Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus Oppenheimer is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Shot on 70mm IMAX in both color as well as black-and-white, its recent R rating has caused quite the stir. The marketing thus far has chosen to focus on the larger-than-life IMAX film format that the movie has employed to film its footage. A recent interview revealed some fascinating tidbits about the challenges of shooting for different aspect ratios and it had one key piece of info that warranted its own article.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Nolan revealed that the IMAX 70mm film stock of Oppenheimer spans 11 miles and weighs over 600 pounds. About 100 of these will be sent over to the available 70mm IMAX theaters in North America. An additional 77 of these will be put for sale at major US chains as well as other independent locations such as Chicago’s Music Box and Washington’s AFI Silver. Seeing as the movie is touching a runtime of 3 hours, that boils down to about 317 feet of film stock for every minute of footage.
That’s an astounding number and one that already has fans salivating at the prospect of seeing insanely high quality footage up close in the biggest screen on offer in theaters. For a quick comparison, a typical 35mm film runs anywhere between 90 to 120 feet to accommodate a minute of film, making the IMAX prints 3 to 3.5 times as large as regular film. And with Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography at the helm, this difference is sure to translate into something spectacular on the IMAX screen.
Oppenheimer is set for release on July 21, 2023. Directed by Christoper Nolan for Universal Pictures, it features a star-studded cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich, Dane DeHaan, and David Dastmalchian. Tickets for the movie are now on sale.
