It’s relatively easy to watch an IMAX digital screening of Christopher Nolan’s new movie The Odysseyalthough at this point you will probably have to reserve a seat well in advance. But only truly dedicated moviegoers will be able to see the summer blockbuster on real 70mm film, as the acclaimed director intended. This is because only 41 rooms in the entire world They are properly equipped with projection technology.

That global IMAX shortage is not an intentional ploy to raise ticket prices. In reality, it is because there are hardly any places left capable of manufacturing the necessary machinery, much less people who know how to use it. And although it may be surprising, IMAX is not a cutting-edge new technology. It dates back to the 1960s.

“There’s certainly more demand. The problem is that they haven’t made new IMAX movie projectors in about 50 years,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond recently explained. Variety. “So we modernized them [and] rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we can go.”

Since IMAX screenings are usually reserved only for major studio releases featuring the latest in CGI and movie magic, it’s easy to mistake IMAX itself for a new marvel that requires equally modern equipment. Most IMAXs use dual 2K digital projectors on a 1.90:1 aspect ratio screen, technology that is comparatively easy to build and repair. True 70mm IMAX projectors are a different story. These machines look nothing like the classic image of traditional 35mm designs. At over 5.5 feet high and nearly 6.5 feet long, an IMAX projector weighs up to two tons and uses a xenon lamp that requires its own pump and water cooling.

The film reels are also equally huge. They must be shipped to theaters in several portions that are then assembled by hand over several hours into a single four- to six-foot-wide plate that is then handled with a special forklift. A 2.5-hour reel of film is easily nearly 10 miles long, weighs about 550 pounds, and costs about $36,000 to print. For reference, The Odyssey lasts almost three hours.

And that’s a problem if any component breaks. While still known as the “movie” industry, physical film lost ground to digital projection decades ago. With that came not only a loss of film manufacturers, but also the institutional knowledge needed to support the remaining theaters handling the outdated technology. This is further exacerbated when it comes to IMAX.

“Simply put, a 15/70mm projector is not just another mechanical assembly that can be assembled on a modern production line in a factory somewhere,” Redshark News recently wrote. “It’s a custom engineering solution to a custom physical problem, and that solution was designed and built into an era of manufacturing that ended decades ago.”

So if you end up seeing The Odyssey in its true 70mm IMAX format, consider yourself privileged. Not only are you watching a historical epic, but you are watching it thanks to epic historical technology.

2025 PopSci Best of what’s new

The 50 most important innovations of the year