The Odyssey viewer showed what it's like to watch the film in IMAX from the front row
Even though The Odyssey premiered more than a month ago, theaters are still running it hard in IMAX, since for now it's the only movie that can reliably pack seats at that premium price point. And cinemas aren't shy about squeezing revenue out of every single seat they've got.
A photo taken from the front row of an IMAX auditorium has been making the rounds online as a cautionary tale about what to avoid when booking tickets. Matt Damon as Odysseus appears stretched vertically beyond recognition, his face pushed toward the top edge of the frame, and the person who took the shot clearly spent three hours craning their neck at an awkward angle. The irony is that Christopher Nolan himself considers IMAX the ideal way to watch the film – though this probably isn't the viewing experience he had in mind.
People still buy these seats because of simple math. The Odyssey is the first movie shot entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras, and only 41 theaters worldwide can actually project it in that format – 25 of them in the US, eight of those in California alone. Every other venue is stuck showing a cropped digital version.
Demand for those 41 screens went well past typical levels. Tickets for the 70mm screenings sold out seven weeks before release, pushing some theaters to add 2am and 6am showtimes just to work through the backlog. Extra screenings at London BFI IMAX vanished within minutes, with reports of around 40,000 people stuck in the virtual queue at once.
The economics of the format explain why theaters aren't in any rush to pull the worst seats from sale. IMAX screenings have already pulled in over $354 million, despite IMAX screens making up less than one percent of all theater screens out there.
The real complaint from moviegoers isn't about the rows themselves – it's the pricing. Most chains charge the same for a seat right against the screen as they do for a perfect spot in the center, even though the experience couldn't be more different. Sweden actually discounts the bad rows, and some UK theaters have a noticeable gap too: £7.99 for a front-row seat versus an £8 upcharge for the back rows.
People who've already sat through a screening have narrowed their advice down to a few key points:
the sweet spot sits in the center of the auditorium, roughly two-thirds of the way back toward the screen
taller viewers do better in the front row of the upper tier, where there's an aisle in front of them instead of another row
the back row in some auditoriums sits right against the rear speakers, making the volume rough to sit through
earplugs are available at the concession stand, and more people are grabbing them for Nolan screenings these days
Some viewers doubt the viral photo was even taken from an actual seat, chalking up the distortion to a wide-angle lens and some filters instead.
That said, people who've genuinely sat in the second row say the picture holds up reasonably well during wide shots but falls apart on close-ups, where the frame ends up filled with little more than a character's cheek.
The 70mm run has been extended through September 16.
