Christopher Nolan’s nearly three-hour adaptation of The Odyssey is sending movie fans to AMC Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side, where one of the world’s rare IMAX 70mm screens is drawing people who want to see the film the way Nolan intended. For some, that means a trip to New York just to sit in the theater at West 68th Street and Broadway.
The draw is part spectacle and part scarcity. Nolan’s last film, Oppenheimer, grossed more than $976 million and won seven Oscars in 2024, and he has built a reputation for films that reward the biggest possible presentation. IMAX 70mm is an analog format with 15 perforations running horizontally across the film reel, a setup that can project at 18K resolution and is prized for the sharpness and scale it delivers.
At AMC Lincoln Square, the screen measures 75.6 feet high by 101 feet wide, much larger than the average IMAX 70mm screen at 52 feet high by 73 feet wide. It is the second-largest IMAX 70mm theater in the world; the only larger one is in Melbourne, Australia. New York’s screen is the largest this side of the Equator, one reason it has become a destination for film fans who want premium large-format viewing that is not available in most cities.
Logan Algood, who planned a trip from St. Louis to New York to see the film, said he started arranging it probably three to four months ago. He said the film feels like a monumental achievement and that Nolan’s craft seems to require the most immersive experience possible. St. Louis has premium formats, he said, but nothing comparable to the IMAX 70mm theater on the Upper West Side.
That devotion is exactly what some people do not understand. Algood said several people asked why he would waste his time and money going to New York just to watch a movie. He pushed back on that idea, saying it is more of an experience than a routine screening, and asking why he should not travel to see one of his favorite director’s new films in the format intended for it. A social media user from Mexico made the same calculation, saying they were going to NYC in July for the movie and had bought a front-row ticket for a true IMAX 70mm showing.
True IMAX 70mm theaters have been rare for years because they are expensive to build and maintain, which is why only about 30 exist around the world. That scarcity has widened the audience for the format, moving it beyond the most obsessive cinephiles and into the mainstream of big-movie fandom. Matt Damon, who stars as Odysseus, said after seeing the film at the Upper West Side theater that the experience was overwhelming in the best possible way.
What remains unclear is how many people will make the trip for AMC Lincoln Square’s screenings, or how long the rush will last. But the early demand suggests that for Nolan, the format is not a side story. It is part of the event itself.
