Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has turned moviegoing into a quest worthy of its source material, with fans traveling extraordinary distances to experience the film in Imax 70mm — a rare premium format that’s commanding premium prices and generating outsized box office results.
Mike Rohlfing drove roughly 900 miles round trip from St. Louis to Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife and three children just to watch the film in the coveted format. The 39-year-old marketer isn’t alone in his devotion. According to Imax CEO Richard Gelfond, fans are “flying across countries, if not continents” to catch “The Odyssey” in Imax 70mm.
The format is delivering exceptional financial results. During opening weekend, an average Imax 70mm screen generated $153,000 in box office revenue, according to Gelfond, who described the haul as “massive” during a Thursday analyst call. Adult tickets for opening weekend Imax 70mm screenings averaged $27.77, according to exclusive data from EntTelligence shared with CNBC — 81% more expensive than the average admission price across all formats.
Scarcity Fuels Frenzy
The limited availability of Imax 70mm screenings has intensified demand. Only 25 theaters across the United States and 16 internationally are equipped to project “The Odyssey” in the format, which requires both massive auditoriums and expensive machinery capable of handling the enormous film reels.
“We could have more of them and we’re exploring ways to do that, but in a way, it’s like a Rolls-Royce,” Gelfond said. “There are a finite number of locations that really can support the economics of it.”
The scarcity has turned ticket-buying into a competitive event. Morgan Bernados, a 27-year-old nonprofit worker in the San Francisco Bay Area, couldn’t secure tickets at her local theater and had to settle for a Monday night showing roughly 90 minutes away. She compared the experience to buying Taylor Swift concert tickets, noting a definite fear-of-missing-out element.
Ashton Jones, a 26-year-old information technology administrator in Georgia, could only get seats for a 3 a.m. showing at his state’s sole Imax 70mm theater. He drank a Red Bull halfway through the nearly three-hour film to stay awake, then drove an hour home with barely enough time to rest before work. Some theaters began selling Imax 70mm tickets a year in advance.
First Fully Filmed in Format
“The Odyssey” represents a milestone as the first feature film shot entirely with Imax 70mm cameras. Previous directors have used the format only for select scenes within otherwise conventionally filmed movies, making Nolan’s approach unprecedented.
The Indiana State Museum’s Imax 70mm theater — the only such venue in the state — added an extra week of screenings in August due to what manager Neale Johantgen described as “historic” demand. More than half of opening-day attendees traveled at least 50 miles, with visitors from over 20 states and ticket requests from as far as Switzerland.
Cinemark reported “exceptionally strong” demand for its Imax 70mm showings in Colorado and Texas, while Regal said “The Odyssey” became its top-performing Imax 70mm release.
Social Media and Cultural Momentum
Box office analysts credit social media and younger moviegoers with amplifying buzz around the format. According to data from Meltwater analyzed for CNBC, conversation volume around Imax 70mm in social and news media roughly doubled in the five days starting July 17, with sentiment growing increasingly positive.
Google search volume for “Imax 70mm” is forecast to reach new records this month, according to company data, last peaking during Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” release in summer 2023.
For some viewers, the variety of premium formats created confusion. Alexandria Kinsey, a 28-year-old Washington-area resident, turned to TikTok to research the differences between screening types like “XL” and “Dolby Cinema,” discovering that showings billed simply as “Imax” or “70mm” differ from true Imax 70mm. She ultimately chose a Dolby Cinema screening but hopes to see the film again in Imax later.
Investor Interest
Imax shares surged Thursday after the company reported second-quarter earnings that blew past analyst expectations, marking one of the stock’s largest single-session gains in recent history. The Canada-based company also reported year-over-year increases in signings and installations within its theater network.
Most Wall Street analysts have buy ratings on Imax stock, with the average price target suggesting roughly 12% upside over the next year, according to LSEG. Analysts view the company’s premium offerings as key to drawing consumers into theaters.
Imax said it sold more than 10,000 of its collectible “Odyssey” popcorn buckets, with some releases selling out within minutes. Shawn Robbins, founder of Box Office Theory and director of analytics at Fandango, expects “The Odyssey” to return to Imax 70mm screens during slower periods in the fall and anticipates the excitement could benefit upcoming releases in the format, including Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Dune: Part Three” in December.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/25/the-odyssey-imax-70mm-screenings.html
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