Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has already inspired an intense reaction from film fans, with some planning major trips and even life decisions around seeing it in IMAX 70mm, widely regarded as the premium way to watch it. In one case, a woman said she is even putting off plans for a second child so the timing does not interfere with the release.
Amber Connaghan, 29, a tech editor based in California’s desert region, secured her seat for The Odyssey more than a year before it opened and expected to make a three-hour drive to the closest cinema capable of showing it in that format, she told Variety. The movie opened on July 17, 2026, but the scramble for the most coveted IMAX 70mm showings had already become part of the larger fan frenzy around Nolan’s latest release.
Connaghan explained that although a pregnant friend recently encouraged her to start trying for another baby, she did not want the arrival date to land too close to the film’s debut.
“I was like, ‘No, I have to wait a few months. Otherwise, it’s going to be too close to The Odyssey,'” she said.
Only a limited number of IMAX locations can project movies in 70mm, which has led fans to make long-distance travel plans, including crossing state borders and booking plane tickets, to watch the movie at its highest available quality. In the U.S. and Canada, just a small number of theaters can present the format, making the best seats scarce from the moment they go on sale.
Nolan filmed the entire production with IMAX cameras, making The Odyssey the first feature-length film shot entirely with IMAX cameras.
Tim McHugh, a 33-year-old healthcare consultant, said he and his brother are flying from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to catch a screening at Universal CityWalk, transforming a trip that would normally revolve around baseball into what he called a ‘cinematic detour.’
He said his interest in seeing a film in IMAX 70mm had been building ever since hearing director Ryan Coogler speak about the format before Sinners was released.
For some fans, just getting a ticket has been an ordeal of its own.
Universal put tickets on sale a full year ahead of the release, and reports said many screenings sold out within hours. When another wave of tickets became available in June, heavy demand reportedly caused ticketing websites to crash and left customers stuck in lengthy online lines. Secondary-market listings also appeared soon after, reflecting how limited the premium showings were.
Filmmaker Conrad Rothbaum, 35, said he repeatedly refreshed the ticket page with friends for a long stretch before finally managing to lock in a seat.
“Finally, two of my friends texted me that they were done,” he said.
“And when I saw those texts, I thought, ‘Now is the time to log back in because all the reasonable people have given up,’ and I got my ticket.”
Spencer Frey, 27, a recruiting consultant, avoided the online scramble and instead went to an AMC theater in Manhattan during his lunch break, where he said he encountered ‘pandemonium’ as moviegoers fought for access to ticket kiosks.
Attorney Simon James, 33, has gone even further, purchasing 18 separate tickets for IMAX 70mm showings during the movie’s first three weeks on release. A devoted Nolan fan, he said that “the experience of his films is exponentially elevated by viewing it in the right conditions.”
For Connaghan, the draw is tied to the feeling that this is more than just another release and that missing it would mean being left out of a major shared event.
“As soon as the tickets went on sale a year ago, I knew this was going to be something pretty special,” she said. “I knew it was something I didn’t want to miss.”