Christian Bale’s New $80M Monster Movie Is Officially Set To Make IMAX History In Just 2 Months

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Director Maggie Gyllenhaal says her new movie, starring Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, will be the first of its kind in IMAX. Inspired by the classic 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein, the movie will offer a fresh, updated experience for big-screen viewers.

Jordan Williams from ScreenRant was at Warner Bros.’ online preview of the trailer for The Bride on January 13th, along with a Q&A session with director Jake Gyllenhaal. During the event, hosted by Perri Nemiroff of Collider, Gyllenhaal discussed how his film uniquely utilizes IMAX technology and how that enhanced the storytelling and character development.

Gyllenhaal admits she wasn’t very familiar with IMAX technology, either as someone watching movies or making them. However, she’s now become very interested in it, and she says:

I’ve become incredibly fascinated with IMAX technology. My cinematographer, Larry, actually introduced me to it early in the filmmaking process, even before we finalized our visual plans. To be honest, I’d only seen one IMAX movie before – I think it was a school trip to the Natural History Museum. I hadn’t really considered shooting in IMAX and didn’t have much experience with it at all.

I became interested in this and began exploring how Larry and I could use IMAX in our own work. For me, everything needs to be visually pleasing, even if the subject matter is difficult. But it’s crucial that this visual appeal comes from the story itself – otherwise, what’s the point?

Gyllenhaal excitedly continued by explaining the technical aspects of IMAX and how it affects the film’s screen size, pointing out that other versions of Dune also utilize this format.

When filming for IMAX, we essentially adjust the shape of the image. Our movie is normally shot in a widescreen format – around 2.39:1. But for most IMAX cinemas, we can expand the image vertically to 1.90:1. And in a few select, high-end IMAX theaters, we can go even further, using a 1.43:1 aspect ratio.

We initially focused on a very wide aspect ratio, and then expanded to 1.90 and 1.43. I kept wondering, though, why bother with vertical expansion? Some amazing filmmakers have explored this, and I believe Denis Villeneuve, a director I greatly admire, used a strategy in Dune 1 – or at least I think he did – where they only expanded the aspect ratio for outdoor scenes. It’s a specific approach, a formula you could say.

Because this technique didn’t quite work for the scenes with The Bride, Gyllenhaal decided to use the wider IMAX screen format only during moments when the story goes inside a character’s thoughts.

I kept asking myself, what’s the emotional core of this story? My film explores the idea that we develop and change when we truly understand another person’s perspective – almost like stepping inside their mind. Given that the movie involves bringing people back to life and draws on mythological themes, I envisioned that accessing someone’s inner world – their dreams and thoughts – would be where real growth happens.

What made the filming process unique was that we used anamorphic lenses. With those, the image is limited to a 2.39 aspect ratio. It gets a little technical, but essentially, we had to plan ahead when to switch to spherical lenses. Spherical lenses allowed us to capture more height in the shot.

While IMAX is now common in filmmaking, the movie The Bride! is groundbreaking in how it uses the format’s taller screen size, particularly through its unique animated transitions. As Maggie Gyllenhaal explains:

I also wanted to explore something else, and I promise this is the last point. I hadn’t seen any examples of this, so I went to IMAX and asked if I could view scenes where, instead of simply jumping straight up, the animation was stretched or grown. I was curious about what effect that would have – if it would be noticeable.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of similar things, but what I was told really blew my mind: nobody’s ever approached animation quite like this before. And honestly, I think that’s because I came at it as a total newbie. I didn’t pretend to know anything, I just wanted to learn, and that allowed me to envision what IMAX could really do – something genuinely new and exciting.

With an estimated $80 million budget and a mature rating, The Bride! is aiming for a major release in theaters. The film reimagines the classic story, setting it in 1930s Chicago, and stars Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster and Florence Pugh as the Bride. The movie centers on their developing relationship against a backdrop of a police investigation and significant social change. The cast also includes Penélope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, and Annette Bening.

The new Bride of Frankenstein movie is set to release following a successful year for IMAX. Several films, including Sinners, Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, One Battle After Another, and Avatar: Fire and Ash – all coming out in 2025 – have already proven popular with audiences using the IMAX format.

Despite some questions about how well The Bride! will do in theaters due to its creative direction and R rating, 2026 is looking like another great year for IMAX. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which arrives in theaters on July 17th, is already selling a lot of pre-sale tickets, suggesting it will perform very well in IMAX. Notably, The Odyssey is the first film ever shot completely using IMAX cameras.

Both Avengers: Doomsday, directed by the Russo Brothers, and Dune: Part Three, directed by Denis Villeneuve, are expected to be huge hits in IMAX. Currently, both films are slated to come out on December 18th.

While The Bride! probably won’t be as commercially successful as some major blockbusters, it’s clear that Maggie Gyllenhaal aimed high with this film. There are still a lot of unknowns about the movie, but viewers can likely look forward to unique and innovative transitions designed for the IMAX format.

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2026-01-16 16:14