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Excited for the Oppenheimer movie? See it in a unique, rare way in Tempe

By
Published  July 17, 2023 4:50pm MST
Entertainment
FOX 10 Phoenix

TEMPE, Ariz. - It's going to be a huge weekend at the box office as Oppenheimer and Barbie both hit theaters.

In Arizona however, we’re getting a special treat. We've learned it’s one of the few places on earth where you can see Oppenheimer on film in IMAX.

There are less than 20 places in America where you can see Oppenheimer like this.

To get it ready for the very, very big screen, it takes a team of professionals working for days behind the scenes.

It's 600 pounds of film.

READ MORE: In ‘Oppenheimer,’ Christopher Nolan builds a thrilling, serious blockbuster for adults

The CEO of Harkins Theaters, Mike Bowers, says if you rolled out the film for the upcoming Oppenheimer movie, it would be 11 miles long.

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CEO of Harkins Theaters, Mike Bowers

"We built it up and add more and more film. We're right at the edge of the platter here, and I’m sure Christopher Nolan was aware of that when he edited the film to three hours exactly," Bowers said.

The IMAX film is to be used only at this six-floor IMAX theater at Arizona Mills in Tempe.

It’s been 9 years since an IMAX movie came here on IMAX film

"First off, he filmed it with the 65mm IMAX camera, which is the highest resolution camera possible. So to be able to play that, you’re getting 10 times the resolution you would see normally," Bowers said.

And it’s a process.

Harkins released a video of their team working on splicing together the three 200-pound reels.

"It takes hours and hours to do this. They’ve been working on this film and building it for a couple of days," Bowers said.

Once it’s ready for audiences, stay back.

"The film is here. This is the end of the film. So it feeds up from here, goes through these rollers, that series of rollers feeds into the projector, runs through here into the projector," Bowers explained.

The outcome – a popcorn-worthy night out.

"It’s going to be a limited run, three weeks. So I encourage everyone. Nineteen in the country have this, only 30 in the world have this," he said.

So, what happens if it’s damaged? Well, only a few of these reels exist, but of course, they hope to never have to ask for one.