Particle.news
Download on the App Store

The Odyssey Presales Overload Ticket Sites as IMAX Demand Outstrips Supply

Limited IMAX 70mm capacity has driven heavy early buying, high resale prices, and temporary outages that could reshape premium-format ticketing.

Overview

  • Ticket presales, which launched on Thursday, June 4, overloaded major platforms such as AMC and Fandango and forced virtual queues that lasted up to an hour before sales resumed.
  • Universal released select IMAX 70mm opening-week screenings well in advance, causing many prime showings to sell out almost immediately and concentrating demand on a tiny number of 70mm-capable sites.
  • Scalpers quickly listed scarce IMAX 70mm seats on resale sites with prices reported as high as $1,500 for single tickets and many listings in the hundreds of dollars.
  • The film was shot entirely on IMAX 15‑perf/70mm film and is being promoted as best seen in IMAX; it carries a reported $250 million production budget, a 172-minute runtime, and a reported R rating that may limit some audience segments.
  • The episode highlights a growing industry pattern where studios treat premium large-format screenings as event inventory, which can frustrate fans who must travel or pay inflated prices and is likely to prompt closer scrutiny of presale allocation and ticketing infrastructure.