No, the IMAX version of the movie isn’t the “real” version

Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Published Jul 30, 2026, 10:15 AM EDT Sydney Butler is a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder and over a decade as a professional writer. He's worked for more than a decade in user education. On How-To Geek, he writes commerce content, guides, opinions, and specializes in editing hardware and cutting edge technology articles. Sydney started working as a freelance computer technician around the age of 13, before which he was in charge of running the computer center for his school. (He also ran LAN gaming tournaments when the teachers weren't looking!) His interests include VR, PC, Mac, gaming, 3D printing, consumer electronics, the web, and privacy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Psychology with a minor in media and technology studies. His masters dissertation examined the potential for social media to spread misinformation. Outside of How-To Geek, he hosts the Online Tech Tips YouTube Channel, and writes for Online Tech Tips, Switching to Mac, and Helpdesk Geek. Sydney also writes for Expert Reviews UK. He also has bylines at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Tom's Hardware, MakeTechEasier, and Laptop Mag. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Another major IMAX release, another online debate about aspect ratios. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is making waves for many reasons, but the one I care about is the idea that the tall, square IMAX presentation of the movie is the "real" version, the way the movie is intended to be seen. It's true that The Odyssey's production was built around a massive, cumbersome IMAX camera system. However, if you know anything about how modern movies are planned and shot, then it's clear that the IMAX version of the movie is no more or less valid than the other cuts meant for other screens. Directors shoot for multiple formats, not just one They are aware of how screens work Credit: IMAX When filmmakers like Christopher Nolan or Denis Villeneuve use IMAX cameras, they aren't making a movie exclusively for the handful of giant IMAX theaters around the world. They are fully aware that the movie will be seen on different theater screens all over the world and will eventually go to streaming and disc formats, where widescreen TVs offer yet a third aspect ratio to contend with. When Nolan frames his scenes (working with his camera crew, obviously), it's shot in such a way that both frames are meaningful and correctly composed. If necessary, different versions of the film can, of course, also use different takes or framings, but the final edited film shows you what the filmmakers wanted you to see. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeName that Christopher Nolan movieTrivia challenge From Gotham to the stars — can you match these iconic scenes, characters, and quotes to the right Nolan film? CharactersPlotQuotesDirectorsSci-Fi Begin Which Christopher Nolan film follows a man with short-term memory loss who uses Polaroid photos and tattoos to hunt for his wife's killer? AThe PrestigeBInsomniaCMementoDTenet Correct! Memento (2000) tells the story of Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, who suffers from anterograde amnesia. The film is famously told in reverse chronological order, mirroring Leonard's fragmented perception of reality. Not quite — the answer is Memento. Released in 2000, it stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man who cannot form new memories. Nolan's bold choice to tell the story in reverse made it one of the most distinctive thrillers of its era. Continue In Batman Begins, which villain uses a fear-inducing toxin and wears a burlap mask throughout the film? AThe JokerBBaneCRa's al GhulDScarecrow Correct! Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka the Scarecrow, is played by Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins. His fear toxin, derived from a rare blue flower, is central to the League of Shadows' plot to destroy Gotham City. Not quite — the answer is Scarecrow. Cillian Murphy plays Dr. Jonathan Crane, a psychiatrist who weaponizes fear itself. While Ra's al Ghul is the film's true mastermind, the Scarecrow is the more visible mask-wearing villain on the streets of Gotham. Continue In The Dark Knight, the Joker says 'Why so serious?' — but which actor's portrayal of the Joker earned a posthumous Academy Award? AJoaquin PhoenixBHeath LedgerCJack NicholsonDJared Leto Correct! Heath Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), tragically awarded posthumously after his death in January 2008. His performance is widely considered one of the greatest villain portrayals in cinema history. Not quite — the answer is Heath Ledger. He delivered a haunting, transformative performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight and was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor posthumously. Joaquin Phoenix later won for a different Joker film in 2019, but Ledger's remains iconic. Continue In Inception, what is the name of the spinning top that Dom Cobb uses as his 'totem' to tell if he is in a dream? AThe GyroBThe DieCThe Poker ChipDThe Top Correct! Cobb's totem is a spinning top — in reality it falls over, but in a dream it spins indefinitely. The film's famously ambiguous final shot of the wobbling top has been debated by fans for years, leaving Cobb's true reality an open question. Not quite — Cobb's totem is simply called the top, or spinning top. Each character in the film has a unique totem to detect whether they're dreaming. The final shot of the film deliberately cuts before the top falls or keeps spinning, leaving audiences in beautiful uncertainty. Continue In Interstellar, which planet do the crew visit first, where one hour on its surface equals seven years on Earth due to time dilation? AEdmunds' planetBMiller's planetCMann's planetDSaturn's moon Titan Correct! Miller's planet orbits so close to the black hole Gargantua that extreme gravitational time dilation makes one hour there equal seven years back on Earth. The crew pays a devastating price for the brief time they spend on its wave-battered surface. Not quite — the answer is Miller's planet. Its proximity to the supermassive black hole Gargantua causes extreme time dilation. By the time Cooper and the crew return to the Endurance after just a few hours, decades have passed for those waiting aboard the ship. Continue Dunkirk depicts the real World War II evacuation of Allied soldiers in 1940. Approximately how many soldiers were rescued during the actual Operation Dynamo? A100,000B550,000C338,000D210,000 Correct! Operation Dynamo, carried out between May 26 and June 4, 1940, successfully evacuated approximately 338,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. Nolan's film portrays the chaos and heroism of the rescue using a non-linear three-timeline structure. Not quite — around 338,000 soldiers were evacuated during Operation Dynamo. What made it remarkable was the involvement of hundreds of civilian 'little ships' that crossed the English Channel to help. Nolan's film captures that desperate, fragmented experience across land, sea, and air timelines. Continue In Tenet, the protagonist learns to manipulate objects moving backward in time through a process called what? AReversalBInversionCRetrogradeDEntropy shift Correct! In Tenet, 'inversion' is the process by which objects — and people — have their entropy reversed, causing them to move backward through time relative to everyone else. The concept underpins the entire plot and leads to some of the film's most mind-bending action sequences. Not quite — the process is called inversion. In Tenet, inverted objects and people experience time in reverse relative to the world around them. Nolan drew on real physics concepts like entropy and the second law of thermodynamics to craft the film's complex, looping narrative. Continue In Oppenheimer, which actor plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who led the Manhattan Project? AMatt DamonBCillian MurphyCTom HardyDJosh Hartnett Correct! Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 2023 biographical epic. His performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the film itself won Best Picture. Murphy had previously appeared in smaller roles in several earlier Nolan films. Not quite — Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer. It was a career-defining role for Murphy, earning him the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards. Matt Damon also appears in the film as General Leslie Groves, the military leader who oversaw the Manhattan Project. See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score / 8 Thanks for playing! Try Again In an interview with Kevin McCarthy, Nolan explains in detail how he uses IMAX cameras (which was the only camera used for this latest movie) to ensure that all formats will work. In the end, he explains that whether in widescreen or tall IMAX, you're just filling peripheral vision space for immersion. The actual "key information" is in the center of the frame. IMAX is one presentation format—not the movie itself It's just a point of view While the framing of a film is part of its visual language and changes how you experience some aspects of it, that's only one part of the whole. All versions of the film have the same story, performances, score, cinematography, and so on. In other words, the people who watched the IMAX film and widescreen theatrical release both saw the same movie. They saw different framings, and the IMAX viewers saw things that were out of frame compared to the standard theatrical release. IMAX changes the presentation of the film's elements, not the elements themselves. Obviously, the IMAX version offers a version of the film with a taller frame, potentially higher image detail, and advanced, high-volume sound. Think about it this way—listening to the same song on a $20K sound system or a $50 MP3 player might be very different experiences, but it's still the same song.​​​​​​​ The "best" version depends on what you value Taste is everything This is probably a good time to admit that I do not like IMAX. It really only makes sense in an IMAX theater, where I've only been a few times. We only have nine IMAX theaters in my country anyway, but I've never felt like it was worth it. To me, a wide aspect ratio is what feels cinematic. Having to look up and down to see the whole frame is literally a pain in the neck. It's ironic, considering how much I love 4:3 aspect ratio content and own several vintage CRTs just so I can watch that content as intended. But I have never felt that the more square aspect ratio is cinematic. Panasonic DP-UB9000 Connectivity Wired, Wi-Fi 5 The Panasonic DP-UB9000 is a premium Blu-ray player that delivers exceptional picture and audio quality, with support for all major HDR formats and extensive connectivity options. Its robust build quality and reference-class performance make it an top-tier choice for home theater enthusiasts seeking the ultimate viewing experience. I also still have horrible memories of the "pan & scan" era, where movies were released for 4:3 TVs cropped in ways that they were not filmed for. An editor simply chopped off the sides of the frame and then panned the image to capture something in the central part you could see. All because people were allergic to seeing black bars on their TVs. Ironically, when you watch an IMAX cut of a movie on your 16:9 TV today, which I had to endure with the Snyder Cut of Justice League, you have massive black bars on the sides. For me, I value seeing the frame that the filmmaker intended me to see first, but in the case of a movie like The Odyssey where neither the widescreen nor IMAX version is more valid than the other, my personal taste will push me to the wider format. The Odyssey Release Date July 15, 2026 Runtime 173 minutes Director Christopher Nolan Don't let format hype stop you from enjoying great movies If you want to see the IMAX version in an IMAX theater, then go for it. Since it's such a limited format, you might feel a little bummed out if you can't score tickets to that IMAX presentation. Honestly, I don't think you should be. First, there's a decent chance that The Odyssey will get more showings at IMAX in the coming years. They don't make that much content for these theaters, so I don't see this as the only time you'll ever get to see this movie on those screens. Second, there will no doubt be an IMAX version for home viewing. Just like Nolan's previous movies. If you want the big screen effect of IMAX, you can always use a VR headset or a projector to try and approximate it, but even on a regular TV you can still see the whole IMAX frame with black bars. Most importantly, just try to enjoy the movie itself. Just like the Avatar films, I hate it when a good movie is overshadowed by technical details. We're all film nerds, but that should never get in the way of the actual enjoyment of a movie.