Glendale’s century-old Alex Theatre installed its 70mm presentation system six weeks ago, just ahead of the July 17 premiere of The Odyssey. Now the venue, which hadn’t shown a first-run movie for 35 years, has announced it’s the highest grossing theatre in the country for Christopher Nolan’s mythological epic on the film format.
“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 which thanked Universal Pictures “for recognizing the important role historic theatres continue to play in Hollywood’s cinematic legacy.”
The Odyssey’s domestic box office total reached $395.5 million over the weekend. The film relinquished first place to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Sony’s superhero sequel success story, which is sharing a portion of the Imax screens with Nolan’s movie.
The 900-seat Alex, known for its mix of Classical Revival and Moderne architectural detailing, has been showing The Odyssey three times per day. The venue will be extending its run by at least two weeks.
The marquee advertising The Odyssey at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California.
Photo by Erik Bakshi for Film Leader Co.
Williams tells The Hollywood Reporter that the theatre — whose last first-run film was 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day — is now scheduling eight to 10 nights of movie programming each month. (Its busy calendar is filled with live events, from ballet performances to rock concerts.) It intends to host periodic special engagements of other large-format releases, including Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three in December and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew in February 2027.
The Alex invested $500,000 in technical upgrades, including a new ground-floor projection booth. In-demand Los Angeles projectionist Taylor Umphenour, an Imax consultant who has worked with Nolan on his dailies, helped oversee the design and construction. “What you have at a cinema like the Alex is a true understanding of the in-person experience of shared narrative,” he says. “That’s why people are coming — and losing their minds.”
A view from the open-air forecourt at the Alex Theatre.
Photo by Erik Bakshi for Film Leader Co.
