Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Is Officially Too Popular

Christopher Nolan has spent years convincing audiences that some films simply need to be seen on the biggest screen possible. However, there's a slight issue there, because with The Odyssey, he may have been a little too successful. The filmmaker’s latest epic is the first movie shot entirely using IMAX film cameras, and audiences have responded by hunting down the rarest possible version of it, but the problem is that there simply are not enough projectors to go around.

IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond has admitted to Variety that demand for The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm is outstripping supply, with some cinemas already sold out into the film’s fifth week. “There’s certainly more demand,” Gelfond said. “The problem is they haven’t made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them, rebuild them and part of our strategy is to see how far we can take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I’d like to see more.”

C OLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one. 🏜️ Paul Atreides 🖖 Capt. Kirk ✊ Princess Leia 🔦 Ellen Ripley 🔥 Max Rockatansky FIND YOUR HERO → QUESTION 1 / 8 LEADERSHIP 01 How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you. A I absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. B I read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. C I rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. D I assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. E I don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8 STRENGTH 02 What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails. A Prescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. B Improvisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. C Conviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. D Composure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. E Endurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8 MOTIVATION 03 What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass. A The survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. B The safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. C Freedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. D The truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. E The one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8 PEOPLE 04 How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are. A With intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. B With warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. C With directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. D With professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. E With wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8 THREAT 05 You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything. A Prepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. B Keep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. C Build the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. D Document everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. E Stop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8 COST 06 What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again. A My innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. B People I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. C A normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. D My sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. E Almost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8 RULES 07 How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours? A I understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. B I respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. C The system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. D I follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. E The rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8 PURPOSE 08 When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you. A Destiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. B The people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. C The belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. D Sheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. E I'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it. REVEAL MY HERO → Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is… Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible. Arrakis · Dune Paul Atreides You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become. You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.

You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.

Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.

That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you. USS Enterprise · Star Trek Captain Kirk You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet. You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.

Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.

Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.

That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours. The Rebellion · Star Wars Princess Leia You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of. You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.

You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.

Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.

That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you. The Nostromo · Alien Ellen Ripley You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters. You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.

Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.

You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.

When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything. The Wasteland · Mad Max Max Rockatansky You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril. You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.

Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.

Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.

That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Why IMAX Can’t Simply Build More 70mm Projectors

Only 25 cinemas in the United States can currently show The Odyssey in true IMAX 70mm, with 41 locations available worldwide, which is still an improvement over Oppenheimer, which played in the format at 30 venues. The issue is that IMAX has to find these projectors. In fact, ahead of The Odyssey, IMAX spent more than a year tracking down abandoned and broken projectors, salvaging parts and rebuilding as many systems as possible, while the company also trained 60 new projectionists specifically to handle the complicated format.

The difficulty is that many of the required parts are no longer manufactured, while the original design files were not properly preserved because, well, who knew there would be this demand and this resurgence? Decades of Hollywood moving towards digital projection also meant much of the specialist knowledge needed to build and repair film projectors disappeared, which is something of a tragedy for traditional filmmakers. “We build new projectors every day, but film projectors using this film — it’s just not practical,” Gelfond explained. “Can all 2,000 of our theaters be film projectors? No. There’s just not that many around. But I think we can continue to grow it.”

Even producing more projectors would not completely solve the problem, because true IMAX 70mm presentations require enormous 1.43:1 screens and specially designed auditoriums, which are costly for cinema chains to construct for specialist presentations. After all, there's probably not going to be a huge demand to play, for example, Coyote vs. Acme or The Drama on those big screens. For now, we'll need to settle for regular old IMAX.

The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.