Why WA's only full-size IMAX screen isn't showing "The Odyssey"
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"The Odyssey" was filmed entirely in IMAX. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Universal Pictures
The only theater in Washington capable of showing the full 1.43:1 IMAX format of "The Odyssey" no longer screens Hollywood feature films, sending fans out of state for that experience.
Why it matters: After the Boeing IMAX Theater was sold earlier this year, it shifted to showing short documentaries, leaving Washington without a theater showing Hollywood movies on a full-height IMAX screen.
- The release of "The Odyssey" has renewed local moviegoers' frustration over the change.
Catch up quick: Most IMAX theaters don't display the full 1.43:1 frame because their screens aren't tall enough.
- Seattle cinephiles now have to travel to British Columbia or California to find a theater showing Hollywood films in that format.
State of play: The former Boeing IMAX Theater is now owned by the Space Needle, which bought it from the Pacific Science Center this year.
- The theater, now called IMAX at the Center, is currently showing two 30-minute documentaries — one about glass artist Dale Chihuly, and another about the James Webb Space Telescope.
- The Space Needle has "no immediate plans" to show feature films at the theater, though it "may explore" film festivals and other specialized programming there, spokesperson Molly DeLano told Axios this week.
What they're saying: "There was a huge outcry in the community when that happened, because it is the only screen of that size here — and now, it wasn't going to be playing movies," Marcus Baker, creative director of the Seattle Film Society, told Axios this week.
- "I'm still not past the anger stage in the stages of grief," one Reddit user wrote this month.
Context: The Pacific Science Center's remaining IMAX theater, the PACCAR IMAX Theater, is showing the film on a smaller screen, which typically results in the top and bottom of the frame being cropped.
- "What you're really missing is that incredibly immersive screen, that incredibly immersive experience that the director intended for the audience to have with the film," Baker said.
Yes, but: Even if the larger-screen theater were still showing blockbuster films, audiences wouldn't necessarily be able to go there and see "The Odyssey" in 70mm IMAX, director Christopher Nolan's preferred format.
- The former Boeing IMAX Theater stopped showing 70mm IMAX feature films several years ago, when it converted from film to dual-laser digital projection.
- Only about two dozen U.S. theaters are showing "The Odyssey" in 70mm IMAX film.
Baker recalled standing in line for hours at the Boeing IMAX Theater as a teenager to see major releases on their opening night — and, in the process, meeting other people who were equally interested in cinema.
- "It was the best way to see a movie on opening night with people who were really eager to do it," he said.