'The Odyssey' opens the $400 million club in IMAX

As it concludes its sixth weekend in theaters around the world, a new record arrives not only for The Odysseybut for cinema in general.

The epic of Christopher Nolan y Universal Pictures has been crowned as the first film to reach and exceed $400 million dollars in IMAX theaters throughout the history of the format.

After adding another $34.4 million dollars this weekend, The Odyssey has an IMAX box office total of $406.5 million dollars. This leaves the following incredible data:

• First film to exceed $400 million in IMAX
• The record as the highest grosser in IMAX at the national box office: $180.7 million
• The record as the highest grosser in IMAX at the international box office: $225.8 million
• The number one IMAX movie in 65 countries
• 28% of its total global collection comes from IMAX

The Odyssey It was already the film with the highest grossing IMAX gross of all time, now it is the first and only one to reach and exceed $400 million dollars in that format.

THE HIGHEST GROSSING IMAX RELEASES OF ALL TIME:

1. The Odyssey (2026): $406.5 MDD (currently)
2. Avatar (2009): $270 MDD
3. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022): $259 MDD
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): $214 MDD
5. Avengers: Endgame (2019): $207MDD
6. Oppenheimer (2023): $183MDD

In recent days, The Odyssey became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time worldwide, and Nolan's biggest commercial success, that is, the highest-grossing film of his filmography, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises ($1,080 million dollars).

It is also the only Nolan film to exceed one billion dollars at the global box office, which does not belong to his Batman franchise.

The updated box office The Odyssey (as of August 23):

• Domestic box office: $539.2 mdd
• International box office: $912.5 mdd
• Global box office: $1,451.8 million

The production budget was $250 million, the most expensive project in Nolan's filmography, and as we mentioned, his greatest commercial success.

The Odyssey It premiered in theaters in China last Friday, August 14, and remains to be released in Japan on September 11. IMAX theaters have made sold out in key cities such as Los Angeles and New York until October. In China it is projected in thousands of standard auditoriums and 800 IMAX screens.

AMONG THE HIGHEST GROSSING RELEASES OF 2026

The Odyssey It is placed among the highest-grossing projects of 2026 at the global box office, in a list that currently looks like this:

1. Spider–Man: Brand New Day: $2,221 million dollars
2. The Odyssey: $1,451.8 million dollars
3. Toy Story 5: $1,128.5 million dollars
4. Michael: $1,021.4 million dollars
5. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: $1,012.4 million dollars
6. The Devil Wears Prada 2: $692.3 million dollars
7. Project Hail Mary: $684.2 million dollars
8. Pegasus 3: $656.4 million dollars
9. Minions & Monsters: $505.6 million dollars
10. Obsession: $501.6 million dollars

With figures from The Numbers.

The film adapts Homer's epic poem, about 3,000 years old, and revolves around Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey home after the Trojan Warexploring themes of heroism, loyalty, cunning, and fighting against divine will.

During his journey, Odysseus faces the cyclops Polyphemus, the mermaids, the nymph Calypso and the witch goddess Circe in the treacherous oceans that separate him from his native island and his wife Penelope, who breaks up a wedding procession that she weaves every night in case one of the suitors who have taken over her home ends up marrying her if her husband does not return. His memory is also guarded by his son Telemachus. The story also includes gods such as Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus.

The huge star cast includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Himesh Patel, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Logan Marshall-Green, y Corey Hawkins.

The production used new technology IMAX and equipment never used before, making history by becoming the first narrative feature film filmed entirely with IMAX cameras. What does it mean? While filming was previously limited to filming action scenes in IMAX mainly, due to how noisy the format's cameras are for filming dialogues close to the actor, Nolan and company created a new casing for the IMAX moviecall blimpto significantly reduce noise, and film in IMAX entirely.