Interstellar IMAX prints may be lost forever after Paramount “destroyed” them

Fans looking forward to seeing an Interstellar IMAX re-release may be out of luck, as it sounds like the prints have been destroyed.

Christopher Nolan‘s sci-fi epic Interstellar was slated to return to theaters in September for an IMAX re-release celebrating the film’s 10th anniversary. The film was a hit at release and has only become more acclaimed over the years.

Unfortunately, it now sounds like that release may be incredibly limited at best. According to a scoop received by the fan account Christopher Nolan Art & Updates, Paramount may have destroyed the original Interstellar IMAX reels.

The account reports that Nolan wasn’t informed of the alleged destruction of the prints. It also claims he made a request for Paramount to replace the prints, but they refused to do so. The loss of the reels would likely mark the end of any plans for Interstellar’s re-release.

Without those prints, only theaters that held onto their IMAX prints from 2015 would be able to screen the film. This would be an incredibly small number of theaters, if so, as theaters don’t typically own the reels but rather rent them from studios.

While Interstellar is a Warner Bros film, Paramount Pictures handled the distribution of the film in North America. They were responsible for sending reels to theaters, and reels would have been returned to them after screenings.

Interstellar was released in the more traditional 35mm and 70mm film formats, but Nolan has always favored the 70mm IMAX format and urged viewers that was the version of the film they should watch. The film had the widest IMAX release at the time and still sold out IMAX screenings for weeks on end.

The Interstellar re-release was announced in April and scheduled for September 27, 2024. Pre-order links for tickets were briefly up on AMC websites, but those pages have since been taken down.

If you’re not able to check out Interstellar in theaters this year, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with our lists of the best movies of 2024, the best TV shows of 2024, and all of the new movies streaming this month.