How Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” Brought a Historic California Theater Back to First-Run Glory
It’s the kind of story a theater lover—of which Christopher Nolan is perhaps the most famous example—dreams of.
The last first-run movie that the century-old Alex Theater, in Glendale, Los Angeles, has shown was 35 years ago: James Cameron’s colossus Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Then, just a few weeks ago, the Alex installed a 70mm presentation system ahead of the July 17 premiere of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The result is movie magic. The Alex has been the highest-grossing theater in the country for Nolan’s epic adaptation of Homer’s 2,700-year-old poem.
“The response from audiences has been overwhelming and a wonderful reminder of how much people still value the shared experience of seeing a great film together,” Alex’s artistic director Miles Williams said in a statement. He went on to thank Universal Pictures “for recognizing the important role historic theatres continue to play in Hollywood’s cinematic legacy.”
The Alex’s recent technical upgrades were extensive—the theater invested $500,000 in enhancements including a new ground-floor projection booth, the design and construction overseen by Taylor Umphenour, an IMAX consultant who has worked with Nolan on his dailies. “What you have at a cinema like the Alex is a true understanding of the in-person experience of shared narrative,” Williams told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s why people are coming — and losing their minds.”
The Odyssey is a global phenomenon, full stop. It’s enjoying the kind of box office success that naysayers have claimed has become all-but impossible for films that are based on popular IP (sure, Homer’s source material is popular, but this is not a film based on a video game or a comic book character). It has invigorated younger viewers and boosted book sales, sailed through a phenomenal second weekend at the box office, and then joined forces with Spider-Man: Brand New Day to help power the biggest weekend in box office history.
The draw, of course, has been Nolan himself, whose name has become synonymous with ambitious, thrilling prestige filmmaking. His starry cast, including Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as Athena, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Charlize Theron as Calypso, and Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and her sister, Clytemnestra, was a major draw. Then there’s the sweat equity they all put into the film, which audiences crave. Nolan and his cast and crew went to extreme lengths to create something truly epic, becoming the first filmmakers to shoot an entire feature with IMAX cameras. They filmed aboard an actual ship in the Mediterranean, braved the North Sea off Scotland’s coast and the frigid waters of Iceland, and devised all manner of ingenious fixes and workarounds to capture The Odyssey on the grandest scale possible. That commitment to creating something worthy of Homer’s deathless adventure story became a major draw for audiences, who began snapping up premium-format tickets a full year before the film’s release.
Which brings us back to the Alex, a 900-seat theater that boasts a mix of Modern and Classical Revival architecture, which has had three Odyssey screenings a day since the July 17 release, and plans on extending the run by at least two weeks. Williams told The Hollywood Reporter that while the theater is home to live events, including ballet performances and rock concerts, it will be hosting occasional special engagements for other large-format releases, including Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three on December 18 and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew in February 2027.
Featured image: Matt Damon is The Odyssey. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
