IMAX Corporation has hailed The Odyssey as a “transformational event” – with BFI IMAX in London delivering the biggest opening weekend box office result of any IMAX venue in the UK and international markets.
BFI Fellow Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed new epic is the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX film cameras and screened from a rare IMAX 70mm print – creative a more immersive film watching experience.
Rich Gelfond, CEO, IMAX, said: “As we enter the second half of 2026, Christopher Nolan’s breathtaking The Odyssey — the first-ever full-length theatrical release filmed entirely with IMAX film cameras — is emerging as a transformational event for IMAX, as the purest and most complete expression yet of the power of our global platform.”
Rich added: “The Odyssey has the potential to impact our business in many ways that are clear — and many ways we can’t yet predict, as its success on our platform reverberates across the creative community, and throughout the entertainment landscape. In the near-term, the film gives us excellent momentum as we enter the second half of the year, with a strong slate that culminates with Dune: Part Three, which was also shot with IMAX film cameras and will be presented in IMAX 70mm film.”
With a three-day gross of £219,867 over the opening weekend, The Odyssey is now at the top of the all-time BFI IMAX opening weekend box office rankings, surpassing Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) which previously held the record with a three-day gross of £216,454. Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning biopic Oppenheimer (2023) now ranks third, having achieved an opening weekend gross of £207,677.
BFI IMAX programme manager Madeleine Mullett said: “As the only cinema in the UK to hold a complete archive of Christopher Nolan’s IMAX 70mm filmography, now including The Odyssey, we are proud to be the home of Christopher Nolan on film. Across the BFI, our commitment to preserving and celebrating celluloid, alongside the filmmakers who continue to champion this format, speaks to the enduring power of storytelling and the unique communal experience of seeing film on film. The extraordinary demand for our IMAX 70mm presentation of The Odyssey, experienced as intended by the filmmakers, is ultimate proof of the appetite audiences have for cinema at its most authentic.”
Introducing The Odyssey during the film’s World Premiere at BFI IMAX on 6 July, Christopher Nolan said: “This is a very special venue for us. . . It was in this very venue that I met the person to whom the film is dedicated, my friend and IMAX mentor, David Keighley. . . I wish he were with us here tonight, but I know he’d be very proud of us and very proud of the work that Patricia [Keighley] and her whole team has done finishing the film, and very excited for you guys to be the first audience in the world to see it projected in this wonderful theatre on this wonderful screen from an IMAX film print.”
