LA Man Flies 15 Hours to Melbourne Just to See a Movie

Vincent Simmons has never left the United States, but he's about to fly 15 hours to Melbourne to watch a three-hour movie. The 35-year-old Los Angeles projectionist is spending nearly $4,000 on flights and accommodation for a three-week trip, splitting the cost across multiple credit cards.

His destination? Melbourne's IMAX theatre, home to the largest screen of its kind anywhere on Earth.

The theatre is one of only 41 in the world that can project true IMAX 70mm film, the largest film stock in existence. At 32 meters wide and 23 meters tall, Melbourne's screen is the only one in the Southern Hemisphere capable of showing Christopher Nolan's latest epic, The Odyssey, exactly as the Oscar-winning director intended.

"70mm IMAX offers hands down the greatest sensory engrossment you could possibly have when watching a film," Simmons says. "It's the closest sense of lifelike fidelity—a transcendent film format that everyone should experience at least once."

The film itself is a massive beast. Laid end to end, a single print stretches more than 17 kilometers. Its reels run on platters so large they can hold three hours of runtime—just eight minutes more than The Odyssey's two-hour-and-52-minute length.

Only five people in Australia are qualified to handle these enormous 70mm reels. "It was a dying craft," says Jeremy Fee, general manager at IMAX Melbourne. "I think it's a growing art form now."

The Ripple Effect

Simmons isn't the only one making this journey. At opening weekend, the queue was full of travelers who'd crossed oceans for cinema.

Kaivalya, a 28-year-old PhD student, moved to Australia an entire month earlier than planned just to catch opening weekend. In 2014, he traveled 400 kilometers across India to see Nolan's Interstellar on the nearest IMAX screen.

His friends back in India are taking similar trips. "Some are traveling to China, some to the US," he says. "The nearest IMAX 70mm theatre to India is in Thailand, so many people are applying for visas. It's like a concert."

Mitchell and Dimeth drove from Brisbane, continuing a ritual they started with Oppenheimer last year. "For Nolan, we'll come and watch it here," Mitchell says.

The renewed interest is breathing life back into a nearly extinct craft. Projectionists who once thought their skills were obsolete are training new technicians. Theatres that converted to digital are reconsidering their choices.

In an age of streaming and home theaters, thousands of people are proving that some experiences are worth traveling the world for.