BFI IMAX, the UK’s largest screen, was the number one IMAX venue in both the UK and international markets during the opening weekend of BFI Fellow Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed new epic, THE ODYSSEY. As the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, the film can be experienced at BFI IMAX in its intended presentation, screened from a rare IMAX 70mm print.
With an extraordinary three-day gross of £219,867 from a single screen, BFI IMAX delivered the biggest opening weekend box office result of any IMAX venue in the UK and international markets. This performance places THE ODYSSEY at the top of the all-time BFI IMAX opening weekend box office rankings, surpassing STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017) which previously held the record with a three-day gross of £216,454. Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning biopic OPPENHEIMER (2023) now ranks third, having achieved an opening weekend gross of £207,677.
To date, BFI IMAX has sold more than 82,000 admissions for THE ODYSSEY, generating £2,169,882 gross in ticket sales and achieving a 94% occupancy rate across all showtimes currently on sale – already making it our third highest grossing film ever. Across eight weeks, 173 consecutive IMAX 70mm screenings have sold out entirely, with audience members travelling to London from as far afield as Singapore, Los Angeles and Toronto to see the film in IMAX 70mm. Additional dates are expected to be added in response to unprecedented global demand from audiences eager to see this epic on the UK’s largest screen, in IMAX 70mm as intended.
BFI IMAX programme manager Madeleine Mullett commented: “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. Across the BFI, our commitment to preserving and celebrating celluloid, alongside the filmmakers who continue to champion this format, speaks to the enduring power of storytelling and the unique communal experience of seeing film on film. The extraordinary demand for our IMAX 70mm presentation of The Odyssey, experienced as intended by the filmmakers, is ultimate proof of the appetite audiences have for cinema at its most authentic.”
Introducing THE ODYSSEY during the film’s World Premiere at BFI IMAX on 6 July, BFI Fellow Christopher Nolan said: “This is a very special venue for us. . . It was in this very venue that I met the person to whom the film is dedicated, my friend and IMAX mentor, David Keighley. . . I wish he were with us here tonight, but I know he’d be very proud of us and very proud of the work that Patricia [Keighley] and her whole team has done finishing the film, and very excited for you guys to be the first audience in the world to see it projected in this wonderful theatre on this wonderful screen from an IMAX film print.”
THE ODYSSEY is the first feature to be shot entirely with IMAX film cameras and presented in IMAX 70mm, showcasing the latest advances in large-format filmmaking. With one of only three IMAX 70mm prints in the UK, BFI IMAX offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience the film in its intended format. As previously announced, THE ODYSSEY shattered BFI IMAX’s one-day presale record, selling 28,000 tickets in just 24 hours and generating £750,000 in gross revenue. This achievement came after four opening weekend screenings sold out in less than an hour, a full year ahead of release. THE ODYSSEY comfortably surpassed the previous BFI IMAX presale record held by DUNE: PART TWO (2024), which generated £366,000 in its first 24 hours on sale, and OPPENHEIMER (2023) which took £254,000 over the same period.
At the start of 2026, BFI IMAX launched a new monthly celluloid strand, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN ON FILM, in anticipation of the IMAX 70mm release of THE ODYSSEY. Since January, sold out audiences have travelled through time, space, history and memory with screenings of each of Nolan’s IMAX 70mm features, presented chronologically. Beginning with THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY in January and culminating with OPPENHEIMER in June, the strand celebrates one of contemporary cinema’s most influential filmmakers and his enduring commitment to the theatrical experience, large-format filmmaking and the power of film projection.
THE ODYSSEY is now playing on the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX in IMAX 70mm.
