“Oppenheimer”, a film starring Cillian Murphy, will open Jul. 21. The film is about J. Robert. Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb. With the unique trailer and usage of real explosives on set, audiences are excited. “Oppenheimer” is directed by Christopher Nolan, known especially for his visuals, which is why he often uses IMAX’s 70mm film. Nolan first used it for the “Dark Knight”, where it was displayed for 28 minutes in wide framed deep visuals. At the time it was the longest use of IMAX 70mm.

A IMAX 70mm film strip is 10 times bigger than a standard 35mm film strip. What makes this so important? Well, the original 70mm film’s height is around one inch tall, but IMAX 70mm is almost a whole inch taller. This might not seem much but this makes the frame of the film larger. This lets more light onto a film strip, leading to more colors, meaning more focused, deep, and clear images. 

“Larger film is able to capture more visual information in the picture.” Photography Teacher Geoffrey Grace said.“ it’s the equivalent of a high definition tv screen the picture has tighter detail and more tonal range.” 

 Plenty of films have used IMAX’s film stock, but “Oppenheimer” will be the longest movie to be presented in it. Not all of the movie will be in IMAX 70mm film because one reel cost $1,000, but it will be the first movie to experience black and white analog IMAX film. Although the theater tickets for this film stock can be expensive, the experience provided in IMAX theaters makes it worth it.

“It was cool because there was surround sound in the theater, you could feel the sound in your seat and a huge curved screen which had great graphics,” Malachi Leister (‘24)

IMAX 70 mm film is starting to become more accessible. IMAX has started working on a new camera for their film which dampens the lawn mower like sounds of the camera. This will help sync sound onto the visuals in the editing room. With the sound damped there is the possibility of the camera and film type being used more.

“Oppenheimer” is one of the many movies coming out this summer, including “Asteroid City”, and “The Barbie Movie”. These movies are laying new foundations for the movie industry.