The hottest ticket in town right now is for a movie: “The Odyssey” is in theaters. And there is only one screen in all of Nashville where you can see it as director Christopher Nolan intended, in 70 millimeter IMAX.
IMAX projectionist Dean Fick points his headlamp at a 500 pound reel of film in the darkened projection booth at Regal Opry Mills
“When I push the button, this platter will start to spin at what seems like an alarming rate of speed” says Dean Fick. “We have to get 300 feet of film per minute going through this projector.”
This is not how movies are done anymore. In fact, a movie has never been made this way. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” is the very first film to be shot from start to finish in IMAX 70 millimeter.
The Belcourt Theater in town is showing “The Odyssey” in 35 millimeter, which is standard. Their projectionist, Bob Roberts, explains the difference. “It’s the size of the film. The actual film that the images are printed on. The bigger it is, the more dense the picture quality can be. 70 millimeter has a denser picture quality than 35, so you can pack that much more information into a bigger space.”
It’s literally as close to real life as humanly possible. Most new TVs at home display images in 4K, IMAX 70 millimeter delivers something closer to 18K.
No one has ever made a movie this way before because it’s incredibly cumbersome. It’s on actual film. The cartridges for the camera only carry enough for three and a half minutes of film. You’re stuck with the take you got in production. Film is heavy. It’s LOUD. And the film itself? It costs a fortune.
Hollywood just hasn’t seen filming in IMAX 70mm as economically viable.
Regal Opry Mills is a “no compromise” IMAX theater
When movies went digital, projectionist Dave Fick says they just started destroying IMAX projectors. “Fortunately, not all of the film projectors were destroyed. And I will be honest with you, I thought that film was never, ever gonna come back because it’s so much more expensive than the digital.”
But Christopher Nolan is obsessed with IMAX. With this movie, he is proving that there is an audience for it.
Only one place in Nashville is equipped to show the film as Nolan wished: Regal Opry Mills. It’s could seem that the distribution is unfair since there is only one place in Nashville to see it in IMAX, but there are actually only 41 screens in the world that are capable of screening IMAX 70 millimeter film.
And Fick says that the Regal Opry Mills is even more special than that. “This particular theater also is a no-compromise IMAX theater. A lot of the newer IMAX theaters that came out from, say, 2010 onward are retrofits. Meaning what they would do at a typical multiplex is they would come by and they would take the tallest or the largest room or theater in the multiplex and then install a floor-to-ceiling IMAX screen and call that IMAX. Whereas this particular theater is a no-compromise IMAX built for IMAX, and then other things came later. So it has the true 1.43:1 aspect ratio.”
Fick himself represents the Regal’s commitment to IMAX. He doesn’t even live here. He lives in Ohio. And he’s retired. He has been projecting IMAX for over 40 years. There are so few people who know how to project in 70 millimeter that Regal pulled him out of retirement for one last ride. Regal has three IMAX projectionists working in shifts to satisfy demand.
The hottest ticket in town
Getting tickets for The Odyssey has been like getting tickets to a major sporting event. It’s the first movie ever to start selling tickets a year before the first screening. ”It sold out quite quickly” says Regal Cinema SVP of US Content, Brooks LeBoeuf. “For us, it was within the first 24 hours it was sold out for the IMAX.”
So they added showtimes. There are screenings from 7AM to 11PM. Regal said that they would have added a 3AM screening if they had more trained IMAX projectionists like Fick. “When you have filmmakers of Christopher Nolan’s quality who are making films like this, there’s an economic case to be made. And we can see it demonstrated right here because I’m sure in this sell-out house there are people who have probably used frequent flyer mileage or spent their own funds to fly into Nashville to watch this particular showing.”
A winning bet
And Nolan’s ambition is paying off.
Forbes reports that The Odyssey took in over $260 million dollars this weekend. That’s the most this year for any live action film and a personal best opening weekend ever for Christopher Nolan.
As a movie lover and business man, Regal’s LeBoeuf sees why Nolan’s gamble paid off.
“I mean, listen, it’s a 3,000-year-old story, and it’s being told with the biggest canvas ever invented. I think that there’s something that Nolan saw with that, that he wanted to pay it the respect that it deserves. A frame so big that it fills your entire field of vision from floor to ceiling. You’re not just watching Odysseus’ voyage, you’re on the ship.”
He said it could provide a roadmap for future IMAX 70mm films and inspire other directors to shoot in the format.
Right now, Regal Opry Mills has a four-week contract to show The Odyssey . It will run until August 15th, but it could be there longer if demand continues.
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