A movie premiere rarely becomes a reason to book a long-haul flight. But Christopher Nolan's new film, The Odyssey, has sparked a level of devotion that goes far beyond a regular trip to the cinema.
Some fans are traveling thousands of miles just to watch it in the exact format the Oscar-winning director always intended.
Inspired by Homer's epic poem, the film has become the center of some genuinely extraordinary journeys. Viewers from Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and the United States are flying all the way to Australia to experience one of the rarest moviegoing events on the planet.
Not just a screening, but a rare cultural moment
Christopher Nolan has been a passionate champion of traditional film technology for years, especially the format known as IMAX 70mm (1570). It's currently one of the highest-resolution projection systems in existence: using 70mm film stock and an enormous frame size, it delivers a richness of detail and a sense of scale that digital projection simply can't fully replicate.
What makes The Odyssey so special is that it's the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX 1570 cameras. But that technology comes with serious challenges. The cameras are extremely heavy, loud, and the film reels have to be swapped frequently. During production, Nolan and his team engineered custom solutions so that dialogue could still be recorded cleanly alongside the massive camera, which weighs roughly 180 kilograms (about 400 lbs).
Only a handful of cinemas in the world can show it this way
The price of that rare format is that very few places can actually screen it. As digital projection has taken over, only 41 cinemas worldwide are still able to project IMAX 1570 film.
One of them is the Melbourne IMAX in Australia — the only venue in the entire Southern Hemisphere where The Odyssey can be seen in this format. The film's colossal reel is more than 17 kilometers long (over 10 miles) and weighs around 240 kilograms (about 530 lbs).
According to the cinema's head, Jeremy Fee, more and more people are now planning their vacations around this one-of-a-kind experience. As The Guardian reported, many visitors are building an entire trip around a single IMAX 1570 screening of The Odyssey.
If you love the way filmmakers obsess over craft, you'll appreciate the behind-the-scenes stories from the set.
Why would anyone fly to the other side of the world for a movie?
Christian Wächter and his wife, Romy Demeter, are flying in from Germany to Melbourne — not once, but to watch the film twice in this format. For them, there's no question that the long flight is worth it.
They compare the experience to traveling abroad for a World Cup match, a major tennis tournament or a Formula 1 race. They're not just buying a ticket to an event; they want to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime moment that can never quite be repeated.
Not everyone gets the excitement right away. Wächter admitted that his older relatives — his father and grandmother in particular — reacted with a bit of bewilderment. But for a younger generation of film lovers, how a movie is made and how it reaches the screen matters more than ever.
When going to the movies becomes an event again
Dan Drobik, one of the specialists at Melbourne IMAX, compares 1570 film to vinyl records: digital and film may tell the exact same story, but he believes film projection has a warmer, more natural character.
These screenings are far more technically demanding than their digital counterparts. The projector has to be monitored constantly, and technicians stay present throughout the entire showing. That rarity is precisely what makes it special: audiences aren't just watching a film — they're taking part in a cinematic tradition that survives in only a few places on earth.
How Nolan made the big screen feel precious again
After the success of the director's earlier films, like Oppenheimer, interest in large-format cinema surged all over again. In recent years the number of cinemas capable of 1570 projection has grown, and more and more filmmakers are returning to shooting on actual film.
But this isn't only about technical specs. One of the hallmarks of Nolan's films is that he treats the size of the screen, the aspect ratio and the image quality as part of the storytelling itself.
That's why so many people feel this way: if a filmmaker chooses their methods this deliberately, then part of the fullest experience is seeing the film in exactly the same format.
And so The Odyssey has become more than just another premiere. It's a reminder that the cinema can be so much more than entertainment — it can be a journey, a shared experience, and a rare moment worth crossing the world for.
Where can you see The Odyssey in IMAX 1570?
Only 41 cinemas worldwide can project the IMAX 1570 film format. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Melbourne IMAX in Australia is the sole venue showing The Odyssey this way.
What makes IMAX 1570 different from a regular screening?
IMAX 1570 uses 70mm film stock and an unusually large frame size, delivering exceptional detail and a sense of scale that digital projection can't fully reproduce. Many fans describe the difference much like comparing vinyl records to digital audio.
Why is The Odyssey considered a technical milestone?
It's the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX 1570 cameras. Because those cameras are extremely heavy and loud, Nolan's team had to develop custom solutions just to record clean dialogue during filming.
Why are fans traveling so far to see it?
For many, watching the film in Nolan's intended format is a once-in-a-lifetime event — similar to traveling abroad for a World Cup or a Formula 1 race. They want to experience the film exactly as the director envisioned it.
