‘The Odyssey’ Breaks Major Box Office Record Set by ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Christopher Nolan has always known how to create an event around a movie release, but the rollout for ‘The Odyssey’ has reached new heights. Universal made the bold choice to sell select IMAX 70mm tickets a full year prior to the film’s release, a gamble that quickly paid off as those tickets sold out within just an hour.

This initial excitement was merely the beginning. As the release date drew closer, presale numbers soared, drawing comparisons to some of the most significant box office events in recent history, including Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’, which has long been a benchmark for advance ticket demand.

Reports indicate that ‘The Odyssey’ has officially surpassed ‘Avengers: Endgame’ to achieve the largest IMAX pre-sales window ever recorded for any film. Regardless of whether this title is officially confirmed, the sales figures themselves tell an impressive story.

In the U.S., premium large format tickets that went on sale a year in advance sold approximately 150,000 tickets and generated around $3.4 million in gross revenue within just 24 hours, according to Variety. This marks the highest total for that kind of advance window in four years. AMC also confirmed that the film achieved the highest first-day advance PLF ticket sales the chain has seen in four years, with booking wait times extending up to an hour during peak demand.

The enthusiasm for ‘The Odyssey’ extended beyond the U.S. In London, the BFI IMAX, the largest cinema screen in the UK, sold 28,000 tickets within the first 24 hours, grossing £750,000 and breaking the venue’s previous first-day record, more than doubling the figure set by ‘Dune: Part Two’ and nearly quadrupling Nolan’s own ‘Oppenheimer’.

The demand has continued to surge right up to the release. Fandango confirmed ‘The Odyssey’ as its top preseller of 2026, with advance ticket sales reaching about $40 million ahead of the opening weekend. Thursday preview screenings alone brought in $17.6 million, marking the best single preview night of the year and nearly double what ‘Oppenheimer’ achieved in the same timeframe.

A significant portion of this revenue has been driven by premium formats. An analysis of opening night earnings revealed that 58 percent of ticket sales came from IMAX, premium large format, and 70mm prints combined. This figure is particularly noteworthy given that only 34 true IMAX 70mm screens exist worldwide, the exact format used to shoot the film exclusively with IMAX cameras.

With scalpers reportedly reselling some tickets for as much as $1,500 and theaters continuing to report sold-out IMAX 70mm showtimes weeks in advance, ‘The Odyssey’ is set to be one of the defining box office stories of the year, regardless of where it ultimately ranks in the record books. Do you believe ‘The Odyssey’ deserves the title of biggest IMAX presale of all time? Did you manage to secure a premium format ticket? Let us know in the comments.