It has become something of an odyssey for Coloradans who want to see “The Odyssey” in its 70mm, IMAX-scale format.
A week after the only two projectors in Colorado capable of showing the fullest version of the film both broke down, a group of moviegoers who’d queued up to see the mythological epic in 70mm IMAX in Denver were disappointed Monday night when the projector crashed again. The packed audience had waited roughly half an hour for the film to start when staff at the Regal UA Colorado Center in Denver told the crowd that the IMAX projector was down.
The only other projector capable of showing 70mm IMAX is in Colorado Springs.
Jim Allen Wallace said he, his brother and some of their friends had come from “five different places” to see the film Monday night. They’d planned to see it last week but were forced to reschedule after the projector broke down the first time. The equipment was fixed as of late last week, when tickets went back on sale.
Allen Wallace and his brother, Brian Wallace, had read both “The Odyssey” and its prequel, “The Iliad,” together over email, after they’d traveled to Greece with their family years before. Brian would send Jim snippets of each poem, and they’d traded commentary back and forth. It had taken them years to read each one, they said.
After the latest delay, Allen Wallace had given up waiting to see the film in 70mm IMAX. He’d purchased tickets for a standard digital version later Monday instead.
“Part of me, thematically, hopes that it’ll just break down as well,” Brian Wallace said. “It’ll be ‘The Odyssey’ journey, and it’ll just keep going on. And then we’ll sneak out with some sheep or something.”
(When the IMAX projector went down last week, a replacement digital showing also crashed.)
Staff at the Regal theater declined to comment to a Post reporter Monday evening. A voicemail left at the theater was not immediately returned. Only 25 theaters in the United States are equipped for 70mm showings, a format that “Odyssey” director Christopher Nolan has hailed.
“By shooting on IMAX 70mm film, you’re really letting the screen disappear,” he told the Associated Press in 2023. “You’re getting a feeling of 3D without the glasses. You’ve got a huge screen, and you’re filling the peripheral vision of the audience. You’re immersing them in the world of the film.”
Brandon Szoboszlay said he was a big fan of Nolan and was excited to be part of the epic’s 70mm IMAX release. He’d purchased tickets at the Regal theater about a month and a half ago and had “fantastic seats.”
The Regal theater’s prime showings were booked out for the next three weeks, he said, and if the theater didn’t give him the option to see it in late August, he’d look elsewhere. For now, he was resigned to his own long, sad journey home.
