Denis Villeneuve: “The future of cinema is IMAX and the large formats”
The Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has spoken about the future of the cinematic art form, stating that, “the future of cinema is IMAX”.
Sitting down in an interview with AP News, Villeneuve spoke about the recent release of the Christopher Nolan epic Oppenheimer, which told the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the atomic bomb. Having seen an early screener of the film, Villeneuve deemed it “a masterpiece,” before elaborating, “But where it is right now has blown the roof off of my projection…It’s a three-hour movie about people talking about nuclear physics”.
A movie filmed with IMAX stock and intended to be seen on the widest screen possible, audiences came out in their droves to watch Oppenheimer in the cinema, with the movie making $916.5 million worldwide, subsequently becoming the highest-grossing biopic of all time.
Indeed, the movie is still yet to leave theatres, with Villeneuve excitedly exclaiming: “The future of cinema is IMAX and the large formats…The audience wants to see something that they cannot have at home, that they cannot have on streaming. They want to experience an event”.
Continuing, the director adds: “There’s this notion that movies, in some people’s minds, became content instead of an art form. I hate that word, ‘content’…That movies like Oppenheimer are released on the big screen and become an event brings back a spotlight on the idea that it’s a tremendous art form that needs to be experienced in theaters”.
Villeneuve’s most recent movie, Dune: Part II has been delayed until 2024 following the industry-halting SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Take a look at the trailer for Nolan’s Oppenheimer below.
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