‘The Odyssey’ Isn’t Done Conquering Theaters Just Yet

Few films in recent memory have dominated the premium-format conversation the way Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has. The epic launched in July with a $264.1 million global debut that outpaced even ‘Oppenheimer’. Fans were so hungry for it that they waited hours online for rare IMAX 70mm tickets.

IMAX, for its part, went all in. The company dedicated its screens entirely to the film for three weeks, and the 41 screens equipped for 70mm alone pulled in $6.3 million in ticket sales. The film eventually became the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time.

So it should come as little surprise that Universal isn’t ready to let the ship dock for good. According to a post from DiscussingFilm, ‘The Odyssey’ will return to theaters nationwide on December 11 for awards season, and the run will include IMAX and IMAX 70MM screens.

The details back it up. The film will return to 1,000 theaters in the U.S. and Canada for a limited time starting December 11. The re-release lands the weekend before the openings of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Dune: Part Three’, which makes it a savvy bit of counterprogramming before the blockbuster crush.

This also isn’t the film’s first encore. Universal brought it back to select IMAX and 70mm screens on October 9, a move that came as Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ had earned just over $20 million against a reported $150 million production budget. The screens it reclaimed belonged to ‘Digger’, which had opened only a week earlier.

The numbers explain why exhibitors keep making room. The film has now reached $1.8 billion worldwide, and IMAX and IMAX 70mm screens account for a record $550 million of that total. It also stands as Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever, even after inflation adjustment, topping the unadjusted $1.08 billion total of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

The records keep stacking up from there. ‘The Odyssey’ is now the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, passing ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. Combined with ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ and ‘Michael’, it helped Universal become the first studio to cross $5 billion in global grosses this year.

Of course, the December return is as much about trophies as tickets. The film is expected to be one of the top contenders at next year’s Academy Awards, competing in Best Director and Best Picture among likely a dozen other categories. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo and Robert Pattinson are also expected to compete in the acting categories.

Behind the camera, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema will almost certainly earn his third Best Cinematography nomination for his work with IMAX’s cameras. That is fitting for the first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras, and a reminder of why the big-screen pitch has been central to this release from the start.

Nolan also knows what a strong awards run looks like. His last film, ‘Oppenheimer’, won several awards at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor and Best Score. With voters getting one more chance to see ‘The Odyssey’ the way it was shot, Universal is clearly hoping history repeats itself.