Insta360 Brings 360 Camera Technology to the Big Screen in New Film How to Rob a Bank

Insta360 brings 8K 360 capture to the big screen, giving filmmakers greater creative freedom from the shoot through the edit.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Insta360 X5 makes its Hollywood film debut in How to Rob a Bank, an action directed by David Leitch (Bullet Train, The Fall Guy).

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, Pete Davidson and John C. Reilly, the story follows a crew of social media-savvy bank robbers who broadcast their daring heists, unaware that their growing viral fame has put them in the crosshairs of a veteran FBI agent and a brilliant software engineer. Despite the unlikely duo closing in, the crime ring pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs - and their most ambitious heist yet. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody, Allan Mandelbaum, Kelly McCormick, and David Leitch. Executive producers include Ben Ormand and Mark Bianculli.

Insta360 was integrated not only into the production of a Hollywood feature, but into the story itself. Insta360 X5 is the camera of choice for the social-media-savvy crew, with footage captured on X5 appearing in the finished film.

One Story, Two Visual Languages

With the characters being both bank robbers and content creators who film their exploits, the movie presented a distinctive creative challenge: how could traditional 35mm cinematography and character-shot social media videos work together to tell one cohesive story?

Director David Leitch and the cinematography team needed to develop two visual languages that could exist side by side. Carefully composed 35mm photography would capture the characters' lives and emotions, while their heist videos needed to feel energetic and believable as content the characters would shoot themselves.

After extensive testing during pre-production, Insta360 emerged as the ideal fit for this raw, spontaneous visual style.

A New Perspective on Every Shot

Beyond capturing the action from the characters' perspective, Insta360 X5 gave the filmmakers the freedom to explore different compositions from a single take. During pre-production, Jimmy Johenning, Producer of Digital Sequences, demonstrated Insta360's reframing capabilities to Leitch and Jonathan Sela, director of photography for the main unit, by handing them an iPad and letting them explore the footage in real time.

For Leitch, the ability to create new shots from existing 360 footage proved particularly valuable during the heist sequences, giving the team more flexibility to connect the action and keep the story moving. As he explains, "When we needed a shot and we had a 360 running, we could literally create a shot."

Post Production Supervisor Jacob Donohue offers a practical example: if a shot initially looked down the barrel of a gun but the director later wanted to see the person holding it, the team could return to the same 360 footage and reframe. A single recorded moment could offer different perspectives as the edit evolved.

This approach was used extensively throughout production. The team typically had seven or eight Insta360 cameras running per shooting day, with as many as 12 to 20 deployed during individual heist sequences. On motorcycles and moving vehicles, capturing the entire scene also allowed the filmmakers to shape camera movements in post that would have been difficult or effectively impossible to execute physically at those speeds.

Meeting the Demands of an Action Movie

The team also explored camera placements that would be difficult to achieve with conventional setups. For Jonathan Sela, placing X5 inside a money bag offered a particularly compelling perspective. The camera captured the robbers throwing cash into the bag, turning it around and tossing it, bringing the audience directly into the action.

Another shot looks through a stack of banknotes as the robbers flip through the money, a favorite of Donohue. The camera's compact design and wide field of view made these unconventional placements possible, while giving the filmmakers perspectives that larger camera rigs would struggle to reach. For David Myrick, Director of Photography, YouTube unit, the cameras also opened up possibilities beyond the familiar tools of dollies, Steadicams and cranes. As he put it, "This was just kind of like there were no rules."

The fast-moving sequences also put Insta360's stabilization and horizon leveling to the test. With cameras mounted on moving vehicles and actors, FlowState Stabilization and 360° Horizon Lock helped keep footage smooth and level despite movement and vibration. Johenning described FlowState Stabilization as a "game changer," highlighting its potential for car scenes, motorcycles and fight sequences.

The replaceable lens design proved equally practical on a demanding action-film set. Johenning recalled the production going through approximately 20 to 30 lenses but only around two camera bodies. With both lenses replaceable in less than a minute, the team could get cameras back into use quickly and continue exploring creative setups.

From Behind the Scenes to the Cinema Screen

For 360 footage to make the final cut of a theatrical feature, it needed to meet the film's image-quality standards and fit into an established professional post-production workflow. The team processed and reframed the footage in Insta360 Studio before transcoding it to ProRes for use in DaVinci Resolve and Avid, allowing the 360 footage to be incorporated alongside material captured with traditional cameras.

For Donohue, confidence that the cameras could deliver footage suitable for theatrical exhibition was essential. The team was pleased with how the 360 footage looked on the big screen, demonstrating how 360 capture could contribute to a major film production.

Expanding the Possibilities of Filmmaking with 360 Capture

From unconventional camera placements to the freedom to reframe shots in post, Insta360's contribution to How to Rob a Bank demonstrates how 360 capture can give filmmakers new ways to approach action sequences. With footage that fits into a professional theatrical workflow, 360 capture expands the film's visual language while keeping more creative decisions open—from the shoot through the edit.

Don't miss Insta360 X5 in How to Rob a Bank, now playing only in theaters.

About Insta360

With a "Think bold" mindset, Insta360 empowers people to capture and share their lives in extraordinary ways. Recognized as a market leader and innovator, Insta360's vast lineup includes the world's best-selling 360 cameras in the X Series, the thumb-sized GO Series for everyday capture, as well as an extensive range of action cameras, gimbals, webcams, and professional photography solutions. With intuitive, AI-powered software, Insta360 simplifies the creative process, allowing users to focus on storytelling without technical barriers. Insta360 is dedicated to helping a new generation of athletes, creatives, travelers and professionals bring their ideas to life.

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