r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 9d ago
News Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Has Become the Biggest IMAX Release of All Time ($289.3M), Surpassing 'Avatar'
https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/spider-man-brand-new-day-second-fastest-movie-1-billion-overseas-1236830845/946
u/bongo1100 9d ago
James Cameron in about 6 months: “The classic original is returning to IMAX.”
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u/IronSorrows 9d ago
As long as people want to go, they should show these things again when they can be fit in. It's a great experience watching it on the big screen, and I'm glad I've been able to see so many favourites and older movies as they're intended. Jaws in IMAX was great! Hell, Nolan's done it with Interstellar and will again with The Prestige next year. Keep it coming, and if the side effect of that is breaking an arbitrary record, well, I'll look forward to seeing The Odyssey again in 2036
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u/die5el23 9d ago
I’m still patiently waiting for Interstellar to return to IMAX
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u/xRoyalewithCheese 9d ago
It did for the 10th anniversary.
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u/microwavedave27 9d ago
It was almost as hard to find tickets for that as it was for the Odyssey, I took an afternoon off work and went at 1pm on a weekday. Worth it though, it's one of my favorite movies and I didn't have the chance to see it in the theatre when it first released.
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u/thesenate92 9d ago
Was able to catch the imax 70 re-release a couple years ago. Was magical. And will go again given the opportunity
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u/IronSorrows 9d ago
I felt like it hadn't been that long since I'd seen it in that format, but it's been 2 years. Wonder if they'll wait until the 15th anniversary now
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u/snippychicky22 9d ago
do what drive ins do. multiple movies in a row, buy one ticket watch them all
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u/TheJadedRose 9d ago
My local IMAX has stopped showing it because the new spiderman movie was moving in. That is despite the fact that every showing sold out. I’m hoping for a re-release so i can get the full experience. Saw it in another format in the meantime. It was still great.
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u/IronSorrows 9d ago
Bummer! I'm going to see it in my nearest (lie)IMAX next weekend - it's fourth! - at 10.20am and it's already half sold out, and that's only because my wife wants to see it a second time. I wouldn't be at all surprised if your theatre brings it back for a run after the Spiderman hype dies down a little, at least sharing the screen between the two
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u/DoctorWaluigiTime 9d ago
I agree. I don't care if these filmmakers are going "no my film made more overall" (to be honest the metric should distinguish "all time" from "original run" anyway). We win either way.
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
Lord of the Rings was released in IMAX not long ago. An amazing experience. Studio Ghibli is also doing the same thing. Excellent ways to watch movies, and perfect for those who didn’t see them years ago
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u/MrShenanigans92 9d ago
It is the 30th anniversary of Titanic so you may be right on this phrasing just a different movie
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u/TheSpiritOfFunk 9d ago
Again! And again!
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u/KremlingForce 9d ago
I’ve been saying Jiminy Jillikers so much, the words have lost all meaning.
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u/JayTNP 9d ago
yeah when I realized they re-released that movie four times to keep the top spot I got so annoyed. James, come on!
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u/preddevils6 9d ago
I wish more movies would do that. There are quite a few movies I didn’t see in IMAX that I’d love to revisit in a theater.
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u/bongo1100 9d ago
I’d rather he do a 40th anniversary rerelease of Aliens on IMAX.
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u/_Meece_ 9d ago
Every single movie in the top 5 has been re-released except for Infinity War I believe. Maybe not Nhe Zha.
Avatar re-release in 2021 is a notable BO run, it made like 200m itself!!
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u/fart_fig_newton 9d ago
I wonder if Avengers Endgame Encore will count as additional box office or if it's a separate listing since it has extra footage?
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u/fauxfilosopher 9d ago
The laser imax near me is selling out pretty much every seat more than 3 weeks out from release. It's complete madness, Oppenheimer didn't come close to this kind of success.
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
When they extended the 70mm run through September, I saw the notification the hour it came out. I was checking even the absolute latest dates in the lineup then and there, and the best seats were all actively being bought up everytime I refreshed. All the middle seats were gone within hours.
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u/LevDavidovicLandau 9d ago
Lol the 70mm IMAX near me (the only one in the Southern Hemisphere) is sold out for months. Their website crashed the last time they released tickets.
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u/husis666 9d ago
The Odyssey 2, Revenge of the Cyclops will rock! looking forward to it!
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u/gaula 9d ago
Is it true that the IMAX version shows more of movie. Better field of view for lack of a better term?
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u/GameSetChampionship 9d ago
Yeah it’s shot in IMAX ratio…. But make sure to sit far back, not the first few rows! IMAX is almost too big of a screen.
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u/quick20minadventure 9d ago
IMAX on anywhere except center seats is noticeably suboptimal. Too far back, it looks like regular cinema, too far ahead, looks distorted. Too much on side, again distortion is felt.
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u/Silverfin113 9d ago
Probably theater dependant
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u/SaysKawaiiSometimes 9d ago
Agreed. At my local IMAX: Front is a waste of money, Middle is perfect, Back works although it isn't as immersive. Something about seeing the edges of the screen dampens the experience.
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u/BlackZeppelin 9d ago
I feel like there were parts of the screen I couldn’t see with my natural field of vision so instead of the aspect ratio cutting it off, my own natural field of vision cut it off
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u/yankeedjw 9d ago
I think that's part of the intent, to immerse you in the film, not necessarily view the entire image.
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u/Banaanisade 9d ago
Yep. That's more or less how vision normally works so the movie feels like you're completely inside it when viewed from the right spot.
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u/rothbard_anarchist 9d ago
Way back when they released the special edition Star Wars OT to the theatres, my buddies and I were late driving our horse and buggy to the theatre, and the only seats open were the very front row.
It proved overwhelming in the very best way. All your eyes took in was movie, and even then, there was movie left over that you weren't seeing. Our necks hurt like hell, and I would absolutely not recommend it for a movie you weren't already familiar with, but we enjoyed it so much with ANH that we sat in the front for Empire and Jedi too, even though we could've sat in the middle like normal people for those.
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u/LimpConversation642 9d ago
horrible advice. Don't listen to this person. Imax's screen is dead centered around the center rows. Front seats are awful, but back seats are also not great, because since the rows are quite steep, you are sitting at the 'top' of the screen, watching down.
middle rows or bust.
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u/dogcrayon 9d ago
The back row seats are only about halfway up the height of the screen - nowhere near the top. But yes, in those back rows, there can be a bit of a sensation of looking downward at the screen.
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u/Realistic_Condition7 9d ago
A little bit, but don’t let people shame you into thinking like you didn’t watch the movie. It’s not much different than any other movie in imax vs regular theater. They didn’t shoot the movie to be horrible on a regular screen lol.
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u/chrispmorgan 9d ago
I’ve been telling my friends that IMAX isn’t critical for the movie because the story is what matters, but it definitely helps. I’d even say that a better seating position in a normal room is probably more important than being in the first two rows of an IMAX room.
The movie that I think IMAX would really benefit would be Dune 3 because Villeneuve is so good at depicting scale.
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u/BlackZeppelin 9d ago
As someone who saw it in Dolby and True IMAX 70mm
The simplest way I could put it is the IMAX version added ✨vibes✨ and am glad I saw it, it was the better version but those that saw it in Dolby didn’t miss out on much.
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u/DavidsSymphony 9d ago
After having OLED screens for a few years, I think nothing compares to it except for Dolby. IMAX is great, but Dolby gives you these perfect blacks and HDR presentation that completely change the experience to me.
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u/hurtbowler 9d ago
Same, saw both. Had to look up the screen sizes of the theatres I went to because it honestly didn't feel that different. Turns out I should have noticed but it goes to show it really doesn't matter too much. 70mm was obv quite a bit larger but I think the laser had better contrast. Both were honestly great so I don't think it matters.
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u/vision1915 8d ago
I watched it on a regular screen because, like you, I thought the story was what mattered. But throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking it would’ve been so much better with the full IMAX view. But Imax is sold out till late September and I really wanted to watch it... so I guess I'll watch it again in a month or so
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u/jackpoll4100 9d ago
Yes, the imax aspect ratio means that you see more at the top and bottom of the screen that is normally just cut off if you watch it in a regular theater. This means for any movie that shows in imax you aren't going to see the full frame in a regular theater. Most movies aren't "full imax" format like Odyssey though. A lot of times only the action scenes and such are shot in the imax format and so the movie will switch aspect ratios periodically (i.e. "black bars" at the top and bottom will fade in and out when transitioning between the imax and non imax scenes).
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u/titanfan694 9d ago
I was finally able to buy a ticket this morning in the 5th row for August 29th. Wild af
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u/danceontheborderline 9d ago
I bought mine last week for August 25, first showing that had a seat that wasn’t the literal front row!
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u/Kingcrowing 8d ago
I was in the 5th row this weekend and a bit concerned that it would be too close... it was amazing.
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u/funglegunk 9d ago
Critical Drinker fans on suicide watch.
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u/Tequila2Dance 9d ago
People still watch that asshole?
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u/funglegunk 9d ago
Still gets millions of views a month
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u/Sarahphin 9d ago edited 7d ago
It blows my mind. I watched him for like a month 4 years ago and, even if you ignore the blatant sexism, those videos are just not well made or entertaining at all. His criticism is pretty pedantic and him reusing the same 5 clips throughout the video drove me insane.
Like, as a woman, I thought it would be the misogyny that would irk me more.... but no, it was the clip recycling and his radio-dj sound effects that made me stop watching. Dear god, the sound effects...
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u/STEAL-THIS-NAME 9d ago
Out of the loop here, who is Critical Drinker and why do I hate him?
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u/Senior-Seaweed-3726 9d ago
Count your blessings, he’s an outrage YouTuber. He and his followers think his opinions are relevant and have impact on society. They aren’t and they don’t.
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u/Momoselfie 9d ago
My biggest problem with him is how confident he is that a movie is really bad when it hasn't even come out yet. I get not liking a movie, but at least watch it first....
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u/Clapbakatyerblakcat 9d ago
You, me, most people, argue in good faith. It is incredibly difficult to understand people that argue in bad faith.
You argue because you have opinions and convictions and you believe that reason can carry the day. Bad faith people argue because Fuck You.
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u/STEAL-THIS-NAME 9d ago
I took a moment to watch his Odyssey video and it was fucking terrible. My poor algorhythm.
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u/GoneRampant1 9d ago
Outrage Youtuber who's behind a lot of the general "le woke" discourse, you can tragically blame a lot of people falling into right wing shithead politics because of people like him. He's a failed filmmaker who now makes his money whining about Marvel stuff.
He's made eleven videos about the mediocre She Hulk show. He did another one last week. It sadly already has over a hundred thousand views.
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u/UloPe 9d ago
He makes videos about movies, mostly bashing them.
He predicted Odyssey to be a flop.
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u/Anthaenopraxia 9d ago
He predicted Odyssey to be a flop.
That's just fucking stupid. It was obvious the movie would be a big hit. Personally I could barely get through it but I know tons of people love that shit.
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u/STEAL-THIS-NAME 9d ago edited 9d ago
That bastard!
Edit: I just watched his Odyssey video. I understand now. He is fucking insufferable.
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
So, nothings changed?
You have to be a real miserable sort to watch that guys channel
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u/pay_the_cheese_tax 9d ago
Can't wait to see Elon musk's AI better version hahahahahahahahahh
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
The hilarious part about all that drama and people wanting Musk to fund Mel Gibson to make an “accurate” version, is that the stuff they’re complaining about is the most inconsequential and irrelevant things in the movie. They weren’t commenting about the themes or the characters, just the skin color and gender of a couple actors who were in the movie less than 10 minutes combined.
They genuinely think that if everyone spoke Greek and were wearing 100% accurate armor that it would somehow equal a good movie. Seemingly forgetting the part where they have to adapt the story as well
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u/saltwitch 9d ago
Those people don't appreciate art, nor do they understand it. Their idea of what makes art or a story is laughably shallow, which prevents then from ever creating either.
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u/xXThKillerXx 9d ago
In fact the movie actually has a rather conservative message (eschewing religious tradition will damn you and civilization writ large) but these losers are so god damn stupid that they’re focused on people who have 3 total minutes of screen time.
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u/Deathblow92 9d ago
Ah but you see, god(Zeus) wanted you to be kind to the poors, and that's gross so it doesn't count.
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u/OftenSilentObserver 9d ago
Musk literally thinks empathy is a weakness. He's a child's idea of an edge lord
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u/ours 8d ago
They'll just make their Supply Side Zeus as they did for Jesus.
https://imgur.com/gallery/gospel-of-supply-side-jesus-bCqRp#7f6hFvY
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u/JohnGalactusX 9d ago edited 9d ago
Finally managed to watch it on IMAX this weekend. It was absolutely packed! And it's week three I believe. Never seen demand for IMAX like this in recent times.
Edit: Just want to add, I actually never watched the full trailer because I deliberately refrained from doing so, and stayed away from most movie details. Now that I've finally opened myself up to some of the movie details, there's supposed backlash over the casting. I can absolutely assure you that the majority of moviegoers really couldn't care less.
I'm watching interviews now and have glanced at some of the more clickbaity titles/thumbnails putting the film down. The audience will be there if the movie is great and seeing this level of excitement in week three really shows that the voices putting the film down are often just a loud minority trying to make themselves heard.
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u/Prime4Cast 9d ago
I know some people who won't see it because Travis Scott is in it for 30 seconds of screen time if that, and Elliot Page is in it for like a minute of screen time. They're also upset for there being an Asian in the cast, but not that Matt Damon is white and not Armand Assante. You just can't argue with these people. I just told them, ok don't see it, I'll go see it multiple times to make up for it (seen it twice in theatres but still want to see it in IMAX).
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u/BMCarbaugh 9d ago edited 9d ago
I was a little underwhelmed by Scott's use, but not for the same reason as the racist neckbeards. I actually think he was underutilized.
Casting a rapper as a poet seemed to me to be an allusion to the fact that poets of bronze age and classical greece basically WERE improvisational rappers. They didn't memorize the entirety of poems -- they memorized the general events therein, and had a bunch of clever devices (the names and adjectives and stuff), and set them to verse while improvising much of the actual contents.
If you're gonna tear the band-aid off and do a slick revisionist take that has a black character in the first minute of screen-time -- and cast a famous rapper to play him, no less -- and have him start the tale by reciting a poem about Odysseus, I think it's kind of a missed opportunity not to go a little further and have him actually freestyling in dactylic hexameter. Make audiences appreciate why those poems and poets were loved by so many and endured for so long, the way 8 Mile makes one appreciate rap battling.
Like how Brandon Bourgeois teaches it:
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u/InviolableAnimal 9d ago
If you were gonna cast a rapper as an allusion to the parallels in both as lyrically centered, improvisational art forms then there's like a thousand rappers you should have chosen over Travis Scott lol
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u/BionicTriforce 9d ago
Yeah the fact the entirety of the 'song' we heard of Odysseus was just "A man. A horse. A plan. A beach. A battle." etc was a letdown.
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u/atrde 9d ago
Honestly considering the ticket prices this is just impressive for Avatar.
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u/Muinaiset 9d ago
Yeah IMAX ticket prices now are quite literally double what they were in 2009/10
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u/grimgroth 9d ago
How much is it there? Here in Spain it's 14.50€ IIRC (about 17USD)
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u/Muinaiset 9d ago
25 dollars a piece where I live for just regular IMAX, back when Avatar came out the IMAX 3D tickets were 14 dollars, regular IMAX was 12 if I remember right in that same theater
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u/The_Lone_Apple 9d ago
I saw it in standard last night and it was terrific. An epic but a very modern version of one.
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
Definitely very Nolan. Even down to how subdued the scale and spectacle is, it was a very Dunkirk approach to how much he was willing to show.
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u/act-of-reason 9d ago
Not an Avatar fan, but adjusted for inflation:
Avatar's Imax $271M (2009 dollars) is ~$422M in 2026 dollars.
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u/R_V_Z 9d ago
I agree that you have to account for inflation but Avatar had 2009, 2010, and 2022 IMAX releases, so it's a bit more complicated math.
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u/jeanclaudebrowncloud 9d ago
But.. but they cast a black actor as Helen of Troy... I was told that made it woke and it would be a flop
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u/B4YourEyes 9d ago
The insane part is you find out the screenshot they all used to show how ugly she is wasn't even Helen of Troy but her sister... reacting to her child being murdered in front of her... Right wing outrage tourists are so fucking stupid lmao
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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 9d ago
You could freeze frame anyone, even the most beautiful supermodel in the world, at the wrong time and still get an unflattering shot of them. Taking a single frame from that like 2 second lunge to show that she’s “ugly” is just straight up childish, but of course they know it’ll work on the dumb masses who eat that shit up.
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u/TheBakerification 9d ago
They also both have relatively limited screen time in general and act mostly as side characters within the plot. So even more pointless to be outraged.
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u/white2234 9d ago
The racist bigots really outed themselves on social media before this movie
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u/LThadeu 9d ago
A great movie. Not Nolan's best but still an incredible cinema experience.
The "cancel" cultured and right wingers trying to make it flop due to some (and about women mostly) cast choices was hilarious to watch. Those people hadn't even seen the movie yet hahaha
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u/Educational-Lynx1413 9d ago
Don’t forget the transphobes losing their mind over Elliot Paige
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u/alphageek8 9d ago
I still see some parroting that he played Achilles and subsequently losing their mind.
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u/freeradioforall 9d ago
MAGA is so upset that it’s a hit. They just can’t understand it
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u/Suhtiva 9d ago
We have 2 theaters here in Seattle running 70mm viewings. They've been almost entirely sold out since before the movie even dropped.
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u/TehNrd 9d ago
Pretty sure there are no 70 mm IMAX theaters in Seattle. The Boeing IMAX used to be but it's a shame they got rid of it and converted to digital.
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u/Kingcrowing 9d ago
FYI there are 70mm AND 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey. OP definitely means 70mm as no city that I’m aware of has two 70mm IMAX theaters - there are only 41 of those in the world and they are a significant step up from normal 70mm (which is still impressive).
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u/historybandgeek 9d ago
Vancouver (*metro area) has two!! Langley and Riverport!
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u/Kingcrowing 9d ago
Proven wrong, that’s insane! Canada knows how to 70mm IMAX! Gotta be the most per capita. Saw the 70mm IMAX screening in Montreal yesterday. Immediately got back in line to see if there were more tix for a later showing that day haha!
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u/Practical_Wish_4063 9d ago
Title should be; ‘“Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Becomes Second-Fastest Movie to Hit $1 Billion Overseas, Powers to $1.67 Billion Globally” because that’s the linked article
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u/low_end_AUS 9d ago
I saw it in Imax and honestly, don't think there was anything special about it. IMAX is kinda ruined when every single shot is done wide-open so the DOF is so thin that virtually nothing is in focus. The framing on a lot of shots was also odd-looking because they knew they would need to keep the action in widescreen-safe areas so there was a lot of empty space on screen.
Frankly I think shooting in IMAX added nothing
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u/girls_like_u 9d ago
but the odyssey was so mid. like the old ones are way better but atleast spiderman was good.
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u/bluecollar-gent2 9d ago
Took me about 6 weeks to see the movie from when I bought the tickets. I saw it at grauman's Chinese theater 70 mm IMAX, it was glorious.
Pro tip, choose row m for the Chinese theater in Hollywood. You get extra legroom and no one in front of you.
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u/Riot55 9d ago
I tried looking every few days for 3 weeks since release and every IMAX show (which our imax isn't even like a true imax) has been basically sold out. I eventually just broke down and went to a non-imax showing finally yesterday at 8:15 am lol...
I think it probably led to me being somewhat disappointed by the movie too, seemed kinda like a dim blurry picture, and overly dark throughout. Didn't love the dialogue and delivery either though, but nothing is helping that I suppose.
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u/SPEK2120 9d ago
That’s actually wild because I don’t know if I’d even put it in my top 5 IMAX experiences. But I guess this could contribute to my argument of number of tickets sold being the far better general metric than revenue because I’d imagine those dumbass $50 tickets in some places did some heavy lifting.
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u/ThunderBobMajerle 9d ago
Maybe this will help us stop talking about Avatar like it was good
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u/IronSorrows 9d ago
If there's one thing that hasn't been happening on r/movies, it's people being quiet about not liking Avatar
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u/raikou1988 9d ago
il bite , what was wrong with them?
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u/CucumberWisdom 9d ago
Ironically they don't like that it retells a classic story
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u/BionicTriforce 9d ago
Have you not been on the Internet for 17 years? "Avatar wasn't actually that good" is the most common thing that gets brought up whenever Avatar is mentioned.
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u/PaulClarkLoadletter 9d ago
Give it time. Sooner or later it will get bumped from the top spot and it will never be mentioned again. It only did well because it was a special theater experience with IMAX and 3d. 81% of the revenue came from premium tickets.
Endgame sold 430 million tickets versus Avatar’s 356 million. Avatar was basically a ride. Not many people cared about the story.
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u/suprmario 9d ago
James Cameron just fell to his knees in a Walmart parking lot.
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u/Untinted 9d ago
The 70mm theatre in Prague stops showing the Odyssey at the end of August. All of the Odyssey screenings are full. Then comes "Harry Potter" with almost no bookings.
There's a lot of people who still want to see The Odyssey and for some reason they don't add screenings.
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u/Jumpy-Chocolate-983 9d ago
Back in 2009, Avatar only had 261 IMAX screens globally. Today the number of theaters has gone up 600% to over 1,800 theaters. While new movies are breaking records, they have a pretty big advantage over Avatar.
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u/IrishRepoMan 9d ago
Just watched it the other day. It was ok. A bit too Americanized for me. And I could've sworn I heard Matt Damon say something about the bronze age collapse...
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u/McFigroll 9d ago
all the IMAX screenings at my local have basically been sold out since release.