What IMAX demand for Nolan's Odyssey reveals to Hollywood
What IMAX demand for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey looks like is a sold-out frenzy that stunned even the company. True IMAX 70mm tickets vanished a year early, the format logged a company-record $52 million opening, and an IMAX spokesperson said film demand has never been seen on this scale.
Key Takeaways
- IMAX posted its biggest opening weekend ever with about $52 million globally from The Odyssey, roughly 20% of the film's worldwide debut.
- Only around 40 theaters worldwide can project true IMAX 70mm, and even 3 a.m. shows at New York's Lincoln Square sold out.
- The Odyssey is the first narrative feature shot entirely on IMAX cameras, using Kodak Vision3 65mm film.
- Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says audiences are "telling the industry something" by buying premium tickets.
- IMAX argues streaming has strengthened its value as a leave-home spectacle, not weakened it.
What IMAX sellouts say about The Odyssey craze?
According to Fortune, cinephiles treated 70mm as the only "true" way to see Nolan's epic. Tickets went on sale a full year before release. Collectible IMAX camera-shaped popcorn buckets sold out alongside the screenings.
"The demand for IMAX 70mm Film has exceeded even our expectations," an IMAX spokesperson told Fortune. "We've never seen demand for IMAX Film on this scale."
Reddit reviewer Adrian Ford, known as "4DX Reviewer," watched it in IMAX, then walked into a 4DX show for the sound. The IMAX house was sold out; the 4DX screening had fewer than 20 people.
"It was just something that you can't really get anywhere else," Ford told Fortune. For more streaming-versus-theater alerts, see our Streaming & TV Alerts hub.
How did Nolan make an all-IMAX feature possible?
Fortune reports The Odyssey is the first narrative feature ever shot entirely on IMAX cameras. Specially engineered sound-dampening "blimp" casings let Nolan capture dialogue and action in the format—a technical first.
Actors could record only a few minutes of dialogue before the cameras, about $500,000 apiece, needed reloading. The New York Times Wirecutter notes Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema used Kodak Vision3 emulsion on 65mm IMAX film—the same stock photography fans can now buy respooled for still cameras.
Fans joked online that scoring a 70mm seat was "harder than anything Odysseus went through."
Is streaming killing IMAX—or fueling it?
Paul Dergarabedian, head of Marketplace Trends at Rentrak, called the opening "one of the most monumental weekends in moviegoing history." The film took about $263 million worldwide after one weekend, nearly covering its $250 million budget.
"The audience is telling the industry something," Dergarabedian told Fortune. "The most powerful people in Hollywood are the moviegoers and they either vote by being there or not being there."
An IMAX spokesperson said streaming "hasn't weakened our business—it has strengthened our value proposition," because people leaving home want the best possible experience. Consumer psychologist Jorge Barraza told Fortune immersive sound and scale create richer memories than home viewing.
Rentrak data cited by Fortune show the domestic box office up 10.3% year-over-year past $5.4 billion, hitting $5 billion by July 8—15 days earlier than in 2025. Premium formats remain a smaller slice of sales, Dergarabedian said, but audiences will pay more when the event feels worth it.