CHICAGO — John Marks admits he didn’t have to drive his family across state lines in the middle of the night to see “The Odyssey.” But as he stood in the lobby of Woodridge’s Cinemark Seven Bridges and IMAX at 2 a.m. on Thursday, he couldn’t imagine seeing it anywhere else.

The Indiana resident is one of thousands flocking to the multiplex since the film’s release last week. One of only 25 theaters nationwide showing “The Odyssey” in IMAX 70 mm, the southwestern suburb has become an unlikely destination for cinephiles determined to watch the nearly three-hour film as director Christopher Nolan intended.

“For movie people, you can liken this to the Eras tour,” said Peter Spedale, 40, a member of the Chicago Indie Critics. “This is the event of the year, and they’re going to find the best quality screen that exists on the planet and go there.”

Like Taylor Swift’s wildly popular concert series, “The Odyssey” has become an event fans are willing to invest in. At some theaters, like AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York City, individual resale tickets have climbed into the thousands of dollars.

Spedale said Nolan has encouraged audiences to see “The Odyssey” in the largest film format possible, arguing that standard theaters and home viewing can’t replicate its intended scale. With only a handful of theaters capable of showing it that way, many initial releases sold out months in advance for screenings running through the night.

Under the glow of parking lot lights, Marks gestured toward his sons, 6 and 12, wrapped in fluffy blankets as they headed for the car.

“They fell asleep, but they wish they would’ve stayed up,” he said. “It was definitely worth all the hype.”

Cinemark has only one auditorium capable of screening the film in IMAX 70 mm. It holds just under 250 people and is being offered roughly five showtimes a day, spanning from as early as 7:45 a.m. to as late as 2:40 a.m. to account for demand.

As Marks and his family made their way toward the parking lot, dozens more moviegoers streamed into the lobby for a screening set to end after sunrise.

“Word has spread about how unique of an experience this is,” said Michael Lynch, 22, who has already seen the film in Woodridge three times this week. “I wanted to try a new seat and see what it would look like,” said his friend, Nick Kniebusch, who has also made the trip to Woodridge multiple times.

For Kniebusch, 24, the IMAX 70 mm format is unlike anything a standard theater can offer. The massive image and immersive sound are so powerful, he said, that he sometimes forgets he’s watching a movie.

“The sound vibrates through your whole body,” said Kniebusch, who lives in Oak Lawn. “The movie is missing a piece of itself without this full experience.”

IMAX refers to a specialized camera and projection system designed to produce a sharper image than conventional theaters, while 70-millimeter refers to the width of the physical film. Filmmakers have long used each independently, but they were rarely paired for more than a few minutes at a time.

Shooting an entire feature that way once required cameras that weighed hundreds of pounds and could capture only a few minutes of footage before needing to be reloaded. For “The Odyssey,” Spedale said, Nolan worked with engineers to develop quieter, lighter cameras capable of recording dialogue.

“Nolan basically said ‘challenge accepted’ and shot the entire film in IMAX to give the whole movie this rich, beautiful display,” said Spedale, who lives in Uptown. “He achieved what most movies only choose to do in small doses.”

Making the movie was only half the challenge, Spedale said, as showing it proved just as difficult. Because no feature had ever been filmed entirely in IMAX 70 mm, relatively few theaters are equipped to project it.

And even after a theater is equipped to screen IMAX 70 mm, the format still requires increasingly scarce projectors. They haven’t been manufactured in nearly 50 years, said Cinemark spokesperson Julia McCartha. Many of the parts needed to build them no longer exist.

“So we retrofit them, we rebuild them and part of our strategy is to see how far we can take it,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said in a video posted last week to X. “There’s just not that many around. But I think we can continue to grow it.”

McCartha isn’t sure whether plans to bring the specialized projector to Illinois were in place when tickets first dropped. But she said Cinemark always intended to have the Woodridge theater ready in time for “The Odyssey,” installing the projector just weeks before opening night.

“We’ve been aware that there is growing interest from general audiences for this format, and we’re just glad to have this opportunity to install it at this theater,” said McCartha. “We’re just kind of anticipating to see this enthusiasm continue.”

Nolan, now 55, spent much of his preteen years in Evanston, where he credits the former Edens Theater with some of his earliest moviegoing memories. In a 2014 interview with the Tribune, the director recalled using Chicago’s snowy winter landscape as an ice planet while making imaginatively titled movies with childhood friends.

It was at the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park that Nolan saw his first IMAX film, a documentary about volcanoes.

“And it was thrilling,” he told the Tribune. “I immediately decided that one day, if I ever could, I would make a narrative feature in that format.”

Film enthusiast Emily Ward has launched a yearslong campaign to bring the full IMAX 70 mm experience back to Chicago.

Interest in her advocacy surged during last year’s release of “Sinners,” when many Chicago-area moviegoers had to leave the region to see the film in IMAX 70 mm. Ward wants IMAX to install the format at an existing Chicago theater or build a new one.

“This is a thing that people are demanding,” said Ward, 33, who lives in Ravenswood. “It would benefit us in so many ways if we had one here.”

She spent years tracking the region’s theaters, compiling spreadsheets from IMAX and Cineplex data before the companies removed screen dimensions from their websites. The guides helped local cinephiles track down the largest screens available when IMAX 70 mm wasn’t an option.

Chicago’s two IMAX theaters still fall short of the full IMAX 70 mm experience, Ward said. Neither has the taller aspect ratio needed to display “The Odyssey” at its full height, cropping the top and bottom to fit the screen.

So for now, the Woodridge pilgrimage continues. Tickets can be purchased in person at the theatre’s kiosk and box office for $25, or online for a small additional fee, according to Cinemark’s website.

“It’s a privilege to be able to come out here, regardless of if it’s in the middle of the night,” said Aahil Gangani, 24, who drove more than an hour from Wilmette for a 2:40 a.m. screening. “It was an experience I couldn’t miss.”

As crowds streamed past Gangani, one moviegoer stepped back from the theater and snapped a photo of the scene. For the Tinley Park native, a lifelong film enthusiast, it was the first time an IMAX 70 mm screening had been within driving distance.

“Movies in formats like this need to be seen and supported,” said Farhad Divecha, 29. “It doesn’t matter the time.”

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