Some films need a big screen. These five do. Here is why…
1. The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan is the king of IMAX, and The Odyssey may be his biggest argument yet.
Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and others. The film runs for approximately 2 hours and 53 minutes and was made with a reported $250 million production budget. It opened on July 17, 2026.
The Odyssey was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, making it the first feature to do so. The IMAX version runs to roughly 11 miles of 70mm film.
And audiences responded to the format immediately. The movie made $264.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend, including $124.5 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Nolan is putting enormous landscapes, battles, ships, mythical creatures, and practical effects onto a format designed to fill your field of vision. If you have access to 70mm IMAX, this is exactly the kind of movie that justifies making the trip.
2. Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The $225 million film from director Destin Daniel Cretton premiered on July 27, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre. By September 13, 2026, it had brought in $2.451 billion worldwide. It also had the biggest domestic opening weekend ever, with $360 million, beating Avengers: Endgame and its $357.1 million opening.
The story follows Spider-Man as a mutation affects his powers, while a telepath who can possess other people begins attacking Department of Damage Control (DODC) facilities. She turns out to be a teenage Jean Grey, who is searching for her sister Sara after she was taken by the DODC.
Critics were also largely positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 90% positive score from 431 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10.
Technically, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was made for premium theatrical formats, especially IMAX. Its 1.90:1 IMAX presentation shows more of the image vertically than standard theaters, while the 8K capture, large-scale visual effects, and huge action sequences are designed to make the most of a bigger screen. The movie also features IMAX and Dolby Atmos sound, along with scenes shot specifically for SCREENX, which expands the image to a 270° view.
3. Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary has that rare “I can’t believe this is actually the universe I exist in” feeling.
It is a space movie. Ryan Gosling stars as science teacher and astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up aboard a spacecraft light-years from Earth with no memory of how he got there. He eventually discovers that he has been sent on a mission connected to a mysterious substance causing the Sun to die.
The film ran for 156 minutes, or 2 hours and 36 minutes, and had an estimated $200 million budget. Its worldwide box office has reached roughly $685 million, with more than $344 million from the U.S. and Canada.
Technically, this is one of the most interesting movies on the list.
It was Filmed For IMAX using large-format digital cameras, and almost two hours of the movie use an expanded IMAX aspect ratio. Depending on the theater, space sequences can open up to 1.43:1 on IMAX 70mm and dual-laser systems or 1.90:1 on other IMAX systems. The flashbacks use a wider 2.39:1 format.
That means the picture itself changes depending on where you watch it.
The IMAX release also had remarkable numbers. During opening weekend, IMAX made $28 million worldwide, including $16.4 million in North America. That represented approximately 20% of the film’s entire domestic opening weekend from only about 1% of North American screens.
There is also Dolby Atmos and IMAX multichannel sound.
4. Mortal Kombat II
The sequel, directed by Simon McQuoid, brings back the franchise’s fighters and adds Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban. The story centers on the champions facing Shao Kahn and a tournament threatening Earthrealm.
The film had an estimated $80 million production budget, opened to $38.5 million domestically, and finished with roughly $129.6 million worldwide. It runs for 116 minutes, or just under two hours.
Technically, it is built for premium theatrical sound. The movie is presented in 2.39:1 and supports Dolby Atmos, as well as IMAX 6-Track and several other theatrical sound formats.
And the numbers from critics tell an interesting story. It currently has 64% from 204 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with an 86% audience score from more than 5,000 verified ratings.
This is not necessarily the movie you choose for dialogues.
You choose it because a Mortal Kombat fight with a giant screen, subwoofer, Dolby Atmos and an audience reacting around you is fundamentally different from watching the same Fatality on a laptop.
For fans of the games, that difference is the point.
5. Pressure
Director Anthony Maras builds tension around the weather.
The film stars Andrew Scott as Scottish meteorologist James Stagg and Brendan Fraser as Dwight D. Eisenhower. It takes place during the 72 hours before D-Day, when Allied commanders have to decide whether weather conditions will allow the invasion of Normandy to proceed.
The movie runs for only 100 minutes and was made in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It was shot using Arri Alexa Mini cameras with Cooke lenses, alongside some footage captured on 16mm film.
That relatively modest technical scale is exactly what makes the movie interesting in a theater. The tension comes from rooms, maps, forecasts, wind, rain, radio communications and people arguing over information that could determine whether thousands of soldiers live or die.
Pressure opened domestically to about $5.8 million and has made approximately $26.7 million worldwide.
But the critical response has been strong: 89% from roughly 146 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95% audience score.
This is the kind of movie where the big screen isn’t about making everything bigger. It is about making the environment more immersive.