locations, sea scenes, difficult terrain and long days away from conventional sets.
Nolan describes Odyssey as a huge story and an exciting challenge. The video follows the cast and crew through remote natural scenes where location became central to the filmmaking process. Cameras, equipment and costumes had to travel to challenging locations before filming began, making the production itself part of the film’s larger adventure.
This sense of scale also comes through in Damon’s comments. He calls Odyssey the biggest film of his career and compares the experience to making several films in one production. Each chapter of Odysseus’ journey brought a new location, a new environment, and a new set of logistical challenges.
Zendaya points to the same riveting quality. The production took her to places she might never have seen otherwise, while the sea scenes put her right into the setting of the story. She didn’t have to imagine herself in a boat because she was standing in one, in the sea.
Nolan explains that the team changed countries every two weeks, creating a constant sense of movement within the production. The video shows crew members working with heavy equipment, natural terrain and remote settings, while Pattinson adds a sharp detail about the demands placed on the actors. He jokes that a normal Hollywood film might keep base camp seconds off set, while a Nolan production might require 45 minutes of hiking in sandals and full suits.
One of the clearest examples comes from filming Nestor’s cave in Greece. Damon says that no one had tried to shoot there before. The crew rushed the space and turned it into a physical sound stage, using the cave directly in production.
A Fantastic Voyage presents the Odyssey through the work required to make it happen. The Odyssey opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.
