When Christopher Nolan started bringing Oppenheimer to audiences, the director made it clear that his preferred format for his historical drama was 70mm IMAX. Not standard 35mm IMAX, and not the laser IMAX projection that’s readily available at your local multiplex. The 70mm IMAX requires specific projectors that can thread the 70mm film reels and present the image exactly the way that Nolan likes it. The format has lured out massive celebrity film fans like Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney. But for regular ticket buyers, that 70mm film experience is harder to come by, mainly because there are only 30 theaters capable of showing the movie in that format.
In the wake of the success of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, we invited IMAX’s Guru’s of Quality Control, David and Patricia Keighley, onto our ReelBlend podcast to discuss IMAX presentations of the new movie, as well as some obstacles facing IMAX theaters. Specifically, I wanted to know what is preventing the industry from either building more auditoriums capable of presenting 70mm IMAX film, or converting existing theaters to accommodate films like Oppenheimer. And Patricia told ReelBlend:
I think it's a question of quantity of films that are available in this format. If we had five or 10 Chris Nolans who were making films on an ongoing, regular basis, then there would be the throughput to support this kind of a workflow. Chris is always encouraging other filmmakers to capture on film. And more people have been capturing on film than were for a while. But they're not following through that whole photochemical process. They're not creating the release prints. They're not talking the studios into the rest of that process, following it all the way through the release prints. There's complexity involved in that.
Shooting on digital provides filmmakers with creative shortcuts, and can help save on production costs. Film is expensive, and film stock is rare. But filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Alfonso Cuaron, and Paul Thomas Anderson are holding out for as long as they can because they believe in the difference of appearance on screen that comes with capturing ones images on film. But it’s not always about equipment. According to Patricia Keighley, it’s also a matter of human resources and skilled manpower. As she explained to ReelBlend:
IMAX films presented in the 70mm format require more attention than a digital code that can be inputted into a modern projector. It can lead to more complications. One theater showing Oppenheimer broke with an hour left in the reel. Another Oppenheimer screening, for some unknown reason, turned half of its screen pink, which had nothing to do with a Barbenheimer cross promotion.
Watch our full interview with David and Patricia Keighley:
These risks aren’t stopping audiences from going out of their way to see Oppenheimer in IMAX, even if every fan can’t get to a theater that shows the 70mm format. Nolan’s movie continued to compete with Barbie at the weekend box office and is posting incredible numbers compared to previous Nolan films, and should hold that momentum for weeks to come.
