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Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey has taken the unusual step of selling some tickets a year early. Is it a way forward for beleaguered studios – or just a stunt?

Marketing campaigns for summer blockbusters have traditionally kicked in around six months before release. But one film not playing by these rules is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, his much-discussed take on Homer’s epic, starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong’o and many more. Earlier this month, more than a year in advance of its 17 July general release date, a teaser trailer started showing in cinemas. And then on 17 July itself, in an unprecedented move, tickets went on sale for opening weekend screenings in Imax 70mm – Nolan’s preferred format for all his films. Less than a day after those tickets were made available, most of them were sold out, and scalpers were reselling them for upwards of $200 (£148).

It’s a testament to Nolan’s remarkable pulling power that he, along with Imax and Universal Pictures, has been able to get audiences flocking to buy tickets for a film this far in advance, when it hasn’t even finished shooting yet. And specifically, he’s got fans excited about seeing it in 70mm – a traditional large-scale film stock known for providing a matchless visual experience, which was developed in the 1950s and has been making a comeback in recent years thanks to filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler. Earlier this year, Coogler urged people to see his hit vampire thriller Sinners in this same film gauge – but without the dramatically-timed ticket release to boot.

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Indeed, entertainment journalist Tatyana Arrington thinks that the success of Imax screenings of Sinners may have played into the thinking behind The Odyssey’s unique sales strategy. “I feel like there was such a charge for [Imax screenings of Sinners] that Hollywood couldn’t help but see the success of that,” she tells the BBC. “And with [The Odyssey] being a film that everybody’s looking forward to, [the team behind it must have thought] ‘how can we maximize on that even further?'”

This latest strategy slots into Nolan’s ongoing mission to encourage audiences into cinemas by making films into a real event. And The Odyssey has a winning combination – of huge star power and a universally recognised story – that motivates people to make that happen. As Arrington says: “The kids like Zendaya. The older generation likes Matt Damon. This person likes Lupita. There’s something for everybody. A lot of people are into Greek mythology.”

Studios need to consider creative marketing solutions because they are competing against not only other media content and formats but changing consumers with shortened attention spans

It comes at a time when theatrical revenues have been on the slide; last year’s US and Canada box office total was 23% down from 2019. The pandemic and the Hollywood strikes have played their part in that, but there is also the rise of the streaming platforms, and the fact that many films are now made available to stream mere weeks after opening in cinemas.

“Studios need to consider creative marketing solutions to hype up film releases because they are competing against not only other media content and formats but changing consumers with shortened attention spans,” Sanjay Singh, founder of film studio Nukhu, tells the BBC. It’s about the best way to get distracted audiences to, as Singh puts it, “take action and engage”.

The issues with the strategy

But could any other films replicate such a long-tail release strategy or is Nolan, and the excitement around his films, an anomaly? “I feel like Nolan may be the only person who could get this sort of one-year-in-advance ticket sellout type of deal,” Nolan fan and Chicago-based moviegoer Jack Cunningham tells the BBC. “I just don’t see that happening with any other film-makers.”

There’s also an issue of Nolan and other film-makers championing the high-quality viewing experience in Imax 70mm, when accessibility to that format is still so limited; there are currently only 16 cinemas across the US that have the required equipment. Indeed, certain markets don’t even have access to a cinema to see a film whether it’s in Imax 70mm or not. That was highlighted earlier this year when audiences in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Sinners was set, didn’t have an opportunity to see the film in their own town, until a viral call led to a special screening with Coogler in attendance.

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Additionally, ticket prices for Imax and Imax 70mm screenings are significantly higher, which can make the emphasis on them for creating buzz feel exclusionary – and that’s before taking into account, in this case, ticket reselling by scalpers at exorbitant prices. According to Singh, that’s one of the key issues with this type of ticket rollout right now, should it be used going forward. “If Imax doesn’t use this data to expand [its network of screens], by selling tickets this far in advance, there’s the potential for a reseller market to be created, which could cause early release ticket prices to skyrocket,” he says.

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Even some Nolan fans are not convinced by this buzz-making sales move. Cunningham has been happy to travel three hours to Indianapolis (the nearest Imax theatre to him) in the past to see three of the director’s previous movies – Tenet, Interstellar and Oppenheimer – in 70mm. But he wasn’t interested in picking up Odyssey tickets now, calling it a “marketing stunt”. “The general premise of having to think about where I’m going to be in a whole calendar year to buy tickets to a film is just kind of ridiculous,” he says.

And while The Odyssey ticket rollout has become a success, Arrington says that it’s unlikely that it’s a sign of what’s to come for the Hollywood blockbuster. “I don’t think it’s going to happen for every movie,” she says, “because every movie is just simply not good.”

Additional reporting by Candice Frederick.

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