Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is off to a great start.
of universal The film adaptation grossed an estimated $124.5 million in its opening weekend, with audiences flocking to the film, especially for premium large-format screenings. IMAX theater.
“Death, taxes, and Christopher Nolan,” said Sean Robbins, Fandango’s director of analysis and founder of Box Office Theory. “He reinvented the superhero genre, captured the zeitgeist with multiple thought-provoking original works, and turned a three-hour biopic into a global blockbuster. He’s done it again, retelling a 2,700-year-old poem that serves as the foundation for what we know as modern storytelling.”
IMAX reported estimated ticket sales of nearly $30 million for the weekend, representing about 24% of its domestic opening sales.
Overseas, “Odyssey” secured $139.6 million, bringing its global weekend total to $264.1 million. IMAX contributed approximately $22 million, or 15%, to the film’s international release. The film has not yet been released in China, Japan, or South Korea.
According to Rentrak data, “The Odyssey” is Nolan’s third-highest opening weekend domestically and the highest-grossing worldwide opening.
According to data from EntTelligence, approximately 7.5 million tickets for the film were sold domestically. Premium large-format screenings accounted for 45% of tickets sold, with an average price of $19 per ticket. The coveted 70mm screenings accounted for 5% of all tickets sold over the weekend, averaging about $22.50.
“This is always going to be a great movie,” IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told CNBC. “We had a great cast, a great director, and great locations. But I think what IMAX did was help transform this movie from a great movie to a huge cultural event on a global scale.”
“The Odyssey” is expected to continue attracting moviegoers in the coming weeks. direct competition is limited until sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” opens July 31st and will be shown exclusively in IMAX theaters for the next three weeks.
Needless to say, tickets for “The Odyssey,” which has been on sale in part since July 2025, have sold out in theaters screening the film in coveted 70mm. A similar phenomenon was seen in 2023, when director Nolan released his Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer.
Nolan’s films are event films, especially since he uses state-of-the-art cinema equipment and techniques to shoot his footage. “The Odyssey” used IMAX brand cameras and favored practical set locations and effects over computer-generated images. The result is a cinematic spectacle that demands to be seen on the biggest screens with the best sound systems.
“Premium screen screening times, especially IMAX, sold out weeks in advance of Nolan’s release, spreading positive word of mouth and ensuring a long box office run for ‘The Odyssey,'” Robbins said. “Fans often drive for hours just to find a seat to play a movie that is as close to Nolan’s intentions as possible.”
IMAX’s Gelfond noted that 42 IMAX properties held screenings from midnight to 3 a.m. on weekends to meet demand. Gelfond said the company is extending the movie’s theatrical release into a fifth week, and tickets for some screenings have already sold out.
“It’s not just traditional movie fans who come to see movies like ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Oppenheimer,'” Robbins said. “Nolan has a rare draw among young Millennial and Gen Z audiences, which is critical to the continued evolution of the theater business.”
Half of moviegoers were between the ages of 18 and 34, a coveted target demographic that movie theaters have been trying to recapture since the pandemic.
“Christopher Nolan is one of the few directors whose name comes up as a guarantee of box office success,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. “(His) body of work is loved by film buffs and film enthusiasts around the world. He is truly one of a kind.”
Disclosure: Versant Media is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.
