The writer finally got into The Odyssey box office story the hard way: after weeks of waiting, a booking opened up for IMAX 70mm at the BFI IMAX near Waterloo in London. This week’s screening mattered less as a seat count than as proof that premium-format demand is still forcing long holds in the queue.
BFI IMAX in London
The writer said the wait ran to a couple of weeks before earlier tickets were available, then called getting IMAX seats “the toughest challenge of 2026.” That is the practical reality of this run: IMAX 70mm access is scarce enough that even a viewer trying to plan ahead can end up on hold for weeks, which turns a single booking into the real gatekeeper.
The payoff came at BFI IMAX near Waterloo in London, where the writer saw The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm this week. The first reaction was that the film began with a reminder of how expert Nolan is with the format, a judgment rooted in the kind of image and sound control premium presentation is built to expose.
Dune: Part Three preview
A few minutes of IMAX 70mm preview material from Dune: Part Three played before The Odyssey started, and that was the surprise the writer did not expect when the ticket finally came through. The preview opened with a thank you from Denis Villeneuve to Christopher Nolan, then shifted to Stilgar leading an assault on a rain-drenched planet, with imagery that echoed the D-Day landings made famous by Saving Private Ryan.
That extra reel did more than pad the start time. It showed how the same premium format can be used to sell one major release while pointing directly at another, and it gave the screening a built-in comparison point before the main feature even began.
Light, sound, 70mm
The writer singled out the detail in the frame and the lighting in certain sequences as breathtaking, with the Calypso scenes carrying stark light and the night-time scenes of Troy’s destruction delivering the same brief for darkness and contrast. Those are the kinds of images that make IMAX 70mm worth the wait: the format rewards material that relies on texture, shadow, and scale instead of broad strokes.
The soundscape landed the same way. The writer said it would be useful for soundbar and surround sound testing, and noted that it was hard to make out the Cyclops’ crooning once wounded. That kind of note is more than a fan aside; it is a reminder that premium-format screenings are being judged on whether they expose the design work as much as the spectacle.
For anyone still trying to book The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm, the lesson is simple: the seats are still moving slowly enough to make a couple of weeks feel normal, and the experience can still come with a bonus reel attached. The next move for the writer is to try again for another IMAX 70mm booking before 2026 runs out.
