Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is helping turn 70mm IMAX into one of the most talked-about movie formats again. The renewed attention is not only about the film itself, but also about the specialized theater equipment needed to present it the way many moviegoers want to see it.
Unlike standard digital screenings, 70mm IMAX depends on enormous film projectors that come from an earlier era of exhibition. These machines are large, complex, and far from plug-and-play, which means theaters showing the format cannot treat them like modern automated systems.
Keeping those older IMAX projectors working is described as a full-time effort. Screening film at this scale requires constant maintenance, technical knowledge, and staff who understand how to operate and preserve equipment that has become increasingly rare in an industry dominated by digital projection.
That contrast is part of why 70mm IMAX carries such a strong appeal. For many audiences, the mechanical sound and physical presence of film projection offer a different theater experience, and The Odyssey is intensifying interest in a format that survives only because some venues continue to maintain the machinery needed to run it.
