Pat Caldwell Trains Imax 70-mm Crews for 41-Site Odyssey Rollout
Updated
Updated · Vulture · Aug 3
Pat Caldwell Trains Imax 70-mm Crews for 41-Site Odyssey Rollout
1 articles · Updated · Vulture · Aug 3
Summary
41 Imax 70-mm locations are showing The Odyssey, with retired projectionist Pat Caldwell leading three training classes and then taking overnight projection duty at L.A. Live.
12-hour night shifts and 3 a.m. screenings reflect demand for the Nolan film, while Imax had to ready old projector systems and quickly train operators for a format it largely abandoned two decades ago.
Caldwell said the main challenge is mastering Imax’s unusual horizontal film path and exact threading, where mistakes can damage film or force refunds if sound sync fails at the start.
Imax also replaced a 30-year-old audio system that had run on Windows 2000, reducing a recurring problem from earlier film launches even as Caldwell still deals with equipment issues such as a failed air compressor.
The expanded 41-screen run underscores the Imax 70-mm revival sparked by Oppenheimer, but also the format’s limits after many theaters scrapped their film systems during the digital shift.