{"id":4349,"date":"2026-07-16T21:07:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4349"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:07:34","slug":"why-arent-there-more-imax-70mm-screens-for-the-odyssey-its-not-practical-company-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4349","title":{"rendered":"Why Aren\u2019t There More Imax 70mm Screens for \u2018The Odyssey\u2019? \u2018It\u2019s Not Practical,\u2019 Company Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n<\/p>\n
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\n\tNot everyone gets a front-row seat to history.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis weekend, Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d arrives in theaters nationwide. The sprawling adaptation of Homer\u2019s epic is the first-ever movie shot entirely on Imax film cameras. And over the past month, everyone from Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway to Nolan himself have hammered home the same message: \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d deserves to be seen in a true Imax 70mm presentation \u2014 the way it was intended to be experienced.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a catch. Only 25 theaters in the U.S. are equipped to project \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d in true Imax 70mm film, prompting moviegoers to embark on cross-country road trips (and even delaying pregnancies) to experience the cinematic milestone.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take a business degree to understand the law of supply and demand, but at \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d premiere Tuesday night, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond explained why adding more Imax 70mm screens isn\u2019t that simple. (The interview clip, as of Friday afternoon, has over 7.5 million views on X).<\/p>\n

Read more Watching Shia LaBeouf Unravel:\u00a0 \u2018He Was Exploding on Set\u2019 and in \u2018Deep Pain\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already,\u201d Gelfond told Variety<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly more demand. The problem is they haven\u2019t made new Imax film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them, rebuild them and part of our strategy is to see how far we can take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I\u2019d like to see more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSources at Imax confirmed to Variety<\/em> that many of the parts needed to build these specialized film projectors \u201csimply no longer exist.\u201d The original design files were created roughly half a century ago, but as Gelfond alludes to, they were never properly maintained. As a result, Imax no longer has a complete manufacturing blueprint \u2014 and much like the lost tribal knowledge of the Apollo-era spacecraft, very few engineers working today fully understand the systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe loss of institutional knowledge can also be traced to Hollywood\u2019s transition from film to digital projection that began in the late 2000s. As theaters began converting to digital projectors, which are cheaper and easier to maintain, manufacturers stopped producing film projectors and the replacement parts that go with them. Only in recent years, thanks to auteurs like Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, has interest in the format begun to rebound, even if the format remains a niche experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe build new projectors every day, but film projectors using this film \u2014 it\u2019s just not practical,\u201d Gelfond said. \u201cCan all 2,000 of our theaters be film projectors? No. There\u2019s just not that many around. But I think we can continue to grow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reaching a near-record year at the box office in 2023, fueled by Nolan\u2019s \u201cOppenheimer,\u201d Imax knew it needed to expand its fleet of 70mm film projectors ahead of \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d For over a year, Imax embarked on a massive effort to track down broken, abandoned and often-forgotten projectors, salvaging parts to refurbish and install additional projectors. The strenuous process also required training 60 new projectionists from scratch.<\/p>\n

Imax says it rebuilt as many film projectors as possible in-house, but some obsolete parts made it virtually impossible to find manufacturers because the components are complex to produce and the market is too small. The effort ultimately resulted in 41 Imax 70mm locations worldwide for \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d up from 30 for \u201cOppenheimer\u201d (a net increase of 11 after one projector was lost during the process).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that Imax isn\u2019t a distributor. The company designs and manufactures cameras and projection systems, then sells or licenses them to exhibitors like AMC Theatres. Just last year, Imax and AMC struck a deal to add 12 new Imax locations across the U.S. and upgrade 68 existing locations to Imax With Laser.<\/p>\n

Read more Paramount Slams States\u2019 Lawsuit Over Warner Bros. Merger as \u2018One of the Weakest\u2019 in Modern History<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tBut expanding Imax 70mm is a different challenge. Imax says exhibitors aren\u2019t building enough auditoriums capable of housing its towering 1.43:1 screens because of the high construction costs. So even if Imax magically figured out a way to manufacture more 70mm projectors, there are relatively few theaters where they could actually be installed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cImax exists to help filmmakers bring their visions to life; we would love more Imax 70mm systems out there for the growing number of filmmakers who want to create and present in this one-of-a-kind format,\u201d the company tells Variety<\/em>. \u201cWe leave no stone unturned in getting additional film projectors into our global network, and that includes exploring new projection technologies. In the meantime, the frenzy around Imax 70mm somehow continues to find new ways to surprise us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, the future of Imax 70mm lies in the hands of Hollywood filmmakers who continue to champion the technology \u2014 and whether audiences continue selling out showings for event films like \u201cDune: Part Three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Kris Jenner\u2019s Mom MJ Dies at 91: \u2018I Will Forever See Pieces of You in All of Us\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘The Odyssey’ has spiked interest in IMAX70mm showings, but the company explains why building more is ‘not practical.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[105,1098,3519,108],"class_list":["post-4349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-imax","tag-richard-gelfond","tag-the-odyssey"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Aren\u2019t There More Imax 70mm Screens for \u2018The Odyssey\u2019? \u2018It\u2019s Not Practical,\u2019 Company Says - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Aren\u2019t There More Imax 70mm Screens for \u2018The Odyssey\u2019? 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