‘The Odyssey’ fuels demand for Imax 70 mm screening

In order for Mike Rohlfing to see “The Odyssey” in theaters this week, the 39-year-old marketer began his hero’s journey.

Rohlfing, along with his wife and three children, drove nearly 900 kilometers round trip in a minivan from their home in St. Louis, Missouri, to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Destination: One of the movie theaters on offer Max A 70-millimeter screening of director Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the famous poem.

“It’s an incredible format,” Rohlfing told CNBC. “I really deserved to go this far.”

Rohlfing isn’t the only one who goes out of his way to experience it Universal a film in this style that is hard to find.

A-list actors like Zendaya and Anne Hathaway may round out the cast, but the breakout performance comes from the big, analog look that Nolan and his fans love. Exclusive data shared with CNBC shows how the film returned a profit in high-priced Imax 70 mm screenings.

The format is part of a class of premium test formats known as “premium large formats,” or PLFs. An adult ticket for the Imax 70 mm opening weekend cost $27.77, according to EntTelligence. That’s 81% more expensive than the average cost of admission across all formats.

“The Imax 70-millimeter film has been among the hottest tickets in the world,” Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said Thursday on a conference call with analysts. “Fans are flying across countries, if not continents, to catch ‘The Odyssey’ and Imax 70 millimeter.”

On opening weekend, Gelfond reported that the 70 mm medium-sized screen brought in a “massive” box office haul of $153,000. The Imax 70 mm screening of “The Odyssey” will take months, Gelfond said.

But Imax can’t quickly multiply test figures to meet the surge in interest. That’s because only a fraction of the total Imax theater is large enough and equipped with the expensive equipment needed to project large rolls of 70 mm film. Imax counts 25 theaters across the US and 16 around the world with its 70 mm presentations of “The Odyssey.”

“We can have some of them and we’re looking at ways to do that, but in a way, it’s like a Rolls-Royce,” Gelfond said of the Imax 70 mm theaters. “There is a limited number of places that can support its economy.”

Also, Nolan’s film is the first feature film shot entirely with Imax 70 mm cameras. Some directors have used the format of small scenes, often action-packed, within typically filmed features.

Even with limited screens, The fourth mark told CNBC that demand for its Imax 70 mm screenings in states including Colorado and Texas is “incredibly strong.” Regal said the nearly three-hour film was the longest film shown for Imax 70 mm.

The Imax 70 mm theater inside the Indiana State Museum – the only film house that uses this format in the Hoosier State – added one more week of running in August due to “historical” demand.

More than half of the audience members on the first days of the shows traveled at least 50 miles, according to Neale Johantgen, manager of the Indiana theater. His team welcomed visitors from more than 20 states and fielded requests from moviegoers trying to get tickets from as far away as Switzerland.

“Demand has never been higher,” Johantgen said. “It’s amazing.”

Given the limited availability, getting a ticket for Imax 70 mm has become a battle in itself. The theaters are showing around the clock, but even the morning showtimes are booked up. Some theaters sell Imax 70 mm tickets a year in advance.

Morgan Bernados couldn’t get in line at her local theater in the San Francisco Bay Area when the seats went down a few months ago. After the 27-year-old non-profit worker switched to an Imax 70 mm screen 90 minutes away, he was able to snag tickets for the Monday night show.

“It was like buying concert tickets,” said Bernados, who compared the process to the frenzy surrounding Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. “There is definitely a ‘FOMO’ thing.”

Ashton Jones was only able to get seats for the 3 a.m. showtime of a single Imax 70 mm theater in his hometown of Georgia. The 26-year-old IT director drank a Red Bull energy drink about halfway through the film to stay alert. After the credits rolled and Jones made about an hour’s drive home, it was time to end his workday.

“It was fun,” Jones said. “But I was sore the next day.”

Imax stock has outperformed peers over the past year, with investors viewing the company’s premium offering as a key factor in getting consumers to see movies in theaters. Wall Street expects more to come: Most analysts have a buy rating and the average price suggests the stock could add another 12% over the next year, according to LSEG.

Imax exceeded analysts’ expectations for the previous quarter when it reported second-quarter earnings on Thursday, resulting in the stock’s biggest one-time gain in recent history. The Canadian-based company also reported year-over-year increases in sign-ups and installations within its network.

“They’re really creating an experience that you can’t replicate at home,” said Steve Frankel, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, a Wall Street firm. “The 70 millimeter experience is really the crème de la creme.”

Nolan and the stars of the movie encouraged viewers to see the blockbuster in Imax 70 mm. But box office watchers also credit social media users and young moviegoers for playing a leading role in creating buzz for this kind of screening of “The Odyssey.”

The volume of discussion on social media and news in the Imax 70 mm format has almost doubled in the five-day period since July 17, according to data from the monitoring company Meltwater analyzed exclusively by CNBC. Overall sentiment around the topic grew positive at the time, the company said.

A relative Google search volume for “Imax 70 mm” is predicted to set new records this month, company data shows. It has gained new prominence with Nolan’s release of “Oppenheimer,” which won the Oscar for Best Picture, in the summer of 2023.

Imax 70 mm has “captured the attention of die-hard cinema fans,” said Shawn Robbins, founder of Box Office Theory and director of analytics at Fandango, who added that it has begun to “spread into the pop-culture lexicon.”

Robbins said he expects “The Odyssey” to return to Imax 70 mm theaters during slower times in the fall release calendar. He said the excitement could create interest for future films that will be presented in the same way The acquisition of Warner Bros“Dune: Part Three,” will be released in December.

For consumers like Alexandria Kinsey, comparing viewing formats for “The Odyssey” resulted in an education in theater jargon. The Washington resident said he used TikTok to research the differences between screening types with names like “XL” and “Dolby Cinema.” Viewing advertised as just “Imax” or “70 mm” is different from the actual Imax 70 mm experience, he found.

“I was like, ‘What does this all mean?'” Kinsey said. “It’s very difficult.”

Kinsey has finally settled on a Dolby Cinema show but hopes to see the film again in Imax down the road. While Kinsey said events like concerts felt too expensive amid the post-pandemic “entertainment” scene, the 28-year-old found premium-format movies an affordable luxury that fit his budget.

Rohlfing, a St. Louis-based marketer. Louis, has become an Imax 70 mm student among friends and social media.

When packing the car, Rohlfing made sure there was room for the special Imax popcorn bucket that was released in conjunction with “The Odyssey.” Imax said it has sold more than 10,000 carriers, with some item drops selling out within minutes.

Rohlfing made a habit of warning friends to confirm the project’s film for Imax screenings. When theaters use digital rather than analog, Rohlfing said audiences end up with an experience he jokingly describes as “lie-max.”

“I’m notorious for being an Imax purist,” Rohlfing says.

Disclosure: Versant Media is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.