Screenings of Christopher Nolan’s historical fantasy epic “The Odyssey” in the rare 70mm IMAX format have been extended by one month to September 16, 2026, amid box-office demand that saw initial dates sell out weeks in advance across limited theater locations.
After a mere twelve days in theaters, Christopher Nolan’s historical fantasy epic “The Odyssey” has grossed over $700 million globally. The sprawling adaptation of Homer’s 3,000-year-old Greek epic required a $250 million budget, years of filming, and an all-star cast featuring Matt Damon, alongside Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and John Leguizamo. To achieve an unprecedented visual scale, Nolan chose to shoot the entire narrative feature using IMAX cameras. That artistic choice created a massive logistical bottleneck for exhibitors, sparking intense demand for the limited theaters capable of projecting the film in its preferred format.
Why 70mm IMAX Screenings Are So Scarce
While digital IMAX screenings are widely available through 4K laser light systems, true 70mm IMAX projection technology relies on machinery that is extraordinarily difficult to maintain. Only 25 theaters in the United States and 41 worldwide are capable of showcasing the film in this specific format.
The logistical hurdles involved in projecting a 70mm IMAX film reel are immense. IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond explained the core manufacturing challenge facing the company during the film’s premiere.
“There’s certainly more demand. The problem is they haven’t made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them [and] rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we can take it.”
Richard Gelfond, CEO of IMAX
Because original engineering drawings for the projectors no longer exist, building new units from scratch is impractical. Instead, IMAX tracks down legacy machines and restores them.
Box Office Debut and Extended Runs
The intense scarcity of the format drove consumer turnout. Tickets for 70mm IMAX screenings went on sale as early as July 2025—a full year before the movie’s release—and locations like New York’s Lincoln Square IMAX sold out 3 a.m. screenings entirely.
Screenings of “The Odyssey” in IMAX 70mm have been extended by one month, pushing the run from the original August 19 closing date through September 16, according to listings on IMAX’s website. AMC’s mobile app experienced digital queues as new tickets were released to the public.
Alternative Formats and Technical Innovations
For audiences unable to secure tickets at one of the 25 domestic 70mm IMAX locations, alternative formats offer varying visual experiences. Standard 70mm film presentations are hosted at venues such as Chicago’s Music Box Theatre. Julian Antos, lead projectionist at the Music Box, noted that 70mm film has seen as the gold standard
since its development in the 1950s, adding that 70mm fills your peripheral vision left to right, while IMAX fills it in every direction.
Achieving a continuous, expanded 1.43:1 aspect ratio across the entire movie required overcoming significant technical hurdles. Traditional films typically shoot only select sequences in IMAX because the cameras are notoriously loud and bulky, making clear dialogue recording difficult. To solve this, Nolan designed a custom sound-dampening casing dubbed a “blimp” for the cameras, allowing the production to capture both action and dialogue sequences in the massive format without compromise.
