While Barbie may be stealing a big piece of the box office pie, Oppenheimer is quietly also dominating – especially in IMAX 70mm. Now we’re learning that its IMAX success is so remarkable that it’s getting extended in the special theaters until the end of the month.
This is actually the second time the show got extended in IMAX (the first extension was to Aug. 17). Tickets are now available for showings as distant as Aug. 31, per Variety. Director Christopher Nolan has been adamant about how IMAX is the ideal way to enjoy the movie.
“The sharpness and the clarity and the depth of the image is unparalleled,” Nolan said. The headline, for me, is by shooting on Imax 70mm film, you’re really letting the screen disappear. You’re getting a feeling of 3D without the glasses. You’ve got a huge screen, and you’re filling the audience’s peripheral vision. You’re immersing them in the world of the film.
Nineteen theaters in the country can play the film on 70mm. You can see a list of them here. The movie’s already pulled in $550 million from the global box office, and IMAX is responsible for a decent chunk of that – about $114.2 million.
Mark Jafar, the global head of corporate communications for IMAX, said the movie will probably be back after its run because “IMAX 70mm film lasts, on average, ten times longer than regular 70mm or 35mm film.”
“Those prints are assets we’ll use for the next 20 years. Places like BFI [in London] or Lincoln Square will do Nolan retrospectives or bring back Oppenheimer, given how popular it is. We’ll be showing it in this format for years to come.”
Nolan told the New York Times that the trouble he went to to get it in the special format was worth it:
“The event, epic size, quality of that trickles down to the excitement for the film in all other mediums, down to when somebody’s watching on their telephone. They have different expectations of what a film that has been distributed in that way is. And so it’s always been important beyond the sheer number of screens.”
What’s even more unorthodox is the fact that Oppenheimer isn’t an “action” movie, per se. A lot of the film features tense conversations and a lot of faces.
“The screen disappears,” Nolan said. “So you’re in an intimate space with the subjects.”
Oppenheimer is currently in theaters, both standard formats and IMAX.