If there was ever any doubt that the release of a Christopher Nolan movie is a significant cultural event, then doubt no more. As the long-awaited tickets for his upcoming movie, The Odyssey, went on sale, the rush for opening week tickets led to cinema websites slowing to a crawl.
“What a disaster. Websites just don’t work!” was one typical complaint on social media.
AMC even introduced a queuing system to prevent its website from falling over. When this reporter tried to access the site, I was given an estimated time of one hour, and soon after, the queuing system was paused entirely.
Nolan’s Preferred Format
Much of the hype stems from the demand to see the movie in premium theaters, particularly those capable of showing it in the full IMAX 1.43 aspect ratio. This is because The Odyssey is the first movie ever released to be captured entirely on IMAX 15/70 film, the format which director Christopher Nolan refers to as the “gold standard” for image quality.
However, there are only 39 locations around the world that can show the film in this format, though this marks an increase over the 30 that were able to present Oppenheimer in 15-perf IMAX 70mm.
This includes seven new locations in the U.S, three in Canada and one in Belgium, with the latter making it the only location in mainland Europe capable of showing the film in its halo format.
Not only is this format the way Nolan would want it to be seen, but Oppenheimer took $17 million on 15-perf IMAX 70mm on its initial run, accounting for 2% of the film’s gross. That’s enough to justify the effort for Universal Pictures to meet the high costs of creating and distributing the prints, which, for the 2-hour and 45-minute run-time, require 11 miles/17.5Km of film and weighs 575lbs (260kg).
Aside from 15-perf 70-mm, the film can also be seen in 1.43:1 at IMAX dual-laser locations and regular 70mm and 35mm film presentations will also be possible. A website dedicated to explaining the various formats has been made, with its lead star, Matt Damon, explaining the benefits of seeing it in IMAX 70mm.
Tickets for The Odyssey in select locations were released a full year before its release, with a lucky few able to secure their seats for opening weekend.
In the UK, fans have the date Monday, 15th June marked in their calendars, with the BFI IMAX, the London Science Museum, and Odeon, confirming that tickets will be available on that day.