The Odyssey boosts Imax ticket sales and revenue
Agamemnon and Odysseus in “The Odyssey”.
Source: Universal Pictures
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ is raking in dollars at the box office Imax and boost investor confidence that the company will achieve record ticket sales in 2026.
Shares of Imax rose more than 8% on Thursday after the company reported it was on track to hit a record $1.4 billion at the global box office this year. Wall Street was worried about this netflix and Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” was pushed back from its November release date to February 2027 after Imax failed to meet that guidance.
Universal’s “Odyssey” alleviates those fears. The film grossed $52 million worldwide for Imax in its opening weekend. The company’s locations represented less than 1% of total screens, but accounted for 20% of the film’s initial worldwide release.
“The Odyssey” opened 47% higher than Nolan’s previous film, “Oppenheimer.” The biopic has grossed more than $190 million through Imax during its run in 2023.
And the momentum of “The Odyssey” showed little sign of slowing down. The film earned $11 million on Monday and another $10.6 million on Tuesday, according to Imax CEO Rich Gelfond, speaking on an earnings call with investors Thursday; This was the best Tuesday performance of all time for the company.
“Our pre-sales for the second weekend could qualify as one of our biggest opening weekends ever,” he said. “These numbers prove that we are just warming up.”
Coming to global Imax screens again this year sony And Marvel’s “Spider-Man: A Brand New Day;” Zach Cregger’s review of “Resident Evil”; Tom Cruise’s newest movie “Digger”; “Godzilla Minus Zero;” David Fincher’s “The Adventures of Cliff Booth”, starring Brad Pitt and adapted from Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”; And Paramount’s “Street Fighter.”
Later Warner Bros. and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three” will cap off the year. The first Dune movie grossed $61 million in Imax theaters late in the pandemic, while “Dune: Chapter Two” grossed $147 million worldwide.
“Our momentum continues to translate into demand from our fair partners,” Gelfond said.
The company increased its Imax system installation to 38 worldwide in the second quarter, from 36 in the same period the previous year. That was the highest number of installations in the second quarter of the last decade, Natasha Fernandes, Imax’s chief financial officer, told investors during Thursday’s earnings call. 19 systems were installed in the first quarter, and the company is on track to reach 160 to 175 installations by the end of 2026.
Imax currently has a backlog of 421 contracts to create screens.
“We continue to see a tremendous path for our global expansion and continue to innovate in ways that will make Imax even more valuable to creators, studios, exhibitors and audiences,” Gelfond said. “This is an incredibly exciting time for our business.”
Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that “Godzilla Minus Zero” is among the movies coming to Imax screens this year. A previous release misspelled the film’s title.
