‘The Odyssey’ Extends Its Historic IMAX Run for an 11th Straight Week

Box office milestones rarely stay quiet for long, but few films this year have generated the kind of sustained theatrical momentum that’s kept this particular epic in headlines week after week. What started as a highly anticipated summer release has turned into one of the most enduring theatrical success stories of the decade.

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ opened back on July 17, and rather than following the typical pattern of steep post-opening drop-offs, the film has continued pulling in audiences well into September. That staying power has now translated into yet another round of scheduling news for fans hoping to catch it on the biggest screens possible.

‘The Odyssey’ now has additional showtimes at IMAX 70mm locations through the end of September, stretching its IMAX run into an 11th week. The film, the first theatrical release ever shot entirely with IMAX cameras, is already the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time, having made $457 million across IMAX screens globally.

That figure alone represents nearly a third of the film’s entire worldwide gross, underscoring just how central the IMAX format has been to the movie’s overall success. Within that total, IMAX 70mm screenings specifically, Nolan’s preferred format for the film, have earned $66 million worldwide across just 41 locations, resulting in a staggering $1.6 million per screen average.

The film’s IMAX haul has comfortably surpassed the previous all-time benchmark held by 2009’s ‘Avatar,’ which grossed $271 million in IMAX without adjusting for inflation. Given that ‘Avatar’ held that record for nearly two decades, ‘The Odyssey’ clearing it so decisively speaks to just how strong demand for the large-format experience has remained throughout the film’s run.

Thanks in part to ‘The Odyssey’ and an average ticket price of $20.58 for its IMAX screenings, July and August together marked the two biggest months in IMAX’s entire history. That kind of sustained box office pull across two consecutive months is rare for any single title, let alone one that had already been in theaters for several weeks by the time August arrived.

Much of the hype surrounding the film’s premium large-format performance ties directly back to how it was actually made. Unlike most tentpole films that incorporate IMAX cameras for select sequences, Nolan shot ‘The Odyssey’ in its entirety using IMAX technology, presenting the film in the format’s exclusive 1.90:1 Expanded Aspect Ratio throughout, with select IMAX 70mm and IMAX with Laser locations showing the movie in the format’s towering 1.43:1 Expanded Aspect Ratio.

During production, Nolan reportedly used 2.1 million feet of film, a length longer than the distance between Toronto and New York, according to a detail IMAX shared alongside the announcement. That scale of production underscores just how committed the filmmaker was to maximizing the format’s capabilities from the ground up.

September 30, marking the final day of this extended run, may not be a coincidence, with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Digger,’ starring Tom Cruise, set to begin preview screenings on October 1. While a 70mm release for that film hasn’t been officially confirmed, industry speculation around the possibility has been building.

With ‘The Odyssey’ continuing to dominate IMAX screens well into its eleventh week, the film’s theatrical run stands as one of the most remarkable box office stories of the year. Whether that momentum continues building right up until its final scheduled IMAX 70mm showings remains to be seen, but for now, audiences still have several more weeks to catch Nolan’s epic exactly the way he intended it to be seen.

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