A PLF Odyssey
To match the monumental scale of Christopher Nolan’s 2026 epic The Odyssey—the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX cameras—Universal Pictures needed an ticketing experience that matched its cinematic ambition. Facing a crowded stream-at-home landscape and Premium Large Format knowledge gap, our goal was to translate this complex physical filmmaking milestone into a hyper-accessible, interactive digital ecosystem that democratised technical cinema craft while driving global ticket sales.
Upgrading The Odyssey’s existing Powster Movie Platform, we turned passive moviegoers into informed decision-makers. The experience centered on three hero mechanics: a curated video masterclass hosted by the cast and crew; the world's first interactive aspect ratio trailer, which allowed users to physically toggle screen dimensions in real time; and a custom interactive map to effortlessly locate and filter regional screens from 70mm to Dolby Cinemas.
By bridging technical film literacy with frictionless ticketing, we transformed a complex technical barrier into an engaging ticket-buying journey.
Our approach
Our strategy rested on a simple premise: respect the audience’s intelligence.
Christopher Nolan has long proved that filmgoers are hungry for complex art, so we stripped away marketing tropes and replaced them with tactile visual literacy and active utility. We humanized the technology by having talent like Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway directly guide users through short-form video masterclasses, explaining how sound design and aspect ratios enhance the cinematic experience across every available format.
To make the value of a premium ticket tangible, we built an interactive aspect ratio video player. The tool allowed users to manually expand and contract screen borders of the trailer from standard ratios to 1.43:1 IMAX, demonstrating in real-time the physical scope.
Finally, we solved a historically fragmented exhibition network by consolidating regional premium format showtimes into a unified ticketing map. Moviegoers could pan around the country, filter the map by city or format, and click through directly to complete their ticket purchases.
The results
The platform sparked a real “As Nolan Intended” global cultural movement and set new records for digital engagement and box office conversion. Fans everywhere expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for the interactive aspect ratio trailer online, driving over 17 million clicks and making it the top feature of the Movie Platform, which itself had 5.2 million total visits. Presale demand helped London's BFI IMAX set an all-time record by generating over $1 million in ticket sales within its first 24 hours
The Odyssey went on to become Universal and IMAX’s highest-grossing film ever, generating $221 million in IMAX alone and contributing to a $1.7 billion global box office cume. The experience successfully engaged younger demographics, with half of the opening attendance made up of moviegoers aged 18 to 34. Audience reach was also maxmized via organic coverage from reputable industry outlets like Variety, Deadline, IGN, and Forbes.
Above all, the platform definitively proved that a massive, mainstream appetite exists for technical filmmaking craft and premium large formats when given the opportunity to explore them.
