Prague's Flora cinema becomes a magnet for film buffs from across Europe thanks to its unique IMAX 70mm format

The Flora shopping centre in Prague is home to one of only three cinemas in Europe capable of screening films in the IMAX 70mm format, and it is now drawing audiences from all over the continent for Christopher Nolan's new film "The Odyssey." According to Lenka Al-Rihani, marketing director of the Cinema City chain for Czechia and Slovakia, screenings are selling out weeks in advance, with many of the viewers travelling in from abroad.

A ticket for an IMAX 70mm screening at Flora costs 449 crowns for adults, and the auditorium seats several hundred people. The company has not disclosed exactly how much the cinema has earned from screenings in this unique format.

IMAX 70mm is often called the "gold standard" of cinema — the format uses physical 70-millimetre film stock and specialised projectors, producing an image with detail comparable to roughly 18K resolution, a level unattainable by even the most advanced digital cameras and projectors today. Only about 41 cinemas worldwide are still equipped to screen films in this format, and Flora is the only one in Central and Eastern Europe.

Shooting in this format is technically extremely demanding and costly: IMAX 70mm cameras are huge, heavy and noisy. New cameras and soundproofed camera housings were specially developed for "The Odyssey," making it possible for the first time to shoot even dialogue scenes on this format. As a result, "The Odyssey" became the first feature film ever shot entirely in IMAX 70mm. A single film print of the movie weighs more than 300 kilograms, and producing it costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Prague's IMAX cinema dates back to the era when 70mm technology was the standard for the IMAX format, used to screen documentaries and blockbusters alike. When the industry switched to digital, Cinema City made the decision to preserve and keep the original mechanical projector fully operational — a far-sighted move that today has helped put Prague among the world leaders in this format.

Running such a cinema requires a specially trained team of projectionists capable of preparing, splicing and correctly loading the film into the projector to avoid irreversible damage. With careful handling, a single print can withstand up to several hundred screenings, and the print of "The Odyssey" itself was flown to Prague from laboratories in Los Angeles already fully prepared for use.

According to a Cinema City representative, Prague has become a magnet for IMAX 70mm enthusiasts from Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom — for many of them, a trip to the Prague cinema turns into a full-fledged journey combined with sightseeing around the city.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz