Not everyone gets a front row seat to history.
This weekend, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” opens in theaters nationwide. This major adaptation of Homer’s epic poem is the first film ever to be shot entirely on Imax film cameras. And in the last month, everyone from Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway to Nolan himself has hammered home the same message. “The Odyssey should be seen in a true Imax 70mm presentation, which is exactly how it was meant to be experienced.”
But there’s a catch. Only 25 theaters in the U.S. are equipped to screen “The Odyssey” on authentic Imax 70mm film, prompting moviegoers to embark on cross-country road trips (and even delay their pregnancies) to experience the film’s milestone.
You don’t need a business degree to understand the laws of supply and demand, but at Tuesday night’s premiere of “The Odyssey,” Imax CEO Richard Gelfond explained why adding more Imax 70mm screens isn’t so easy. (As of Friday afternoon, the interview clip had been viewed more than 7.5 million times on X.)
“We’re already sold out into the fifth week in some theaters,” Gelfond told Variety. “The demand is definitely increasing. The problem is they haven’t made a new Imax film projector in about 50 years. So part of the strategy is for us to modify them, rebuild them and see how far we can take it. But certainly, it’s demand-driven, so I’d like to see more.”
An Imax source confirmed to Variety that many of the parts needed to manufacture these specialized projectors “simply no longer exist.” The original design files were created nearly half a century ago, but as Gelfond alluded to, they were never properly maintained. As a result, Imax no longer has a complete manufacturing blueprint. Similar to the lost tribal knowledge of Apollo-era spacecraft, few engineers working today fully understand the system.
The loss of institutional knowledge can also be traced back to Hollywood’s transition from film to digital projection that began in the late 2000s. As theaters began switching to digital projectors, which were cheaper and easier to maintain, manufacturers stopped making film projectors and the replacement parts that came with them. It’s only in the last few years that interest in the format, even if it’s a niche experience, has started to grow again, thanks to writers like Nolan and Denis Villeneuve.
“We build new projectors every day, but a projector using this film is not practical,” Gelfond said. “Can we turn all 2,000 theaters into projectors? No, not that many. But I think we can continue to grow.”
After seeing near-record box office numbers in 2023 on the back of Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Imax realized it needed to expand its 70mm film projector fleet ahead of The Odyssey. For more than a year, Imax has embarked on a massive effort to track down broken, abandoned, and often forgotten projectors, salvage parts, and refurbish and install additional projectors. This grueling process also required training 60 new projectionists from scratch.
IMAX says it has rebuilt as many of its projectors in-house as possible, but some obsolete parts have made it virtually impossible to find a manufacturer because the parts are complex to manufacture and the market is too small. This effort ultimately brought Odyssey to 41 Imax 70mm locations around the world, up from 30 for Oppenheimer (a net increase of 11 as one projector was lost in the process).
Please also note that Imax is not a distributor. The company designs and manufactures cameras and projection systems and sells or licenses them to exhibitors such as AMC Theaters. Just last year, Imax and AMC signed an agreement to add 12 new Imax locations and upgrade 68 existing locations to Imax With Laser across the United States.
But extending Imax 70mm is a different challenge. IMAX says high construction costs have prevented exhibitors from building enough auditoriums to accommodate the towering 1.43:1 screen. So even if Imax magically found a way to manufacture more 70mm projectors, relatively few theaters would actually be able to install them.
“Imax exists to help filmmakers realize their vision, and we hope to see the Imax 70mm system become even more popular for the growing number of filmmakers who want to create and present in this unique format,” the company told Variety. “We are doing everything we can to introduce additional projectors to our global network, including exploring new projection technologies. Meanwhile, the Imax 70mm craze somehow continues to find new ways to surprise us.”
For now, the future of Imax 70mm lies in the hands of Hollywood filmmakers who continue to champion the technology. And it all depends on whether audiences continue to fill screenings of event films like “Dune Part 3.”
