‘The Odyssey’ Becomes Highest-Grossing Film at BFI IMAX in London

Christopher Nolan has cultivated a loyal fanbase for large-format cinema, and the figures emerging from one specific London theater are nothing short of remarkable. Since its debut, ‘The Odyssey’ has evolved into more than just a summer blockbuster; it’s become a cultural phenomenon.

This remarkable success has been particularly evident at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo, the largest cinema screen in the UK. The film has been showcased in true IMAX 70mm format, allowing audiences to experience it precisely as Nolan envisioned, and moviegoers have flocked to the venue in unprecedented numbers.

The film’s impressive ticket sales have led to a historic achievement. ‘The Odyssey’ has officially become the highest-grossing film of all time at BFI IMAX, surpassing James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster ‘Avatar’. So far, the venue has sold over 101,000 tickets for the film, generating £2,683,987, or approximately $3.6 million, from that single screen alone.

This total comes with an astonishing 95% occupancy rate across all available showtimes, a remarkable figure for any theater, especially one with a single screen shouldering this much of the load. BFI IMAX remains the top-performing venue for the film both in the UK and globally, now ranking as the second-highest grossing IMAX screen worldwide, just behind the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, which has nearly double the seating capacity.

The film’s success at the venue was not a slow burn. ‘The Odyssey’ shattered the theater’s all-time opening weekend record upon its release, raking in £219,867 over three days and surpassing the previous record held by ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ since 2017. This opening also outperformed Nolan’s own 2023 hit ‘Oppenheimer’, which had previously occupied the second-place spot.

Demand for the film was intense even before its release. ‘The Odyssey’ broke BFI IMAX’s single-day presale record in June, selling 28,000 tickets within the first 24 hours, generating £750,000 in revenue, a full year before the film’s actual release. Four opening weekend screenings reportedly sold out in under an hour once tickets went on sale.

This early excitement has translated into ongoing, near-constant sellouts since its release. Over eight weeks, 173 consecutive IMAX 70mm screenings at the venue have completely sold out, with fans traveling to London from as far away as Singapore, Los Angeles, and Toronto just to experience the film in its intended format.

Much of this enthusiasm is tied to the film’s unique production. ‘The Odyssey’ is the first feature ever filmed entirely with IMAX film cameras, making theaters capable of screening true IMAX 70mm prints, like BFI IMAX, especially appealing to dedicated fans of the format.

BFI IMAX programme manager Madeleine Mullett highlighted this unique legacy as a key factor driving the record-breaking demand. “As the only cinema in the UK to hold a complete archive of Christopher Nolan’s IMAX 70mm filmography, now including ‘The Odyssey’, we are proud to be the home of Christopher Nolan on film,” Mullett said, according to Deadline.

The impressive numbers at the venue are just one aspect of a much larger success story for ‘The Odyssey’. The film has already surpassed $700 million globally, becoming the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year in just its first twelve days in theaters, an astonishing pace for a project inspired by Homer’s ancient epic.

With screenings continuing to sell out and additional showtimes reportedly being added in response to demand, ‘The Odyssey’ shows no signs of slowing down at BFI IMAX or elsewhere.

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