Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has passed $1bn worldwide and become the highest-grossing release in IMAX history, overtaking Avatar, having contributed $271m through the large-format screens alone.
The film reached the mark in its fourth weekend, before opening in China.
What does the IMAX record mean?
Deadline reported the film had displaced Avatar at the top of the IMAX chart, a position James Cameron’s film had held since 2009.
The Odyssey was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, the first feature to be made that way, and Nolan has built successive films around the format. Universal held IMAX screens for it through the opening weekend of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, unusual for a film in its third frame facing a major release.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Worldwide gross | More than $1bn |
| IMAX contribution | $271m |
| Previous IMAX record | Avatar |
| China release | Still to come |
How much has The Odyssey made?
The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan and distributed by Universal Pictures, passed $1bn at the worldwide box office in August 2026, during its fourth weekend of release. It became the highest-grossing film in IMAX history, contributing $271m through IMAX screens and displacing Avatar, which had held the record since 2009. The film had not yet opened in China at the time it reached the billion-dollar mark. It is the third Nolan film to pass $1bn worldwide, after The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer, and is on course to become his second-highest grossing release in North America, behind The Dark Knight. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Mia Goth.
Where does it sit among Nolan films?
It is his third film to pass $1bn, after The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer. It had already recorded the strongest second week of his career and passed the lifetime domestic total of Oppenheimer within thirteen days.
The film is tracking to overtake The Dark Knight Rises and its $448.2m domestic total, which would place it second among his releases behind The Dark Knight on $535m.
What is still to come?
China has not yet received the film. Nolan’s work has performed unevenly there, with Oppenheimer taking a modest total relative to its global figure, so the addition is not straightforward to forecast.
The film opened on 17 July and led the box office for two weekends before Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived. It held better against that opening than expected, declining 43 per cent in its third weekend.
Why the format matters commercially
IMAX tickets carry a premium over standard admission, so a film that fills those auditoriums earns more per viewer. For a three-hour feature that is also a constraint: fewer screenings fit into a day.
The trade-off has worked in Nolan’s favour repeatedly. Oppenheimer drew a substantial share of its total from large-format screens, and exhibitors have pointed to films designed for those auditoriums as a significant factor in this year’s box office recovery.
IMAX screens for the film have been sold out well in advance in several markets.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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