Bigger Movies Blow Up Box Office
Hunter Campolo, staff writer
Matt Damon as Odysseus in 25x50 ft. Or 60x80 ft. What should be an impossible choice has been made very easy by Christopher Nolan, director of the film The Odyssey. Alongside a few select movies recently produced, it was made specifically with “Image Maximum,” or IMAX, in mind. This is relatively new, as IMAX has been around for a while as an alternative way to watch movies on a larger screen, but it’s being used in movies that are taking the world by storm. IMAX theaters have higher quality images on giant screens, and custom sound designs on huge speakers, making movies much louder and clearer. The screens are taller to show better shots, as intended by the directors. Usually, it’s just displaying brighter skies or bigger images, but this has been done differently by The Odyssey.
This movie, based on the Odyssey book and musical, was shot entirely in 70mm IMAX. What makes it so much better than regular cinema is that the screen is nearly 9 times larger than regular theaters, while it also curves around the front rows and reaches floor to ceiling. When asked why he shot the movie entirely in this format in an interview on CBS, Christopher Nolan explained that he “wanted to fill the peripheral of the audience,” and “make the audience feel like they were on the ships and next to the actors.” The difference with the regular movie was like night and day. Many people admitted it was ambitious and told him he couldn’t, but he persevered and delivered a masterpiece. Once you watch it on the big screen, it’s like a whole new movie. Not only are the visuals bigger and better, but there’s also side conversations and sounds that were previously incoherent or straight up absent.
Other movies have been approaching this realm, but nobody has been bold enough to film an entire movie in IMAX until now. Spider-Man Brand New Day, for example, broke records too, partially attributed to its IMAX performance. Rather than the entire movie, they recorded specific shots, to play with your senses and pull you in and out of the movie. If you were sitting too close to the screen, it might’ve felt like you were falling with Spiderman when he jumped from buildings.
These movies both went crazy at the box office. The box office counts the amount of money made from ticket sales for a movie. The Odyssey made $1.4 billion, a ridiculous but deserved amount. Those earnings earned it the spot of highest earning R-rated movie of all time. Spiderman as well, broke numerous records. The domestic opening weekend record by making $360 million, being the fastest to break $800 million in North America, and second fastest to hit $1 billion and $2 billion globally, second only to Avengers Endgame.
Perhaps coincidence, but the increase in movie size has been a huge hit from Hollywood to the rest of the world. They’re rejoicing, they can charge people more money to see their films in IMAX after a seemingly endless drought of good movies from large studios.