- WEB DESK
- 34 Minutes ago
As ‘The Odyssey’ breaks preview records, here’s why IMAX 70mm screenings remain scarce
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- WEB DESK
- 1 Hour ago
WEBDESK: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has become one of the year’s biggest cinematic events (no surprises there!), but many moviegoers hoping to watch it in the director’s preferred IMAX 70mm format are discovering that the experience is available at only a handful of theatres worldwide.
The shortage has become a story of its own as the film opens to huge box-office numbers. According to Variety, The Odyssey earned a record USD17.6 million in preview screenings, the strongest preview performance of 2026 so far, while demand for IMAX 70mm tickets has surged across the United States and other markets.
Why everyone is talking about IMAX 70mm
The Odyssey is the first feature film shot entirely using IMAX film cameras, a distinction Nolan and the cast have repeatedly highlighted during the film’s promotional campaign.
True IMAX 70mm screenings use massive film prints and project them onto towering 1.43:1 IMAX screens, giving audiences a noticeably larger image and more visual detail than standard cinema presentations.
The catch is that only 41 theatres worldwide, including just 25 in the United States, can currently screen The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm, leaving most audiences unable to experience the film in its full grandeur.
IMAX says the problem is not demand
Speaking to Variety at the film’s premiere, IMAX Chief Executive Richard Gelfond said the company would like to add more IMAX 70mm locations, but doing so is far more complicated than installing modern digital projectors.
“We’re sold out in some theatres into the fifth week already,” Gelfond said. “There’s certainly more demand.”
The issue, he explained, is that IMAX has not manufactured new 70mm film projectors in roughly 50 years. Instead, the company restores and rebuilds existing machines.
“We build new projectors every day, but film projectors using this film, it’s just not practical,” he said.
A race to find old projectors
According to Variety, IMAX spent more than a year tracking down broken, abandoned and forgotten film projectors from around the world.
Engineers refurbished usable equipment, salvaged parts from damaged machines and trained 60 new projectionists to operate the complex systems.
The effort increased the number of IMAX 70mm venues from 30 for Oppenheimer to 41 for The Odyssey. IMAX also said many of the specialised components required to build new projectors are no longer manufactured, while much of the original engineering knowledge was lost as cinemas converted from film to digital projection during the late 2000s. The format is becoming a premium event The limited availability has turned IMAX 70mm screenings into a premium event for Nolan fans. Variety reported that some audiences are travelling across state lines, booking late-night screenings and planning entire trips around the format. The frenzy mirrors the enthusiasm that helped make Oppenheimer a major box-office success in 2023.
A huge opening for Nolan’s latest epic
The strong demand is already translating into ticket sales. The Odyssey earned $17.6 million in previews, edging past Toy Story 5’s $17.5 million to become the year’s biggest preview performer.
The film is currently projected to open between $90 million and $100 million domestically, though early results suggest it could exceed those estimates.
By comparison, Oppenheimer made $10.5 million in previews before going on to gross $975 million worldwide.
Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal, The Odyssey is reported to have cost $250 million to produce, with an additional $125 million spent on marketing, making it one of the most expensive releases of 2026.
For now, Nolan has succeeded in making IMAX 70mm feel less like a cinema option and more like a limited-edition event, and that scarcity may be helping drive the very box-office momentum surrounding The Odyssey.
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