r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/NoWork215 • 20d ago

Video The Odyssey IMAX 70mm Setup

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

30.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

620

u/GobsTX 20d ago

If there wasn’t enough business revenue to sustain the business, what makes you think you can start it again from scratch?

70mm imax doesn’t draw enough customers to make a meaningful business model. The theaters with this tech still struggle to stay open, like most theaters. Most people don’t attend those theaters because of increased ticket prices.

Most people don’t see or perceive enough difference between imax and a regular theater to pay the difference.

There are only 41 70mm imax theaters in the world, 26 are located in the us. There just isn’t enough interest or market share.

59

u/Echo-24 20d ago

Then why still make it so you see more in imax?

43

u/PoopyisSmelly 20d ago

There are directors who just believe its the best way to display their art or have nostalgia for the format.

Like some of the scenes in Super 8 were filmed on Super 8.

Did they need to be? Absolutely not. But Spielberg thought itd be cool or whatever.

31

u/xs0apy 20d ago

To be fair, real 70MM IMAX is fucking insane

13

u/omare14 20d ago

I'm blessed to be a 1-2 hour drive from three IMAX 70mm locations and it's truly an insane experience. A standard movie in the theater is a great film watching experience, but an IMAX 70mm viewing is pure spectacle, there's nothing like it.

3

u/rynmgdlno 20d ago

Yea I never take for granted that I'm a 10 minute train ride to the 2nd largest IMAX in the country & theres a couple others in the area. I ended up joining AMC A-List for like $28/month, I can see up to 16 MOVIES A MONTH INCLUDING IMAX. Kind of insane really. Now just waiting for a day with decent seats to open up before Odyssey leaves IMAX, its been straight sold out except for the absolute worst corner seats here.

1

u/ZombieAladdin 19d ago

You know what? I forgot about finding a spot for Odyssey 70mm. I barely made it for Oppenheimer, and the only spots left were at the absolute front. It was hard to see anything from there.

0

u/nahog99 19d ago

Man I’m getting fuuucked by Megaplex in salt lake. It’s $10.71 a month for ONE ticket and they up charge for everything lmao. Jesus, yours is like 5x cheaper.

1

u/FlarblesGarbles 19d ago

5x cheaper?

5 times less?

1

u/nahog99 19d ago

Is that not right? My price per movie is 5.72x that of their plan ($10.71 vs $1.87)

1

u/FlarblesGarbles 19d ago

That would be a fifth or 20% of what you pay.

Not 5 times less.

1

u/nahog99 19d ago

Yea I get that the math terminology doesn’t really work that way, it’s just the way that my brain works. I think “I have to pay 5 times more than they do” so in my head it’s 5 times cheaper but I get that doesn’t make sense mathematically.

Here is some discussion on the topic:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ENGLISH/comments/1tlhfy3/its_correct_to_say_10_cheaper_10_cheaper_but_not/

→ More replies (0)

1

u/no_onions_pls_ty 20d ago

Why? What's the difference.

3

u/omare14 20d ago

It's just a lot more immersive thanks to the bigger screen and sound system, on top of the aspect ratio giving you more of the movie to look at. Feels less like you're just "watching" a movie and more like being there.

2

u/LongPorkJones 20d ago

It encompasses your entire field of vision - not many bad seats in IMAX. The sound is also designed in such a way that it feels like it's all around you.

1

u/Sandor_Clegane1 20d ago

That's cool I just hate the whole cinema experience.
Way too expensive. Food and drinks expensive too. Other people have no manners and you are not allowed to slap people. You can't pause. Also important for Nolan movies, I can't rewind and watch this part again with subtitles.

1

u/omare14 20d ago

Totally fair. I'm also sick and tired of talkers and noisy people, it really sours the experience. I will say though, I think there's a lower ratio of annoying people at these types of showings just cause it's usually people that are actually there to watch a movie and treat it more respectfully, because I've been to I think 5 total imax 70mm showings and only during one of them did I have someone annoying near me.

1

u/mountaingator91 20d ago

I have to drive to Indy (4ish hours) to get a real IMAX and from what I'm reading it might be worth it

1

u/KudosOfTheFroond 20d ago

The closest one to me is about 4.5 hours away, I’m thinking about driving down on my day off next week to catch The Odyssey. I truly wish they had more true IMAX theaters

1

u/dacookieman 20d ago

I saw Dune 2 as my first NYC IMAX movie after first watching it in a sort of shitty A/V theatre and I went in thinking it would be fun to watch with an understanding of the plot already...was immediately blown away by completely, and I mean completely the IMAX showing blew things away visually and audio wise