Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has sent fans far and wide to find one of the 41 cinemas in the whole world capable of projecting the Imax 70mm format it’s filmed in. So why aren’t there more theaters able to show the movie — the first ever shot entirely on 1570 cameras — in all its glory?
The Guardian reported that fans are even traveling abroad to see The Odyssey in the highest-resolution film format possible, such is the scarcity of theaters that can project Imax 70mm. Nolan has long championed Imax 1570 film, and helped develop technology that would make using its heavy and loud cameras quiet enough to record dialogue. Still, the film stock had to be changed every three minutes due to the frequent reloading.
The Odyssey is projected to enjoy a huge opening weekend at the box office and much of that comes from a desire from fans to see it on an Imax 70mm screen. The demand, it seems, is there. So why doesn’t Imax simply increase capacity?
In an interview with Variety, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said he’d like to see more Imax 70mm screens, but the technology is so old that it’s forced to make the best of what’s available.
“We’re sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already, and the 2am shows, the 7am shows, so there’s certainly more demand. The problem is they haven’t made new Imax film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them, we rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we could take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I’d like to see more.”
When questioned why Imax simply can’t build more 1570 projectors to meet demand, Gelfond replied: “We build new projectors every day, but film projectors using this film, it’s not practical. So we’ve got to find them, and we’ve got to retrofit them and rebuild them, which is what we did for The Odyssey. But can all 2,000 of our theaters have the film projectors? No, there’s just not that many around. But I think we could continue to grow it.”
It’s a curious quote that makes it sound like Imax has simply forgotten how to make 1570 projectors. Yes, 1570 is old technology, and yes, most cinemas shifted to digital a decade ago, but it’s hardly so old that it was the work of some lost civilization we fail to truly understand.
What I assume Gelfond is trying to say here is that the various things used to make the projectors are either not made in the same way now, or not made at all, forcing Imax to retrofit the current projectors. I suspect this may have more to do with a perceived lack of return on investment. Projecting on 1570 is more expensive than other film formats, and requires much more attention during screenings. The enormous reel of film for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, for example, runs more than 17km and weighs 240kg. And let’s be honest — The Odyssey and Nolan himself are one-offs. Theaters can’t rely on other films repeating the trick every other weekend.
If you’re confused by all the different formats you can watch The Odyssey in, we’ve got a handy explainer right here. The Odyssey hits theaters July 17.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
