Christopher Nolan does not expect to have another movie in theaters within the next three years after completing the physically demanding production of The Odyssey.
During a July 17 appearance on Today, the filmmaker was asked whether audiences would have to wait another three years for his next release. “Oh, at least,” Nolan replied.
Nolan linked the potential wait to the scale of bringing Homer’s epic to theaters.
Nolan Says ‘The Odyssey’ Pushed Him to His Limits
“I definitely hit the limits of my own stamina and everybody’s stamina, I think,” he said. “I mean, it’s The Odyssey. Of course it should be difficult. We’re not doing the job right making a film of The Odyssey if it doesn’t seem difficult,” he added.
Nolan said he warned Matt Damon about the production’s demands before filming began, although the reality did not fully register until Damon was working aboard the movie’s ship and traveling to its remote locations.
“I have a feeling he didn’t really understand until we got on the boat,” Nolan said. Hiking along a goat path toward the location used for the Cyclops’ cave brought what he called Damon’s “slow, creeping realization” that the shoot would not be easy.
Damon stars as Odysseus, whose journey home after the Trojan War takes him through encounters with gods, monsters and other dangers. The cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron and Samantha Morton.
The Entire Movie Was Shot With IMAX Film Cameras
The Odyssey is the first feature filmed entirely with IMAX film cameras. Nolan had incorporated the large-format technology into portions of earlier movies, but the new production required equipment capable of handling dialogue scenes and extended location work across the full shoot.
IMAX developed a new version of its film camera and a redesigned sound-dampening enclosure known as a “blimp.” The equipment allowed synchronized dialogue to be recorded on the large-format cameras at a scale that had not previously been practical.
Nolan said the format helped place viewers aboard Odysseus’ ship and inside locations such as the Cyclops’ cave. The production filmed across several countries, with cast and crew working at sea and reaching isolated landscapes rather than relying entirely on studio sets.
His Last Five Movies Arrived Three Years Apart
Nolan has followed a consistent release rhythm for more than a decade. Interstellar opened in 2014, followed by Dunkirk in 2017, Tenet in 2020, Oppenheimer in 2023 and The Odyssey on July 17, 2026. Earlier in his career, Nolan sometimes released films only one or two years apart.