There are only 41 theaters in the entire world that can show “The Odyssey” in its original IMAX 70mm format — and Denver has one of them.

But the launch was anything but smooth sailing.

An apparent technical issue at the Regal UA Colorado Center theater during Saturday’s 11:40 a.m. showing appears to have forced the movie theater to cancel all of its IMAX 70mm showings of “The Odyssey” since then.

The Christopher Nolan film, an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey that debuted Thursday, is the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX cameras. The Regal UA Colorado Center, at 2000 S. Colorado Blvd., is one of only two theaters in Colorado and one of only 25 in the country capable of showing the film in the 70mm format.

Audiences were making pilgrimages from far and wide to see the film in its original 70mm format, which offers the highest resolution and biggest screen possible.

Instead, many moviegoers turned to social media to voice their disappointment.

Ben McKee, who posted a thread on Reddit about the cancellation, said he purchased his tickets for the 11:40 a.m. Saturday showing two months ago, only to have the movie stop three minutes in.

“I felt disappointed,” McKee told The Denver Gazette, but he said he didn’t blame the staff or the projectionist for the apparent equipment failure.

After about 40 minutes of trying to fix the projector, the 70mm showing was canceled and Regal offered refunds. But because the movie had already started, moviegoers were forced to wait in a long line to have their refunds processed individually. One user on Threads posted a photo of people lined up on the sidewalk in the 90-plus degree Denver heat.

“They balanced delivering the bad news well, with some empathy about how much we’d all been looking forward to it,” McKee said.

Future screenings offered either refunds or to view the movie in its IMAX Digital format, McKee said, and Regal did not make moviegoers aware of the format change until they arrived at the theater.

The IMAX Digital format is far less rare and doesn’t fill the entire IMAX screen as the 70mm one does. According to a New York Times report, about 1,900 theaters are capable of showing that format.

Moviegoers posted on Reddit and Threads that they were told IMAX was flying in a specialist to fix the issue, but it could be several days before it’s fixed.

“The manager came out and told us that they worked on it till 5 a.m. but they need to fly in new parts from Canada,” wrote one Reddit user.

Regal and IMAX did not immediately respond to The Denver Gazette’s attempts to reach them for comment.

As of publication time, Regal was not selling tickets for any IMAX 70mm shows in Denver on its website.

The projector issues weren’t unique to Denver. Cinemark Carefree Circle in Colorado Springs reportedly had to cancel one showing after the film was torn and had to be repaired, according to writer Geoff Jones on Threads.

A projector issue in San Antonio caused the film to stop three times during a showing, according to a report by TV station KSAT.

McKee said when his showing was canceled, he immediately got on his phone to book a new showing. But everything other than front-row seats or 8 a.m. showings was booked for weeks.

“I just drew a bad hand,” McKee said. “And planning ahead two months ago didn’t actually help at all.”