Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” was released in theaters around the world July 17. It is the first feature film ever shot entirely with IMAX cameras. I had the opportunity to see the film on opening day at Milwaukee’s spectacular Oriental Theatre in 70mm.
Nolan has been unusually blunt that the movie should be not only seen in theaters but in 70mm IMAX. A format that he calls the best possible experience for a movie. Only about 26 theaters in the entire United States can project it. Here is the problem if you live in southeast Wisconsin: the nearest true 70mm IMAX screen is the Cinemark Seven Bridges in Woodridge, Illinois, which is more than an hour and a half away by car, well past the state line.
You must drive to Illinois to experience ‘Odyssey’ as intended
The Milwaukee metro area with over a million and a half people, cannot show one of the most anticipated films of the decade in its intended format. We do have an IMAX screen at AMC in Mayfair Mall. However, it is really IMAX in name only. To experience Nolan’s film as he intended, you must leave Wisconsin entirely.
It’s worth clarifying the distinction between the 70mm format you’ll see at the Oriental Theatre versus IMAX at Mayfair compared to true 70mm IMAX, because it explains exactly what Milwaukee is missing. A conventional 70mm film runs the film vertically at a 2:20:1 aspect ratio, delivering a high-resolution image far beyond what is seen on standard digital format. 70mm IMAX turns that same film on its side and runs it horizontally at 1:43:1 aspect ratio, producing an image area roughly three times larger than conventional 70mm and nine times larger than a standard digital formats. Meanwhile, the standard IMAX has a 1:90:1 aspect ratio and projects a smaller image than a true 70mm IMAX.
It would be easy to dismiss this as a cinephile’s complaint. It is not. It’s an illustration of a much larger economic problem; one our leaders say they want to solve.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson has set an ambitious goal of growing Milwaukee to one million residents, a target that would nearly double our current population and require reversing more than sixty years of decline. Achieving this growth will most likely not come from increasing birth rates. Instead, it will come from convincing people, especially young, educated professionals, to choose Milwaukee and stay. As an economist, my instincts are to see what economic research has found on the topic and it’s remarkably clear about what actually motivates these types of workers.
High-amenity cities grow faster than low-amenity ones
In an influential study, economist Edward Glaser and his co-authors demonstrated that as firms and workers became more mobile, a city’s success increasingly depends on its role as a center of consumption. They found that high-amenity cities have grown faster than low-amenity ones, and that urban rents have risen faster than urban wages, meaning people are paying a premium simply to live in attractive places. The things a city offers are not frills. They are a growth strategy.
This matters most for exactly the residents Milwaukee is trying to win. A substantial body of economic research shows that highly educated workers are especially responsive to local quality of life, cultural and recreational amenities, when making decisions about where to live and work. When a talented 22-year-old, just graduating college, compares job offers in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, salary is only part of their calculation. They contemplate if they will have to give up part of the lifestyle they want to live by choosing us.
That is the real cost of not having amenities that other comparable cities have. It is the accumulated signal that for a certain caliber of experience, you have to leave. Multiply that feeling across concerts, restaurants, transit, nightlife, and cultural events, and you have a competitiveness problem the mayor’s population goal will have issues achieving.
Milwaukee consistently stops one rung short of the top tier
I want to be fair, because Milwaukee gets a great deal right. The Oriental Theatre is a genuine jewel and is a theater that most cities twice our size would envy, and proof that we can sustain something world-class when we choose to. The point is not that Milwaukee is a cultural desert. It is that we consistently stop one rung short of the top tier, and that the top tier is precisely what the mobile, educated young professional aims for.
None of this requires the city to build a movie theater. It requires our development leaders and policymakers to treat amenities as a core infrastructure for growth rather than as luxuries. Zoning that supports density, public investment that makes marquee cultural experiences viable here, and a deliberate posture of attracting them are all levers within reach.
If we want one million residents, we have to give a million people reasons to feel they are not missing out by living here. Right now, for the biggest film of the year, they are. That should bother us and it should motivate us.
Kevin S. Smith, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Economics and Business at Beloit College.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Want Milwaukee to grow? Here’s a lesson from ‘The Odyssey’ | Opinion
Reporting by Kevin S. Smith, Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Kevin S. Smith, Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
