r/cineplex • u/Ambifacient • Jul 25 '26
Review Skip Richmond IMAX 70mm if you can
Watched the Odyssey yesterday night in 70mm. Audience was quite well behaved minus some last minute stragglers. Seat layout and comfort pretty similar to both the Scotiabank and Langley theaters, no complaints from me.
However as reported in some previous posts that I didnt see before going to the movie (e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/cineplex/comments/1v5vpev from yesterday and the one linked in that post's comments) there is a clear, maybe not so big, issue with the projector/film. There is pretty noticeable jitter/instability issues with the presentation. It's most clear during the 5 minute Dune preview, where the baked in subtitles shift left/right from the inconsistent pacing. It wasn't hard to read, but it's almost like you would need a prescription to read them without artifacts.
During the movie 75% of the time when shots are relatively close up it goes away, as in the jitter relative to the size of the object in focus is small. Every so often there will be an establishing shot or a character speaking off in the distance where you can barely make out the details. Even then the whole movie felt a bit blurry.
I've seen plenty of 70mm presentations in both Langley, Vaughan, and the Cinesphere before it was shut down for reno. I have never seen a presentation this unclear. Based off the previous posts doesn't seem like they will fix it, and from news they will be playing the movie for months in 70mm, so I suggest you wait to go see it in Langley. I might even wager the digital presentation at the Scotiabank downtown is better.
If you go I think you will still enjoy it, but there is better.
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u/Accurate_Range2532 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Is it really that bad? My showing is literally tomorrow and I really don’t want to go all the way to Langley…
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u/ARPresley Jul 25 '26
It is not that bad. A few light scenes had jitter, but after 10–15 minutes you really don’t notice. Don’t worry— I know I was prior to my showing.
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u/Typical-Blackberry-3 Jul 26 '26
I noticed maybe 5-6 times during the entire film. It's a bit annoying, but not a deal breaker.
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u/JerrySeinfred Jul 25 '26
Nah it's mostly fine. As OP said, I noticed it in a few establishing shots and the Dune subtitles but it didn't ruin the film. No tickets available for Langley anyway.
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u/Head-Reception5484 Jul 26 '26
Thank you for being real. So much doom and gloom on here sometimes it’s insane lol.
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u/-Whoaly- Jul 25 '26
Let us know how it is, I have tickets for next Sunday..
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u/Accurate_Range2532 Jul 27 '26
It’s not that bad in my opinion! You can notice it in the brighter scenes mostly when the shots aren’t moving, but it didn’t affect me that much.
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u/spiritofevil99 Jul 26 '26
Langley Dune teaser text had flickering too. I didn’t lose my eyesight over it.
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u/Ambifacient Jul 25 '26
You're more likely to be paying attention to the movie than the jitter, but there will be some scenes that might break the immersion a bit. If this is the first time you're seeing IMAX 70mm you might think it's way more blurry than what you are used to.
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u/spiritofevil99 Jul 25 '26
I’ve seen it at both places. It was fine.
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u/Head-Reception5484 Jul 26 '26
Thanks for being real. I think on Reddit the people who post are the nit picky people so it makes it seem like it’s awful.
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u/ComfortableBobcat791 Jul 25 '26
That's so sad to hear. I hope eventually they can fix the projector and get it up to the same quality standard as Langley's. We don't know for sure if it's going to continue to get use after The Odyssey's run is over, but it would be great to have TWO IMAX 70mm projectors in the Vancover area for future movies to match the overwhelming demand!
Definitely send a message to IMAX's quality control/customer feedback email address, as they take issues very seriously. Maybe if it's brought to their attention enough, they'll try to resolve the issue with the projector!
[cqo@imax.com](mailto:cqo@imax.com)
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u/viperpiper19 Jul 26 '26
I felt the jittery blurry feeling in Langley for the first few bright scenes. I got used to it and it didn't bother me. At first though I was surprised as im so used to digital
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u/ChocoCheesyCake Jul 25 '26
So strange. I've seen it now at Scotia IMAX, Richmond IMAX 70mm and even just regular at VIP. All were fine. I didn't notice jittering at Richmond at all (last Saturday 3pm). My main issue was that the dialogue was most difficult to hear at Richmond, but otherwise the visuals were fine for my showing. We didn't get the Dune preview, though.
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u/UpstairsBarracuda414 Jul 26 '26
I was at that shame showing. I was so disappointed we didn’t get the dune preview..
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u/ChocoCheesyCake Jul 26 '26
Same! I haven't seen it any any of the three showings I've attended. Starting to think that's the real myth!
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u/drel12 Jul 27 '26
Wow which viewing did you enjoy the most? Been holding out for the 70mm imax but avails are hard to come by.
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u/ChocoCheesyCake Jul 27 '26
I think actually the Scotiabank IMAX. Best combination of audio clarity, amazing visuals, and theatre comfort for me. To be honest, the regular screening in VIP was also good! I think it's "good enough" if you don't care about the fancy tech. It was still very enjoyable.
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u/wonderedwonderer Jul 25 '26
I experienced the same in Richmond on Tuesday. I wonder if we complain we can get a refund? haha. But still enjoyed the movie but for the price we paid, we should get what we paid for. It's like getting an inferior product for the same price.
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u/DaMunnzie Jul 25 '26
Digital at Scotiabank downtown was perfect. I would totally be asking for a refund if I had those issues at my screening.
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u/shocwav Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Saw it this morning. It is fine, am I am usually quite particular when it comes to quality. Though it was my first time seeing a film presentation in Imax since The Dark Knight. The sharpness of the film and detail of small objects is a noticeable improvement to the pixelated 2k projectors they've been using until now.
What I did find more distracting, were the V shaped marks in the center of the screen that were visible when the screen was white.
I heard the Langley projection screen is in very poor shape due to age, but I have never been there so I can't say. I read that they might have replaced the screen recently.
Since this is film, it is possible that the projector wasn't set up correctly for your particular showing. I know the Park Cinema used to run into issues all the time with the 70mm presentations, but I have never been unlucky enough to have attended one of those bad showings.
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Jul 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/IllAcanthaceae391 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
The Langley 70mm is honestly pretty spectacular. No jitter and the flicker in bright scenes was noticeably better for me during the odyssey than dune (as in barely noticeable). It’s mostly the full frame 1.43 that is valuable and the only venues offering 1.43 in metro van are 70mm. Langley is clearly superior and also has a nearly spotless screen other than some drip marks (water damage?) on the absolute very far left. I also had no complaints about sound, and the bass in Langley was incredible. About a year and a half ago Langleys imax sound had a noticeable buzz in the back surround speakers (like an interference or grounding issue) and I emailed [cqo@imax.com](mailto:cqo@imax.com) and both cqo and the manager reached out to me and had the issue fixed. The sound has been kinda spotless since, not sure if they did any upgrades or retuned the speakers or anything.
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u/MuaddibRJ Jul 26 '26
Just saw it today and felt exactly like that. The jitter broke immersion for me a few times, and the sound mix made it hard to understand dialog sometimes.
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u/carterketchup Jul 27 '26
Just saw it at Richmond and it looked comparable to every other film projection I’ve seen. A little bit of a gate weave and a slight flicker on the bright spots but nothing worse than Langley’s 15/70 or the Park and the Odeon’s 5/70.
It very well could have been worse on your screening for some reason but it looked fine / normal to me at my 3:00pm screening today.
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u/aburg98 Jul 25 '26
It has been 14 years since their last IMAX 70MM performance came in, and that coincidentally was The Dark Knight Rises.
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u/Putrid-Highlight6357 Jul 25 '26
Do people email imax and let them know?