GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The elusive 70-millimeter print of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster historical epic was damaged slightly Thursday during a screening of the film at Grand Rapids Celebration Cinema North theater.
The cinema will be playing the digital IMAX version of the film until they can replace a section of one of the 70-millimeter reels.
The director of technology for Celebration, Jesse Forquer, tells FOX 17, "Basically what happened is the print jumped out of its tracks and it caused some damage to a small section of it."
In order for the massive reels that contain Oppenheimer to fit onto an IMAX projection plate, custom extender pieces had to be designed and 3D printed.
Forquer says they are already working on replacing that section of the film so they can continue screening the 70-millimeter version as soon as possible.
They won't get the replacement section until at least sometime on Friday.
As Forquer explained, "We think it was only 1 out of the 52 reels" that was damaged Thursday.
Celebration plans to announce when they get the replacement section on their social media.
THE ELUSIVE 70 MILLIMETER CUT OF OPPENHEIMER
FOX 17 was given a behind-the-scenes look at the rare IMAX film reels.
When the reels are put together on a projection plate, they weigh over 600 pounds.
“It is roughly 11 miles long," Forquer said last Wednesday.
"So, picture it stretching from here [GR North] to about the Grand Rapids airport when it's fully unrolled.”
Screening a film like this in 2023 is quite the undertaking, as most films these days are distributed to theaters in a digital format.
“Normally, now in our digital age, we get a movie that we almost download like a computer file, and we ingest it into our projector network, our theater management system, and then that distributes that content out to our projectors,” Forquer explained.
The IMAX screen at Celebration Cinema Grand Rapids North is 52 feet high and 70 feet wide. This special cut of Oppenheimer fills that entire on-screen space.
A 70-millimeter frame itself is about ten times bigger than a standard-sized frame.
You can find the latest details on tickets and future IMAX screenings at their website HERE.
