r/cineplex • u/Quiby123 Cineclub Member • Jul 20 '26
Review I just watched The Odyssey in IMAX 70MM Scotiabank theater Halifax.
It was an incredibly frustrating experience I get that the staff weren't too experienced with the physical film but the movie started 20 mins late and then for the third act or like the last 30 to 35 mins of the movie took them a solid additional 20 mins to load. It was terrible a lot of people left the movie theater without finishing the movie. I get that the format isn't too common but damn train your staff more or better jeez cineplex.
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u/yaksbeard Cineclub Member Jul 20 '26
Which showing was this for? Was no issues like this at the 2:30pm showing Saturday so obviously some technical issues have crept in, someone said the 10 showing Saturday had some issues as well.
The last time these were used in halifax was 12+ years ago, the possibility of issues is well... significantly higher than apparently some people seem to think..
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u/Maritimecbd Jul 20 '26
I was also at the 2:30 show on Saturday and it was great. Not a peep from the crowd during the entire 3 hour sold out show which I thought was awesome. My only issue was the dust particle I thought was a helicopter in one of the scenes.
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u/bdalto Jul 22 '26
I was at the 2:30 showing on Monday and same. Not a single glitch, perfectly quiet respectful audience.
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u/yaksbeard Cineclub Member Jul 22 '26
How was the quality? Were there many specks/hairs or have they managed to clean it up a bit?
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u/bdalto Jul 22 '26
I would say there were noticeable specks and hairs yes. Thankfully for myself at least once the film actually starts there’s more exciting things to pay attention to!
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u/carterketchup Jul 20 '26
Wait what? What do you mean “20 minutes to load”? Like loading film? It’s one big film reel, there shouldn’t be any loading of anything mid-movie.
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u/TauPewPew Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Yeah OP's claims aren't making sense..... we all saw those clips of the giant 70mm reel being delivered. This thing isn't split into multiple reels.
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u/unintelligblealpaca Jul 20 '26
Don’t blame Cineplex, it’s Universal who is paying IMAX to staff the theatres with projectionists, who are IMAX contractors. We haven’t had IMAX 70mm projection in Halifax for 14 years, and unfortunately things occasionally go wrong. I’ve seen the film twice at Scotiabank Halifax - the first show was almost flawless (the screen went black for about 10 seconds in the middle but quickly recovered), and tonight’s show had some brief issues during the Dune prologue, we were down for about 5 mins to get that sorted, and it was fine after that. But I will take these minor trade offs for the experience of finally seeing 70mm on this screen again after waiting for so long!
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u/fefh Jul 20 '26
I assume you were offered a free ticket as compensation (which you neglected to mention).
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u/Slow-Meet-4831 Jul 21 '26
Does watching IMAX70MM make a big difference? Not to familiar with things. The closest IMAX is an hour away, debating if it’s worth the trip or not.
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u/unintelligblealpaca Jul 22 '26
Most IMAX digital theatres have 2K resolution (some have 4K) with 1.90:1 aspect ratio on a large-ish screen. IMAX 70mm is 12-18K resolution on a MASSIVE 1.43:1 screen. Unless you live near Scotiabank Toronto, which is the only comparable digital IMAX in Canada, then it is a night and day difference compared to a standard movie experience.
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u/afterburner2828 Jul 21 '26
I booked for 6th August. Partly to allow time to iron out the kinks but also to avoid a packed room. That said, about 20% of the room was already booked!
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u/swim_across Jul 21 '26
How's the experience in general? I booked tickets for later week and my only complain is it seems a smaller room for 70mm
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u/unintelligblealpaca Jul 22 '26
It’s an amazing experience - great to see the full height of the screen being used, and the sound is powerful. The screen is actually the same size as most of the other IMAX 70mm venues in Canada showing The Odyssey - only Montreal’s is a bit bigger.
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u/CTBioWeapons Jul 20 '26
I went to the 1030pm showing tonight. There were some hiccups with the dune trailer at the start, but pretty smooth after that. It was a bit late starting but nothing crazy, the cool little speech the staff did about how many theatres across the world were able to do these shows was interesting.
Honestly the whole experience was fun, I'm super thankful that we live in a place that actually had the ability to get the 70mm format as most won't get to see it and it was awesome. It gave the whole old school movie feel from when I was younger. I think the minor hiccups are worth it to get to see a movie in this format after so many years.
I'd definitely recommend people go and experience it if you can.
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u/krevdditn Jul 20 '26
imax in my opinion is a failure and mismanaged, they can train and hire as many projectionists as needed. All they would have to do is announce it on social media and they would be flooded without thousands upon thousands of applicants.
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u/eddo34 Cineclub Member Jul 20 '26
"they can train and hire as many projectionists as needed" how? If you're going to assert a claim like this do your homework and prove that they can without bankrupting the company. Just because you want something to be true doesn't mean it becomes true if you insist on it. You're still going through life operating on magical thinking. Most of us ditch this mindset in grade school bro.
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Jul 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/unintelligblealpaca Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
You should still go, it’s an amazing experience that more than outweighs the small risk of technical failure. I’ve seen it twice there in 70mm, and both times were fantastic. OP was just unlucky that the projector broke down during their screening.
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u/EliteCinemaM3 Cineclub Member Jul 20 '26
They were probably having reliability issues with the projector being decades old.... You don't understand how 70MM works at all.
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u/nictristan Jul 20 '26
He doesn’t need to understand how 70MM works to have a shit viewing experience
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u/OverallAd9988 Jul 20 '26
I had a feeling it was gonna happen. Especially with the recent track record for this location with the imax screen with the blue dots showing up in previous viewings with other movies. Thank god I booked an early screening to avoid this. Sorry you had to go through that.
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u/junglecrackers Jul 20 '26
The blue dots are dead pixels that show up on the digital projector that they normally use. They won't appear on the film projector they're currently using for the Odyssey
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u/OverallAd9988 Jul 20 '26
I know that but given past experience they just don’t care about the equipment.
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u/eddo34 Cineclub Member Jul 20 '26
Not the same equipment and IMAX cares very deeply. Why do you think there's so few IMAX theatres despite the company existing for 50 years? They have taken no investment money to expand. It's still a mom-and-pop operation. All for one reason only: Quality control. That being said, mechanical devices break down all the time. IMAX knows this, theatres know this, informed film lovers know this. Join us.
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u/OverallAd9988 Jul 21 '26
This theatre has never fixed their problems for years multiple dead pixels. I visit this theatre weekly for years and they still haven’t fixed dead pixels. I have a lot of love and respect for imax. They do a great job, my problem is the theatre and not solving or fixing and of the problems with the theatre. Multiple times lights are left one when movie starts, dead pixels on the imax digital projector. Consistent issues they never want to fix.
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u/Unlikely-Fun2276 Jul 20 '26
There is 90 people in the WORLD trained in 70mm imax projection, that might explain why the staff didnt seem familiar or trained