The IMAX 70mm projector returns for The Odyssey

For anyone who still cares about how a movie is actually projected, there is a reason to head out to Bayers Lake this week. The IMAX 70mm projector at the Scotiabank Theatre has been brought back to life for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, and it is the only reason the machine is running at all. The projector had been sitting dark for 14 years, its last outing being Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Now it is back for the one film that demands it.

The Odyssey is an action and epic fantasy adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek poem, written and directed by Nolan and produced alongside his wife, Emma Thomas. It holds a claim that makes the format matter: it is the first feature-length film in history shot entirely in 70mm IMAX. At 173 minutes long, more than 15 kilometres of film pass through the projector during a single screening. That is a lot of physical celluloid for a movie that runs nearly three hours.

The cast is an ensemble of the usual suspects. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, Tom Holland is Telemachus, Anne Hathaway takes Penelope, Robert Pattinson is Antinoos, Lupita Nyong'o doubles as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Samantha Morton is Circe, Zendaya is Athena, Charlize Theron is Calypso, John Leguizamo is Eumaeus, Himesh Patel is Eurilocus, Jon Bernthal is Menelaus, Bill Irwin is Polyphemus, Elliot Page is Sinon, and Benny Safdie is Agamemnon. For locals, Page's role as Sinon is his second turn in a Nolan film, following Inception in 2010.

Halifax is in rare company here. The Scotiabank Theatre is one of only nine cinemas in Canada, and one of 41 worldwide, where The Odyssey can be seen in 70mm IMAX. The other Canadian locations are Scotiabank Theatre Chinook in Calgary, Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton, the Kramer IMAX at the Saskatchewan Science Centre in Regina, Cineplex Cinemas Mississauga Square One and Cineplex Cinemas Vaughan in Toronto, Cineplex Cinemas Langley in Vancouver, SilverCity Riverport Cinemas in Richmond, B.C., and Cinéma Banque Scotia Montreal. Don Mitchell, the cinema's general manager, and Aaron Larter, a former projectionist, have both spoken about how different the experience is compared to digital projection.

Demand has been high enough that Cineplex added 10:50 p.m. screenings on weekdays and extended the IMAX run to at least 20 August, so there is time to catch it. The film opened to a weekend gross of more than C$350 million and has since pulled in C$435 million worldwide. It was shot between February and August 2025 under the working title Charlie's Tale, with locations running from Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, Western Sahara, and Malta to the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles, and part of it was filmed on the Viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre. It premiered at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London on 6 July, with wide distribution starting 17 July. Critics have been largely on board, with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89 on Metacritic, though some have flagged the historical accuracy of the armour, ships and accents, as well as the decision to film in Western Sahara. Either way, the draw here is the format, and that is what the 70mm projector is for.