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The AMC Rivercenter IMAX in downtown San Antonio has experienced technical issues with showing Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in its 70-millimeter version.
There are only 30 theaters in the world that have the capability to play the format, and two of them are in Texas.
Since its premiere date, several showings of the new film have been canceled, leaving some film enthusiasts with questions about the format.
Patrick Keating is a professor of communication at Trinity University. He teaches film and video production. He explained that shooting a film in the 70-millimeter format is rare.
“The problem is that you can shoot on 70-millimeter, but you often can't find a theater to play it. Why would a theater keep old equipment around just for the occasional movie?" Keating explained.
He said that theaters are more likely to be equipped to show 35-millimeter film, which was the standard for about 100 years until digital took over.
“The movie industry switched from film to digital as the primary exhibition format several years ago. It started around 2000, and it was more or less complete by 2012.”
Keating added that, consequently, today's theater projectionists have minimal experience with the format. “70mm was always a specialty format, associated with big-budget films of the 1960s, and little used since,” he said.
He also said a film showing in the 70-millimeter format will continue to be rare. “[It’s] just an option for a big-name filmmaker who still believes that film is better than digital and has the clout to insist that the movies are shown that way, in at least a few theaters,” he said.
