Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

What a fun website.

This feels like a sort of flashback to how the web used to be in some ways.

andrewtorkbaker 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Hey HN! 150,000 people bought IMAX tickets to see The Odyssey the first day they went on sale. I was not one of them. So I built a site to watch every 70mm IMAX screening in the US and alert me when good seats open up.

More details on Twitter: https://x.com/andrewtorkbaker/status/2078540178713629119

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avidiax 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I was able to see The Odyssey yesterday in 70mm, and it had a preview of Dune 3.

I wasn't planning to see Dune 3, but that preview made me want to see it.

Can we monitor seat availability on Dune 3 70mm as well? Maybe a beta? I think right now it's just the 4 days of early release tickets, all 100% sold out of course.

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zulux 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I say this as a fan of Frank Herbert, and I've read all the Dune books:

Thank god the Dune 3 movie looks like it isn't a strict adaptation of "Children of Dune".

	▲	gcanyon an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I read the main trilogy many years back; why would a faithful adaptation be a problem?
	▲	globular-toast an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Isn't it Dune Messiah? The book is terrible and I've never managed to make it through a second time. Children and especially God Emperor I enjoyed quite a lot, though.
	▲	BoingBoomTschak an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You're not implying that the two firsts were strict adaptations in any way or shape, are you?

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andrewtorkbaker 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes!! I'd say I'm probably already 85-90% of the way there for a service that monitors seatmaps for other 70mm IMAX movies too. And I, too, will want Dune 3 IMAX tickets. Was already considering keeping this going for sure

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swang 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I built my own script to get a seat near the middle and towards the back at the Metreon but so far I have not seen many available. My guess is checking 15 minutes is too slow. And also I've been getting rate-limited by Cloudflare. Not sure if I want to pour more resources into getting around it.

The Metreon is running IMAX 70MM showings for 24 hours straight today started at 3AM, [half hour for previews, 3 hour movie, half hour cleanup], then 7AM, 11AM, 3PM, 7PM, 11PM and one on Sunday at 3AM and all showings are basically full. It is crazy.

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andrewtorkbaker 3 hours ago | parent [-]

+1 to the AMC Metreon being one of the toughest. Of all the theaters I'm monitoring, it's probably in the top 3 of fewest seats opening up. My best guess is that SF is just a market where demand far exceeds supply.

But I am seeing a few every day, and I'm guessing it will get better after opening weekend too. My system checks every 10 mins leading up to 24 hours before showing, then ramps up to every 60 seconds.

Re: Cloudflare - not sure if you're trying to hit AMC's site directly or an alternative. Either way, the first library I reach for in that situation is curl_cffi https://github.com/lexiforest/curl_cffi

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swang an hour ago | parent [-]

Yeah I'm directly calling the GQL. For some reason it is only doing the check for today's seats. Very weird.

	▲	andrewtorkbaker an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Will probably do a blog post / video about my setup at some point. In the meantime, DM me on Twitter and I can share more about what's working for me

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ano-ther 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have seen a local theater advertising 70mm dual projection (but not mentioning IMAX) and another one IMAX. Will there be a difference?

	▲	globular-toast an hour ago \| parent [-]
		No idea what "dual 70mm" is, but it's not IMAX. IMAX is a very specific and unique end to end capture and presentation format. It's quite an experience but I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you can see a 70mm presentation it will be stunning regardless.

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cinntaile 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is this a very limited release or why not just give it a few weeks and you'll get seats without any trouble?

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gcanyon an hour ago | parent | next [-]

The IMAX screenings are pre-committed to future movies -- it might be the case that Spider-Man takes over in two weeks and the window for The Odyssey is closed, even if more people want to see The Odyssey in IMAX than Spider-Man.

	▲	xnx 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		A theater near me has 70mm showings. I have to imagine they'll find a time/way to fit showings (at $25/ticket!) until demand drops.

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andrewtorkbaker 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For the theaters near me, 70mm IMAX showings even a few weeks out still had only crummy seats. Also, I'm impatient and want to see it soon!

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crooked-v 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There's only 25 theaters in the US that even have 70MM IMAX projectors, so it is indeed pretty limited.

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SirFatty 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

FOMO.. it makes people do weird things like this.

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tclancy 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Is this weird? Helping others?

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reactordev 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Just look at Labubu's.

	▲	PcChip an hour ago \| parent [-]
		When we watched that South Park episode, my wife had to explain to me that those were real and not a made up thing for the show

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pauldavis 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is awesome - and I love the look.

Can you add England/Europe listings? :)

	▲	andrewtorkbaker 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		On the backlog! The first data provider I integrated with only supports the US. My advice in the meantime: Codex and Claude Code are much better at correctly reading theater and airline seatmaps than they used to be. If you've got a personal plan / one via your employer, I've had good results just asking them to set a schedule to watch a seatmap directly
	▲	kilroy123 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Agreed. It would be nice if it supported London.

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pettijohn 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Please add Vancouver BC

	▲	andrewtorkbaker 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		On the backlog! My initial data provider only supports the US. I think there are only two 70mm IMAX theaters in BC, right? My advice in the meantime: Chrome + Codex / Claude Code are pretty good at keeping an eye on things for smaller data sets like this

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globular-toast an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are only 3 screens in the UK; I've accepted I won't be going. I'm glad I got to see The Dark Knight Rises and Tenet in the BFI IMAX, though. The latter was during COVID and we had a whole row to ourselves. I don't even mind that these aren't the greatest films. IMAX is more of a spectacle in its own right and a great film will still be great on any screen.

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dominotw 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

do i need to learn any ancient history stuff to make this more enjoyable. no rush to watch it.

love exploring ancient history so can read/watch long documenatries and stuff if you have any recommendations ( hopefuly with no spoilers).

	▲	grey-area an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Read the book, I hear it’s quite good. Here is a good translation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey_(Emily_Wilson_translat...

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Svoka an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Can someone explain why they don't just add black bars on the side and show in filmed format?

	▲	kylecazar an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They do. They show it in regular theaters (I saw it yesterday in one and was underwhelmed but that's another story). You do lose a lot of the picture as it was intended to be viewed by the director, of course. But closest IMAX was too far.

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suho-han 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

great work!!

	▲	andrewtorkbaker 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you - let me know if you snag some seats!

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hiworld6543 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Waste of time to get these alerts for a movie that has no historical accuracy or value.

Better use of time: locating publicly accessible toilets in every village and town.

Waste of money to see this movie at imax, now that VR headsets and big televisions exist.

Better use of money: buy a package of bottled water to give to the people in your village and town.

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resoluteteeth an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Waste of time to get these alerts for a movie that has no historical accuracy or value.

The odyssey itself wasn't trying to be historically accurate; it's basically fantasy. Why would you expect that a movie adaptation would be historically accurate?

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slybot an hour ago | parent [-]

In this context, the book itself is the history rather than the story as a foundational western narrative. The movie diverge in many grounds from the book, and it is sad that most people will only watch the movie rather than read the original work.

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ButlerianJihad an hour ago | parent [-]

> rather than read the original work.

Look, given that the so-called "original work" is in ancient Greek, I don't think any ordinary American today is going to take the time and effort to actually "read the original work".

Even if you were to learn the Greek language well enough to "understand" the original book, you wouldn't really understand it, would you? Because it makes so many intertwined culture references, to the landscape, to the gods and myths of the period. So, what is better: for people to sit down and try to grind through the book, or to make a living production as a modern adaptation, for modern audiences to enjoy?

Furthermore, the Odyssey would have been performed by a singer or poet in its time. People in Greece wouldn't have been reading it on paper! That would be absurd even then! So, it would already be a performance, an interpretation, and it would surely be adapted by those performers to the place-and-time. There is surely a lot of space between the oral tradition that Homer originated to the written word.

Personally, I have immensely enjoyed O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a modern adaptation to Americana. I cannot pretend to understand the original, or the intricacies of the Coen Brothers' adaptation, but I love the performances, the singalong songs, and the production values of the modern film, and it gives me more insight and appreciation for the ancient epic as it was.

	▲	slybot 22 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The language is not the problem here, I also cannot understand ancient greek. Let aside the casting, it impose a modern morality instead of the original moral arguments. The movie portrays Odysseus in a completely different manner. Homer's Odysseus is intelligent, deceitful, resilient, cruel... While in the movie Nolan's "modern" themes served rather than Homer's original. I don't know if I am the only one, but it feels like trying to rewrite a historical epic with someone's own themes. I don't say one is better or worse, but it just doesn't feel right.

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add-sub-mul-div an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Incredible comment. The success of this movie is driving people insane. There was no reason this had to be a culture war.