‘Odyssey’ isn’t on IMAX 70mm in Seattle – is it worth the big summer movie tour? – GeekWire
The biggest movie of the summer will create a big headache for movie geeks in Seattle who want to see “The Odyssey” as the director Christopher Nolan intended.
For many people who are comfortable watching anything and everything broadcast on TVs and smartphones, the difference may not be that big. But the landmark picture starring Matt Damon was shot in 70mm IMAX to capture the highest quality picture and sound, and seeing it like that in a theater should be considered a treat.
But only 25 theaters in the US can screen “The Odyssey” in IMAX 70mm. Axios has created a map of the theater’s locations, as well as Canadian ones, showing how far apart they are — unless you live in California, where there are eight.
The original IMAX format is an option in Seattle at what was formerly the Boeing IMAX Theater, located at the Pacific Science Center. But earlier this year, the Space Needle bought the theater as part of the sale of a piece of the Science Center campus.
The center’s IMAX, which has the largest screen in the state of Washington at six stories tall and 80 meters wide, changed to show documentaries, according to Axios, which said the Space Needle has “no immediate plans” to show feature films.
For the record, the theater used to shoot IMAX 70mm film, but switched to a digital IMAX projection system using two 4K projectors. It’s still only a close-up screen capable of showing films shot in IMAX in full frame, such as Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”
The PACCAR IMAX Theater at the Science Center is showing “The Odyssey,” but the smaller screen is said to crop films shot traditionally in the superior 1.43:1 aspect ratio of true IMAX.
So, if you’re willing to drive north to Vancouver or Richmond, BC, two theaters across the border are showing the larger IMAX version. Think of Odysseus’ 10 year journey before complaining about a 2.5 hour journey. What’s more, if you factor in distances and scales, IMAX says “The Odyssey” was shot on 2.1 million feet of film — longer than the distance from Toronto to New York.
If you decide to stick at home, what are you really missing? Short answer: more screen space. The long answer requires removing the technical jargon behind “70mm,” “IMAX,” and the digital formats that fill local repeat listings:
IMAX 70mm film (15/70, 1.43:1): The original, uncompressed “gold standard” shot by Nolan. It uses horizontal optical film to achieve 18K-equivalent resolution and a large 1.43:1 screen aspect ratio that fills large 6- to 8-story screens.
IMAX Dual Laser GT (1.43:1): Dual 4K digital laser projection. You lose the character of analog film, but it is the only digital format that preserves 100% of the original stretched image without cropping.
Standard 70mm (5-Perf, 2.20:1): It’s a visual analog film that runs straight. It retains the rich color, grain, and contrast of celluloid, but is cropped to a widescreen 2.20:1 letterbox format (available in the Seattle area at SIFF Cinema Downtown, AMC Pacific Place, and AMC Bellevue).
Commercial IMAX Digital (1.90:1): Single laser or dual-xenon digital systems are available in standard multiplexes. Crop around 26% to 40% of the native image’s top and bottom down to 1.90:1.
This YouTube video gives a quick idea of what full frame and crop looks like in various formats:
“IMAX is the best film format ever invented,” Nolan said on the IMAX website. “It’s the gold standard and what other technologies should be up to, but it’s not.”
Nolan spoke to “60 Minutes” earlier this year about the technical aspects of shooting the first feature entirely on IMAX film.
Two non-IMAX versions will be shown at tech-heavy Seattle theater, SIFF Cinema Downtown – formerly Cinerama. The theater has 70mm screenings from July 16-26, and July 31-Aug. 2. Digital testing starts on July 27-30 and Aug. 3-13.
A SIFF spokesperson told GeekWire that 70mm offers finer detail and higher resolution compared to digital, and that movies shot and projected on film often have a more natural, natural image than digital pixels.
The trade-off between these two architectures comes down to practicalities.
“We are currently working with contract technicians who demonstrate these programs, so we are limited in their availability,” SIFF said. “This is also the first time that SIFF has screened in 70mm on these projectors that we have inherited from the Cinerama era. We also have digital screenings planned to give both the projectors and our artist a break.”
In another Cinerama-related story this week, the New York Times reported on the planned renovation of the Los Angeles version of the famed Cinerama Dome. It’s an interesting development that partly explains why people care about “The Odyssey” coming to theaters.
The bottom line is that going to the movies in the theater continues after a setback during the COVID-19 crisis that nearly killed the pastime. Domestic ticket sales have reached nearly $5.4 billion this year so far, up 10% from the same period last year and the highest since 2019, the NYT reported, citing movie data service Rentrak.
“I’m always talking to studio executives, and you can feel an optimism that they haven’t had in a long time,” actor Seth Rogen told Variety in another story citing Gen Z’s enthusiasm for going to the movies.
