The Odyssey has turned IMAX 70mm screenings into one of the hottest tickets in cinemas, with several locations selling out weeks in advance. While that overwhelming demand has sparked calls for more IMAX 70mm screens across the United States, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond says expanding the format is far more complicated than many fans realize.

Speaking to Variety on the red carpet at The Odyssey premiere, Gelfond acknowledged that the appetite for the premium format is stronger than ever. However, the biggest obstacle is not audience interest but the limited availability of the technology itself.

During his conversation with Variety, Richard Gelfond revealed that some IMAX 70mm screenings have already sold out well into the film's theatrical run.

"We're sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already... the 2:00 a.m. shows, the 7:00 a.m. shows," he said, adding that there is "certainly more demand" for the format.

Despite that enthusiasm, Gelfond told Variety that IMAX cannot simply manufacture more film projectors. "They have not made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years," he said, explaining that the company instead locates older projectors before retrofitting and rebuilding them for modern use.

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That painstaking process, he explained, was exactly how IMAX prepared additional film projectors for The Odyssey, making any large-scale expansion a gradual rather than immediate undertaking.

The unprecedented demand surrounding The Odyssey has only amplified those conversations. Long before audiences had seen a trailer or even a single frame from Christopher Nolan's epic, advance IMAX 70mm tickets released nearly a year ahead of the film's premiere were already selling out within minutes at several locations. That extraordinary response has turned the film into one of the most sought-after theatrical events in recent memory, naturally prompting questions about whether IMAX could expand its 70mm footprint to meet the growing demand.

While Richard Gelfond admitted he would like to see more IMAX 70mm locations in the future, he also acknowledged there are practical limits to how far the company can expand the format. Responding to whether more theaters could eventually receive IMAX film projectors, Gelfond explained that although IMAX continues building new digital projectors, producing new 70mm film projectors is simply "not practical." Instead, the company plans to continue finding, restoring and redeploying existing equipment wherever possible.

He also noted that equipping all of IMAX's roughly 2,000 theaters with film projectors would never be realistic because there simply are not enough of them left. Even so, Gelfond remains optimistic that the format can continue to grow as audience demand increases.

For moviegoers hoping to experience The Odyssey the way Christopher Nolan intended, Gelfond's comments suggest that while more IMAX 70mm venues may eventually arrive, expanding the format will depend as much on preserving decades-old technology as meeting today's unprecedented demand.

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