Why 70mm Film Still Feels Like the Hottest Movie Technology

Summary

This Marketplace Tech episode examines why century-old film projection remains a premium moviegoing technology around Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey release, especially through IMAX 70mm and standard 70mm screenings. Miles Williams explains how the Alex Theatre in Glendale rebuilt its projection setup for 70mm, why the format differs from digital IMAX and 35mm, and how scarce projectors, parts, and trained operators make 70mm film projection an event.

The source’s larger claim is that analog movie exhibition has both technical and emotional value. Film stock, historic venues, visible projection booths, and apprenticeship labor make analog moviegoing feel hard to reproduce at home, while younger interest in tapes, LPs, and other physical media connects the case to Analog Media Preservation and Physical Video Media Revival.

Key Claims

• IMAX 70mm differs from digital IMAX and standard 70mm because it uses actual film running horizontally with 15 perforations per image, while standard 70mm runs vertically with five perforations.
• Standard 70mm is described as about four times the size of 35mm, giving more clarity, color, and image quality than smaller-gauge film.
• The Odyssey made scarce 70mm exhibition capacity visible because viewers sought tickets for the intended IMAX 70mm format and because non-IMAX 70mm venues were also limited.
• The Alex Theatre renovated its historic 1920s venue for 70mm in roughly eight weeks after a green light from Universal, spending about half a million dollars on projection, sound, clarity, and booth work.
• Miles Williams frames projected film as a special event because audiences cannot reproduce the same format, venue, and communal experience on home screens.
• Legacy film projection depends on aging projectors, scarce parts, and a small Los Angeles network of older projectionists and apprentices.
• The source suggests younger interest in analog media reflects a desire for physical connection after pandemic-era disconnection and digital saturation, but this remains anecdotal.

Key Quotes

“living museums” - Williams’s description of historic theaters.

“old car” - the episode’s maintenance analogy for legacy projectors.

Connections

• Marketplace Tech, Megan McCarty-Carino, Miles Williams, and Alex Theatre - show, host, guest, and theater case.
• The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan, and IMAX - film release and premium-format context.
• 70mm Film Projection - main technical and infrastructure concept.
• Analog Moviegoing Experience, Analog Media Preservation, Physical Video Media Revival, and Video Store Culture - analog media and shared-experience branch.
• Custom Movie Popcorn Buckets / 电影定制爆米花桶 - adjacent theatrical-release scarcity and fan-object branch around The Odyssey.

Contradictions

• No direct contradiction found with existing wiki content.
• The source qualifies IMAX by separating IMAX 70mm, digital IMAX, and standard 70mm rather than treating IMAX as a single technical format.
• The source qualifies analog-revival claims by grounding them in one theater and Williams’s observations rather than broad market data.