Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Extends Imax 70mm Run Into an 11th Week
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is keeping its Imax 70mm screens lit through the end of September, with additional showtimes added at Imax 70mm locations to stretch the format's run into an 11th week, The Hollywood Reporter reported on September 3.
The extension is the latest in a series. Universal and Imax first pushed 70mm availability into mid-September back in late July, according to CNBC. Those added dates ran through September 16, as Imax confirmed on its own site. Now the window has moved again — further out, through month's end.
Nolan's preferred format, Imax 70mm, has been a commercial engine for the film. Screenings in that format alone have earned $66 million worldwide, at an average of $1.6 million per screen, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Across the full Imax global network — every Imax screen, not just the 70mm film ones — The Odyssey has grossed $457 million, making it the highest-grossing Imax release of all time.
The film adapts Homer's epic poem, following Odysseus (Matt Damon) on his long journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Samantha Morton plays Circe. Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson also star. For all three leads, The Odyssey is their highest-grossing film globally. It is also the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made and Nolan's top-grossing film, having taken $1.55 billion at the worldwide box office — second only this year to Marvel-Sony's Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The Odyssey is the first theatrical release shot entirely with Imax cameras, and the production used 2.1 million feet of film — a strip longer than the distance from Toronto to New York, according to Imax. The film opened in Imax 70mm on July 17 and expanded through the global Imax network across August, reaching South Korea on August 5 and China on August 14, Imax announced. July and August were the two biggest months in Imax's corporate history.
What makes the 70mm extension notable is the economics. A $1.6 million per-screen average in a single premium format is the kind of number that turns a specialised projection pipeline into a serious revenue stream. Every added week of 70mm bookings keeps that pipeline working — and keeps audiences buying tickets for a format that most theatres cannot offer.
The Hollywood Reporter's article does not specify whether the new dates were announced by Universal, Imax, or Nolan's team. What is clear is that demand for the large-format presentation has outlasted every previous deadline set for it.
The Odyssey is distributed by Universal Pictures and is expected to be a major contender in the upcoming Oscars race.
