Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Update: Indiana State Museum’s Imax theater officials said they conducted a successful test showing of “Oppenheimer” late Wednesday night after repairs and plan to resume regular showings on Thursday. Three showings were canceled Wednesday due to a projection system issue.
Original story:
A screening of the new Christopher Nolan film “Oppenheimer” was canceled Wednesday at the Indiana State Museum’s Imax theater, when a malfunction during the day’s first showing caused damage to the film reel.
The near-sold-out showing, which began at 11:30 a.m., abruptly stopped shortly after it started when the undetermined issue forced the 357-seat theater to shut off the projection system.
“We’re looking into what happened, and we have some film damage,” theater manager Neale Johantgen told IBJ. He said the theater’s projectionist, Wayne Indyk, is working on repairs to the 600-pound, 11-mile film reel. “We don’t know what happened yet, so we’re assessing the situation.”
“Oppenheimer,” which clocks in at just over three hours, is the longest movie ever printed to IMAX film. In fact, Toronto-based Imax Corp. had to create a device to allow its film platters to accommodate its massive size. IBJ last week examined the process involved in putting the film together—a process that took Indyk more than three days to complete.
The Indiana State Museum theater is one of just 30 places in the world capable of showing “Oppenheimer” on 70mm Imax film, a viewing experience highly preferred by director Nolan. Some people seeing the film in Indianapolis are traveling from hundreds of miles away due to the scarcity of the format.
Johantgen said those who attended the screening have been issued refunds and will have an opportunity to book another showing, once they resume. From Thursday to Sunday, all 12 scheduled showings are sold out, with limited seats available during the remainder of the film’s run, which lasts through Aug. 9.
He said he’s hopeful Wednesday’s 3:15 p.m. showing would occur, but said the theater first must determine what caused the problem and develop a solution.
“I hope to have an answer on that very, very shortly but I don’t have one yet,” Johangten said.
The issues at the Indianapolis theater follow reports of similar problems elsewhere showing the 70mm version of the film. In San Antonio, several screenings have been interrupted in the film’s first five days. Likewise, a theater in Calgary had to shift to a digital projection of the movie after facing problems.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
With the exception of a a couple of handicap seats, every showing thru the August 9 close date has been sold out for sometime. Which, probably means there is a high demand for additional showings. So my question to the ISM IMAX (hopefully via IBJ) is, will they or can they extend the run for several days beyond the current close date?
I certainly hope so, I’ve been looking for daily for a the past couple of weeks and everything is gone. I’ve been going to see movies there for a long time and never have I seen it sold out weeks (at all times of day) after a movie releases. They don’t have any announced replacements yet, so TBD.