Who knew a film format with roots in the 1800s would help drive the movies’ current box-office resurgence? A new generation of cinema fans is chasing once wonky film formats that can’t be had at home.
If you’re hoping to see “The Odyssey” in 70mm IMAX, good luck. Tickets for the handful of cinemas capable of screening Christopher Nolan’s preferred format went on sale an entire year in advance – a move which has helped propel the film to achieve AMC’s highest first-day ticket sales for a studio title since 2022.
Even three weeks after the film’s massive release, it’s nearly impossible to get a ticket for the ultra-premium format at Universal’s AMC CityWalk location (unless you want to sit in the front row, that is). Tickets for the next month and beyond, including daytime screenings during the workday, were snapped up in record time.
And the film’s highest grossing single location, Glendale’s 100-year-old, 900-seat Alex Theatre, had not shown a new film in 35 years — until it installed a new 70mm system in time for the opening of Nolan’s reimagined Greek epic.
When additional showtimes were released last week and caused the AMC app and Fandango apps to crash, hundreds of cinephiles descended upon New York’s AMC Lincoln Square in person to snap up their seats.
Today’s cinephiles are craving more than just specialty popcorn buckets and touch screen soda fountains. There’s an unprecedented thirst for premium formats like IMAX, Dolby and 70mm showings, propelled largely by the retro proselytizing of today’s revered directors.
“I think the work that the filmmakers are doing to talk about aspect ratios and these different formats – people like Ryan Coogler, Christopher Nolan, even Boots Riley [director of “Sorry to Bother You”] … is getting people to understand the craft, not just of filmmaking, but of film itself,” says Dr. Susan Kerns of Milwaukee Film, which operates the historic Oriental Theatre, the only locale that shows 70mm films throughout the year in the entire state of Wisconsin.
This year’s Best Picture Oscar-winner, “One Battle After Another,” was shot on VistaVision — a vintage format left for dead — by Paul Thomas Anderson, while upcoming movies presented in 70mm include “Dune: Part Three.” (Denis Villeneuve also shot part of the film using the same IMAX Keighley cameras that were developed for “The Odyssey.”)
“On our mini marquee inside the theater, it says, ‘Odyssey 70mm.’ People are taking photos just of that. So the fact that they understand what that means and are coming out specifically for that format, it feels very different than it did a few years ago,” Kerns adds. “There are people paying attention to this.”
Even Jared Rasic of Bend, Oregon’s 28-seat arthouse Tin Pan Theater traveled to see a premium format of the film instead. “A group of us drove to Portland – three hours – to go see ‘Oppenheimer’ in 70mm, and then to… hop over to a different theater and see ‘Barbie’ in 35mm. I think there is an aspect of it that’s almost like a hunt for the most fun format, or or the best way to see a certain movie.”
He’s witnessed the growing contingent of film nerds, recalling how little a flick’s format used to mean to moviegoers. “One of my favorite movies of all time is David Lowery‘s ‘A Ghost Story.’ I remember when that movie came out, talking with people about aspect ratios, and they’re just like, ‘I need to get out of this conversation with you.’ Now it feels like, ‘Oh, look who’s talking about aspect ratios now!’”
This weekend, IMAX will see a new contender enter the fray when “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” swings into select screens as the exclusivity window for “The Odyssey” has ended (“Spidey’s” record-breaking opening weekend is doubly impressive when accounting for the lack of IMAX screens, which provide a healthy boost to the box office with their higher prices).
Even Marvel is catering to format-philes with their upcoming “Infinity Vision” for “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Endgame Encore.” (“Doomsday” lost out on IMAX screens for its head-to-head release against “Dune: Part Three,” which also has a three-week exclusivity window on its screens.)
Infinity Vision isn’t a format in itself, but a certification for existing premium large formats (PLFs) — basically, a thumbs up from Marvel parent Disney. Rasic thinks it’s a little silly. “We’re just going to say whether we think a theater is projecting our movie well enough? That’s so insane. But also I would imagine if you’re Marvel, you’re like, ‘Well, IMAX isn’t going to give us their screen, so we got to call it something.’”
Coogler is bringing some (actual) retro charm to the MCU in 2028 — “Black Panther 3” will be shot entirely on larger format celluloid film, a first for the superhero franchise.
“As long as people don’t think watching it on their phones is the best way to watch it,” Rasic says of the premium format renaissance. “I can only see that being a good thing.”
“The Odyssey” notched the highest-grossing month in IMAX’s history with $257 million in July, $27.6 million of which came from the 41 global IMAX 70mm locations, representing 12% of the total IMAX box office.
IMAX is already booked well into 2028. “We coordinate with the filmmakers and studios, but yeah, for ’27 we’re pretty much, not completely, but largely filled out, and for ’28 you know we have significant movies already booked… there is like a waiting line,” CEO Richard Gelfond told us, when discussing their work on “The Odyssey.”
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