People Are Worried They’ll Only See Half of The Odyssey If They Miss Out on Imax, But Should They Be? Film Aspect Ratios Explained

The Odyssey is the first film to ever be shot solely on Imax cameras, but that has some people worried that they’ll only see part of the image if they watch it in standard theatres. Is this a problem? Let’s dig in. There are many different ways to watch The Odyssey when it hits cinema screens on July 17, but all the various formats available can get confusing. Look online at social media or on Reddit threads, and you’ll see much debate about whether you’ll be missing out if you don’t see the much-promoted 70mm Imax version. Comments such as, “So audiences will have six different choices of how to see this film, with only one of them being the full image?” by Reddit user “CP_Chronicler”. Or Redditor “MooseBoys,” who is seemingly quite annoyed: “Stupid gatekeeping. It's fine if you want to shoot the film for that aspect ratio, but don't cut parts out for screens with other ratios — just don't use the whole screen. Linear scaling is completely arbitrary anyway. As well as in 2023 for Nolan’s Oscar-sweeping Oppenheimer, a similar situation occurred in 2025 when a couple of high-profile movies, Sinners and One Battle After Another, were projected in different formats globally — the form