“I want to buy a ticket for a movie that doesn’t exist yet.”

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When do you say a movie exists? Before the film is shot and ready, it is just an idea. Currently, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is not even completely shot.

God forbid but if the film gets delayed, then there will be a wave of disappointment among Nolan devotees across the globe.

But today I am going to tell you about the Nolan who is mythical. In today’s time we think that we don’t have demi-god-like cinema figures but that again is such a myth.

Christopher Nolan has done something that no filmmaker of today can do. He just sold out the future.

How He Sold Out the Future?

I was dying to buy the tickets for The Odyssey but I couldn’t.

Yes, even though the film is about a year ahead of us, the makers sold advance booking tickets in selected US markets.

And here I was, stuck on the outside, watching the joy of so many Nolan fanboys through screenshots and memes.

Still, I kept scrolling.

And I felt that rush. That thing that tells you — this matters.

Let me set the scene.

A few days ago, Universal Pictures did opened ticket sales for a movie that won’t release for another 365 days. Nolan’s next big film, The Odyssey, scheduled for July 17, 2026 starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, and Zendaya, is still shooting.

But it went live for IMAX 70mm pre-sales.

There is no trailer or teaser but just a deep faith.

And people showed up in huge numbers. I’m talking sell-outs within minutes. 95% of tickets are gone. Some folks queued outside theatres at midnight. Others drove to AMC counters to beat the bots. One guy posted that he bought tickets before going to bed for a show that’s more than 12 months away.

He has no clue what he’ll be doing that week next year. But he’s locked in.

Now here’s the part where I tell you something I never thought I’d say:

I was taken aback.

Not because I missed out (I mean, yeah, but only a bit). But because, in a world so overrun with noise, distraction, and throwaway content… people still cared this deeply about something.

That is why I feel that it is not just a movie moment. This is a cultural moment.

Something old-school. Something sacred, like when we used to wake up early for a cartoon show or queue for a music cassette. You know what I mean?

And Nolan has earned the same madness.

The man shot The Odyssey entirely on IMAX cameras. No one’s done that before. Not even Nolan. For years, he’s been fighting to preserve the experience of cinema in film prints, wide screens, and physical projection. He even called streaming services evil because they never let people own the print of a film.

From his world of dreams within dreams in Inception to space-time folding in Interstellar to the ticking dread of Oppenheimer, Nolan has made “how” we watch something just as important as “what” we watch.

So when he says, This one deserves 70 mm, the people listened.

Meanwhile, here I am, in India.

I neither have access to those tickets nor the AMC counters to run to.

I am left with a very strong wave of FOMO.

But that’s okay. Because even from the outside, I felt the madness.

For the past few years, we’ve been drowning in what I like to call “junk content”. Especially on platforms like YouTube. AI-generated Top 10 lists. Lo-fi “study” videos and robotic voiceovers.

This insane marketing phenomenon of The Odyssey took place when we were losing the why behind content. Creators were chasing algorithms, viewers were numbing out and there is a sort of saturation in what we consume daily.

I’m saying this as someone who works in AI, by the way. I built Mugafi, a platform that supports creators using AI tools. I love what AI can do. But I hate what it’s done to storytelling when misused.

You can’t automate soul.

You can’t mass-produce meaning.

And that’s what this whole Odyssey thing reminded me of.

The reason those tickets sold out wasn’t just Nolan’s name. It was the promise of a deep faith in the craft of cinema that only a few filmmakers are adhering to.

I was talking to someone from Tamil Nadu. He is an experienced man who lived through his teenage years during the 1970s. He told me about the madness people had for Sholay.

Yes, I am talking about Tamil Nadu.

His village, in which nobody spoke any Hindi, would arrange community screenings of Sholay. Everyone would gather up to watch a film whose language was alien to them.

What would you call it?

Madness, yeah, okay.

But I call it the magic of cinema. Today, when all of us have a tiny screen in our pockets, we will perhaps not gather up in a large field to watch a film in a language we don’t understand.

But that doesn’t mean cinema has lost its magic.

It is just showing its miracle differently.

Of course, The Odyssey will release in India eventually. I’ll watch it. Probably not on a 70 mm IMAX print. Maybe not even on opening day.

But I’ll go. And I’ll sit there, in the dark, and surrender to whatever Nolan has in store.

Because I remember now what that feels like – to wait for something and show up for it.

And maybe, just maybe, that feeling is making a comeback.

If you’re reading this and nodding along, I just want to say, ‘You’re not alone.

We’re not crazy for loving movies this much. Or books. Or theatre. Or art. Or anything that takes time, patience, and heart.

We’re just wired for wonder. And once in a while, the world gives us a reason to feel it again.

By the way, I opened my heart. I told you which film I am mad about.

I have every reason to ask you the same. Reply with the movie you are madly excited for, and why?

I will perhaps feature it in the next newsletter.

Vipul Agarwal | Leeds1888

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