Christopher Nolan isn’t a director who tends to do things by halves.
Whether it involves the construction of a cylindrical rotating corridor for Inception, or several hundred extras storming the streets of New York City in The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan’s eye for spectacle is part of the reason why his movies tend to amass such a huge following. And his latest effort, the WWII epic known as Dunkirk, is arguably the most ambitious of the lot.
Pegged to arrive on July 21st, Warner Bros. is now in the process of launching ticket sales for its star-studded summer blockbuster, beginning with 70MM screenings. In fact, the studio is about to stage the widest 70mm release in almost 25 years, after earmarking a total of 125 locations – up 25 from the total number of theaters Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight played at – for Dunkirk‘s 70MM release.
Film evangelists (see: Paul Thomas Anderson, Tarantino) swear by the high-resolution format as a means to deliver crisper, almost painterly images, and the fact that some of cinema’s greatest achievements – namely Lawrence of Arabia and Ben-Hur – were projected in 70MM gives you an idea of the format’s scale and scope. Those situated in the U.S. and Canada are now able to purchase their 70MM tickets via Warner’s official site, with regular tickets due to go on sale Friday, July 7th at 9am ET.
Story-wise, we know that Dunkirk involves the death-defying rescue mission of Operation Dynamo, when 400,000 Allied troops were left stranded in the titular French town. Surrounded by Axis forces, the Allies were out of luck and out of time…until home came for them. On board for the period epic are Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, with Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express), Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight Trilogy), Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy.
Dunkirk reports for duty on July 21st.
