Fans trying to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey in Imax 70mm are treating tickets like a once-in-a-lifetime prize, and many already paid for seats a year before the film's release. Universal put those tickets on sale a year in advance, and most screenings were gone within hours as buyers fought through long waits and crashed sites.
That frenzy is why Amber Connaghan, 29, bought her ticket over a year ago and planned a three-hour drive to the closest theater showing the film in Imax 70mm. She even pushed back having a second child, saying the timing would have been too close to seeing The Odyssey.
The rush makes sense in one narrow way: Nolan filmed Homer's epic entirely with Imax cameras, making The Odyssey the first film shot that way and turning Imax 70mm into the format fans want most. People are crossing state lines to get there, snapping up tickets for multiple showtimes months ahead of time, and even settling for 2 a.m. screenings of the nearly three-hour epic just to be in the room.
For some, the appeal is not only the movie but the format itself. Hogan Shay, 27, said he planned to see the film in Imax 70mm twice in two weeks, while Tim McHugh, 33, said he was flying from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to catch it at Universal City Walk and described seeing something in Imax 70mm as a bucket-list goal.
Universal's early sale did not smooth the process. It was an unprecedented move, but fans still faced hours-long waits and site crashes when they tried to buy tickets, a reminder that demand for premium-format seating can outrun even a year of advance notice. Universal later released a second tranche of tickets in June, but the bigger question now is how many fans are still locked out of the limited Imax 70mm run.
