Christopher Nolan The Odyssey In Imax 70mm it is the most popular club in the city, if you can get in.

While Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic is available on thousands of screens around the world, there are only 41, including 25 in the US, that can offer it in all its Imax 70mm glory. Many of them are out of stock for weeks. The FOMO levels are off the charts.

That’s partly because The Odyssey It is the first feature film shot entirely on Imax film with Imax cameras. For the uninitiated, the Imax film format takes an already large 65mm film negative and runs it through the camera horizontally, resulting in an image that is 15 perforations wide compared to the standard 5 perforations. When projected onto a giant Imax screen, the resulting image, with a square 1.43:1 aspect ratio, is enormous and incredibly sharp, creating a much more immersive experience than standard cinematic offerings. This is real Imax, according to fans of the format, which was first introduced in 1970.

Imax, however, comes in a variety of versions: digital formats in 2K and 4K resolutions, laser and xenon light configurations, in addition to the classic 15/70mm. Aside from a select few, most digital Imax theaters crop the image to a wider 1.90:1 aspect ratio and project onto much smaller screens than a traditional Imax jumbo theater.

“This all started in 2008, when Imax introduced its first digital system,” says James Hyder, who ran the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Langley Imax theater in the 1980s and ran the big-screen industry magazine LF Examiner from 2008 to 2021. Imax did not respond to requests for comment.

The company’s foray into digital display with a dual-projector system with 2K resolution was part of a long-planned shift. Executives wanted to expand beyond museums and science centers and reach large movie theater chains, which didn’t always have the screen space required by the traditional Imax experience.

However, the result has been noticeably different Imax experiences depending on the type of Imax theater you are in. Especially since major theater chains have invested in PLF (Premium Large Format) screens that rely on Dolby Vision or other systems, it’s hard to know what you’ll get, or if Imax is even your best option.

Complicating things even more for The Odyssey is that it’s available in so many premium formats (six in total) that the film’s official website includes a guide to its various strengths and aspect ratios. While it removes the ambiguity between 70mm Imax and “normal” Imax, it doesn’t capture the wide range of what those “normal” experiences can entail.

“It’s a disservice to your customers, and it’s basically trading on the reputation of real giant screens that used to be what Imax stood for,” Hyder says of the lack of clarity and consistency around how Imax is implemented.

Recent years have seen a resurgence in film shooting and projection, with the 70mm Imax format in particular becoming the gold standard. Nolan’s films are regularly released in 70mm Imax format on the few screens that can accommodate it, but following the success of oppenheimera series of releases, including Dune: Part Two, sinners, One battle after anotherand Ave Maria ProjectThey have followed his example.

While The Odyssey was filmed in a 1.43:1 aspect ratio, its images were composed to work just as well when cropped to other ratios, up to the very wide 2.39:1. It was intentionally filmed to work in digital, 35mm and 5-perf/70mm, all overseen by the director and reflecting his intent. Eventually, it will also be available to purchase on Blu-ray or stream online. It’s not much different than the difference between seeing a printed or digital image of the Mona Lisa (what most people will see in their lifetime) and being lucky enough to see it in person at the Louvre.