BFI IMAX, the UK’s largest screen, has sold 28,000 tickets for BFI Fellow Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (cin. Hoyte van Hoytema ASC FSF NSC) in 24 hours, breaking first day on sale records for the venue with a total gross of £750,000.
This follows four opening weekend screenings that had previously sold out in under an hour a year in advance, including a special midnight showing to kickstart a weekend of non-stop round-the-clock screenings.
The first feature to be shot entirely on IMAX 70mm with IMAX cameras, showcasing the latest in big-screen technology, BFI IMAX is the “ultimate venue” to see this epic tale on a rare IMAX 70mm celluloid print – one of only three in the UK – the BFI said.
The Odyssey’s first day takings for BFI IMAX have broken BFI records, leapfrogging Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024), which took £366,000 gross in the first 24 hours of on sale, and Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023), which took £254,000 gross in the same timeframe.
Earlier this year, BFI IMAX created a new monthly celluloid strand, Christopher Nolan on Film, to mark the upcoming IMAX 70mm release of The Odyssey.
Since January, sold-out audiences have been able to “travel through time, space, history and memory on an exploration through Nolan’s cinematic worlds”, with each of his IMAX 70mm films playing chronologically on celluloid – from The Dark Knight Trilogy in January to Oppenheimer in June – “celebrating a director who consistently reaffirms our trust in the cinematic experience and the wonder of seeing Film on Film”.
In 2023, BFI IMAX reported the biggest opening weekend box office result of any screen in the UK for Nolan’s last film Oppenheimer, also making it the number one IMAX screen in the country with a stellar weekend gross of £207,677.
BFI IMAX was also the second-highest grossing IMAX screen globally on the film’s opening weekend, behind the TCL Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, which has almost double the capacity.
Oppenheimer screened 24 hours around-the-clock on opening weekend, with audiences travelling from across the country and the world to be the first to see the film at the venue and on the UK’s largest screen.
Oppenheimer ended its initial theatrical run at BFI IMAX with a gross of £2.2 million.
The Odyssey opens on the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX in IMAX 70mm from Friday 17 July.
