Why Can’t We Just Build More IMAX 70mm Projectors?

Look, I know I am one of the lucky ones, and I got a ticket to see The Odyssey on opening night in Los Angeles, but I am going at like 10:30 PM and know I'm going to have to see it again in the daytime.

The fervor around this movie is palpable. We've been reporting on ot for over a year, and hilariously, that's how long 70MM screenings and IMAX showings have been sold out.

So, if, like me, you spent an insane amount of time refreshing seating charts, a very reasonable question may have crossed your mind...

Why don't they just build more 70mm projectors for theaters?

Let's dive in.

IMAX is In Demand

I am lucky that I live right next to an IMAX movie screen in Los Angeles, but there just are not that many across the United States and the world.

And if you dial it down to 70MM, we have even fewer out there.

But as filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, and even PTA last year, and Ryan Coogler, shoot more in IMAX and on 70MM film, it feels like these projectors should be made and distributed so people can see these movies with directorial intent all over the globe.

On the red carpet this week, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond addressed this issue to Variety and talked about why we actually don't have more of them.

Gelfond said, “We’re sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already, and the 2 AM shows, the 7 AM shows, so there’s certainly more demand. The problem is they haven’t made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them, we rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we could take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I’d like to see more.”

Okay, so why can't we just make new ones to replace the older projectors?

He said, “We build new projectors every day, but film projectors using this film, it’s not practical. So we’ve got to find them, and we’ve got to rebuild them, which is what we did for The Odyssey. But can all 2,000 of our theaters have the film projectors? No, there’s just not that many around. But I think we could continue to grow it.”

The 50-Year-Old Scavenger Hunt

Okay, so I don't really accept that answer. In the day of 3D printing and the best technology we've ever had, I refuse to believe they can't make and manufacture these projectors at scale, especially when the demand is there to add more IMAX screens globally.

They already charge more for these tickets, so the monetary value is there, as well.

This feels like a project another company might want to invest in, or partner with them on, or at the very least, supporters may chip in to help their bottom line.

We can't 3D scan one of these projectors completely and then begin to fabricate parts? I watch people do this with car parts all the time.

I understand there are not a lot of these projectors around, so they aren't like popping up in storage lockers. And I also understand IMAX is spending a lot of time making new laser projectors.

But I think the real reason they're not doing it is that we just do not have the projectionists able to bear the load. We'd have to train people how to use and project film at a scale that would surely cost tens of millions of dollars and be impractical.

On these laser IMAX projectors, there are no heavy film cans, but digital files that get loaded and played, which is probably the future IMAX can afford right now, thanks to the need for expansion of screens.

Nevertheless, I really think they should be investing in making new projectors, even if not thousands of them, because if they develop the ech and can do it now, they can begin to replace these older ones before they completely die out.

Let me know what you think in the comments.