‘The Odyssey’ Fans Are So Desperate That Even 2 AM and 7 AM IMAX Screenings Are Selling Out
Christopher Nolan has built a career on turning trips to the theater into events, and ‘The Odyssey‘ might be his biggest one yet. The Homer adaptation, led by Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway, has turned into the kind of cultural moment where regular showtimes simply aren’t cutting it anymore. Moviegoers are rearranging their entire schedules, and in some cases their sleep, just to catch it the way Nolan intended.
That intention matters more than usual here. ‘The Odyssey’ is the first feature-length Hollywood film shot entirely in the IMAX 70mm format, and cinephiles have decided that anything less than the real thing isn’t worth their time. The format is only available in 41 locations worldwide, which has turned a night at the movies into something closer to a scavenger hunt.
That scarcity is exactly what a video shared by X user captured, showing a completely packed 7 a.m. IMAX 70mm screening with the caption noting every seat was filled. It’s not an isolated case either. Theaters have been forced to add showtimes at increasingly absurd hours, and even with slots as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 2 a.m., IMAX 70mm screenings of ‘The Odyssey’ were completely sold out in New York through mid August.
The demand has gotten so intense that resale prices have spiraled out of control. One eBay seller managed to offload three pairs of tickets to AMC Lincoln Square 13 for $999, while other listings have climbed even higher for prime seating. New York’s situation is especially dire since Lincoln Square 13 is the only venue in the city equipped for the format, housing the largest screen in the country at 75.6 feet tall.
The problem isn’t really about interest outpacing supply forever, it’s that the supply can’t physically grow. Only 25 theaters in the United States can screen the film in IMAX 70mm, and according to IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, that’s because the film projectors required haven’t been manufactured in decades. There’s simply no quick fix for a hardware shortage like that.
For fans willing to skip the format entirely, tickets are easy to find, since standard Dolby and Laser screenings still have plenty of seats available. But for the diehards chasing the full 70mm experience, the hunt continues. Interviews with fans camping out for these screenings suggest it’s less about star power and more about the format itself, with one moviegoer in New York capturing the sentiment perfectly when he told Variety, he needed to see the movie the way Nolan intended it to be seen, even if it meant sacrificing his entire Friday.
Would you set an alarm for a 7 a.m. showing just to see ‘The Odyssey’ the way Nolan filmed it, or is skipping straight to a normal Dolby screening the smarter move?
