Moviegoers cross borders in epic trek to Regina for The Odyssey

People all over the globe are flocking to Regina for the opening weekend of The Odyssey.

Saskatchewan Science Centre, chief operating officer, Ryan Holota, said on the Greg Morgan Morning Show that demand for Christopher Nolan’s latest film has been really high so far at the Kramer IMAX Theatre in Regina.

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“We’ve really discovered a fan base of people that love IMAX film, and lots of people in Saskatchewan,” Holota said. “But people travel from literally all over the world to Regina to our theater to see movies on IMAX film.”

Listen to the full interview:

The IMAX Theatre in Regina is one of only 41 IMAX theatres in the world equipped to play the special 70 mm film format, which Holota said is bringing people in droves to come see the movie.

“Opening weekend, we’ve got people from five provinces, eight U.S. states and four countries, including people from Mexico and South Korea, coming to Regina to see this movie, and that’s, like, really cool.”

Tickets for the first four showings of The Odyssey were available to purchase in July last year, and they sold out over the first weekend.

Alex Ross is from Australia and was able to snag a ticket for the opening show a few weeks ago.

“We don’t have IMAX cinemas where I’m from, so I’m just here working and saw that Regina had one so I came.”

Ross said he loves movies.

“Yeah, I’m 10 out of 10 (excited),” said Ross. “Apparently it’s unreal, so I’m keen to get in there and watch it.”

Tyson Lisk and his daughter were excited to be at the first showing of The Odyssey on Thursday afternoon at the IMAX Theatre in Regina. (Jacob Bamhour/980CJME)

Tyson Lisk has been waiting a long time since he bought his and his daughters tickets to the film.

“I was just saying to some of the staff that I bought it 365 days ago. So July 16 last year, I jumped in line and could not wait. My wife thought I was crazy that I was buying tickets a year in advance, but I can’t believe the day’s actually here.”

Lisk has felt the excitement building over the past year since getting his ticket.

“It’s a little surreal to be honest,” he said.

“It felt long waiting, but the hype was building and all those things, and it would wane. But I think Christopher Nolan and the team have just done a great job of building that momentum and hype around it,” he said. “It was long and arduous waiting for it.”

Lisk felt The Odyssey has the opportunity to be a generational film.

Lonny Pelletier is from Broadview and said he was very excited to be at the opening show.

“I’m pretty pumped. I bought these tickets last year when they came out,” he said.

“I love all of his (Christopher Nolan’s) films, all the films he’s made recently. They’re all really good. The actors, as well. There’s a lot of big names in there. I want to see them all in movies that I haven’t seen them in before. Nice to see how they act and all that stuff.”

Broadview’s Tevon Grey said he can’t wait to take in the film.

Alex Ross is from Australia, but is working in Regina and got tickets to the opening showing of The Odyssey at the Kramer IMAX a few weeks ago. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)

“I’m pretty excited about it. I haven’t seen the trailer. I knew it was pretty good, so I’m pretty psyched about it. I saw all these big actors, the director especially, so I’m pretty hyped about it.”

Meanwhile, Trenton Blum is a huge movie fan, and drove down from North Battleford for the opening show.

“When these tickets went live a year ago, they were selling out so fast that I just didn’t make any plans. I just impulsively said, ‘I’m taking myself,’ and that is that.”

Now that Blum was standing in the theatre waiting for the film to start, the excitement was bubbling.

“I am fighting back the nerves of excitement to try to make sure I’m at least speaking coherently because in the back of my mind, I am extremely ecstatic,” he said. “I literally have been looking forward to this for a year, and the fact that we are now about 30 minutes away from showtime, I can feel the nerves setting in to make sure I’m in my seat that time so I can enjoy it.”

Trenton Blum eagerly stood waiting to get to his seat to watch The Odyssey for the first showing on July 16, 2026. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)

Blum is a particularly big fan of Christopher Nolan’s films.

“His films are always big epics and spectacles, and I’m looking forward to seeing the performances from this cast,” he said. “It has clearly got quite a stacked cast, and the fact that this is the first film entirely filmed with IMAX film is something that I never expected to see. Being a lover of film, especially in IMAX, this is one of the coolest opportunities to come and see this film.”

First film shot solely on IMAX film

Holota said The Odyssey is the first movie that was shot completely from start to finish on IMAX film.

“They actually created a new IMAX camera in order to do it because the original IMAX cameras were so loud, they couldn’t really do dialog very well,” he explained. “So this new camera – they call it the Keighley camera – is, like, very silent. It’s quiet enough that they can actually use it for dialog scenes and close-up scenes and that type of thing, which was technology that they didn’t have for Oppenheimer.”

He said getting the 70 mm film delivered wasn’t an easy task.

“There is actual film (used). So we had a palette come last week; it had three giant film crates on it. It weighs about 600 pounds, just under 11 miles (roughly 17 km) in length of film. We assembled it all. It’s on a reel, on our platter, on our projectors.”

On top of that, Holota said playing the 70 mm film is labour intensive.

“It’s nerve-wracking, that’s for sure. It’s a very manual process, so there is somebody in the booth. It took two people an entire day to assemble the print, and it came only in three pieces, so this is a big job,” he said.

“When we’re running film, it’s very manual. Every show, someone has to clean the projector, clean the platters, thread the film through all of the rollers, and every, you know, five or six minutes, you’re going through the booth, checking every roller, checking the film.”

He said they’ve had a lot of practice getting ready for opening weekend.

“We’ve had so many technicians from IMAX out here in the last few months, making sure that everything’s good. We have new projectionists. Everyone’s been training. We’ve been practicing. We’ve tested the print already, so we know that it all works and is all good.”

If anything goes astray, he said they have the IMAX laser system as a backup.

“It is able to show in the same aspect ratio as film and everything. So if there was an issue, that’s what we would do; we would revert to IMAX with laser,” Holata explained. “Knock on wood though, we’re not expecting any issues, and we’re looking for a great run.”

While it’s extra work to play a movie on 70 mm film stock, he said the larger film allows for a “super high” capture resolution.

“Of course, because it’s shot on IMAX film, the native resolution and aspect ratio of that film, it can only be seen on an IMAX screen, either an IMAX with laser or on IMAX 70 mm film.”

He said the hotly anticipated Nolan’s film will be in theatres at the IMAX in Regina until August 13.

“Whether it’ll be extended or not, of course, is up to the people of Saskatchewan. But it’s much longer than most movies get on the IMAX screen, that’s for sure.”

Tickets for The Odyssey can be purchased on the Saskatchewan Science Centre website.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Jacob Bamhour