A significant amount of Christopher Nolan’s latest big-budget blockbuster was shot with IMAX cameras resulting in a truly immersive viewing event.
With a secretive time-bending plot, intense action scenes and a massive $200 million budget, there has never been a movie more poised for the big screen than Tenet. And if you want to really experience Christopher Nolan’s epic new film when it hits theatres, beginning August 27, you need to see it in IMAX.
The sci-fi action thriller takes place in the world of international espionage and stars John David Washington as a secret agent on a mission to save the world. Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh also star. Nolan, whose highly acclaimed films include The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and Dunkirk, shot a significant amount of the movie with IMAX’s high-resolution 2D film cameras. This makes for a truly immersive experience with the action expanding to fill the entire screen and almost 10 times more resolution than conventional 35mm film.
“All IMAX screens will display extra imagery because of our aspect ratio…that vertical uplift you get really is awe-inspiring,” says David Keighley, Chief Quality Guru (CQG) of IMAX.
Moviegoers will also experience next-generation precision sound.
“Mr. Nolan loves IMAX sound. You can actually feel the bass notes,” says Keighley.
Nolan’s love affair with IMAX
Tenet marks the eighth movie Nolan has made in collaboration with IMAX, beginning with Batman Begins over a decade ago. The ambitious movie The Dark Knight was the first feature to shoot using the IMAX format.
Even though most movies are now shot digitally, Nolan loves to shoot on film, particularly IMAX film.
Weighing 80 lbs. and holding only three minutes of film, an IMAX camera brings a unique set of challenges. But it’s something Nolan fully embraces. While shooting the WWII masterpiece Dunkirk, Nolan attached a large IMAX camera to the wing of a fighter plane to capture the action straight from the cockpit.
With impressive action sequences, including one in which Nolan crashed an actual 747 airplane into a building, Tenet promises to be even more extreme – all the more reason to experience the movie in IMAX.
“It’s an epic event and it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time…seeing it in IMAX is the gold standard, the hero version of the movie audiences will be able see,” says Keighley.
