‘The audience is telling the industry something’: even IMAX is stunned by Christopher Nolan’s runaway ‘Odyssey’

Ford was far from the only one willing to pay for the experience, in a way that has Hollywood reexamining its prior assumptions. Only around 40 theaters worldwide can project true IMAX 70mm film, and tickets for Christopher Nolan’s epic went on sale a full year before release, with even 3 a.m. showings at New York’s Lincoln Square IMAX selling out completely. 

It was the biggest opening weekend in the company’s history, generating $52 million globally and accounting for 20% of the film’s worldwide opening weekend. IMAX also recorded its biggest opening ever for a Nolan film, and it sold out not only IMAX 70mm screenings worldwide, but also the collectible IMAX camera-shaped popcorn bucket.

“The demand for IMAX 70mm Film has exceeded even our expectations,” an IMAX spokesperson told Fortune. “We’ve never seen demand for IMAX Film on this scale.” The frenzy is partly mechanical: The Odyssey is the first narrative feature ever shot entirely on IMAX cameras, using specially engineered sound-dampening “blimp” casings so Nolan could shoot both dialogue and action in the format—a technical first that has driven cinephiles to treat 70mm as the only “true” way to see the film. (Actors were only able to record a few minutes of dialogue at one time before the cameras, $500,000 apiece, reloaded.)

IMAX said audiences have gone to extraordinary lengths to experience The Odyssey in its premium format, arguing that when filmmakers create “a truly extraordinary event,” moviegoers will go out of their experience it in IMAX. 

The frenzy spilled onto social media, where fans joked that “trying to see The Odyssey in 70mm is harder than anything Odysseus went through.“

Paul Dergarabedian, head of Marketplace Trends at Rentrak and one of the industry’s top box-office breakdown analysts, called the film’s opening weekend “one of the most monumental weekends in moviegoing history,” arguing that packed theaters, sold-out premium screenings and concession lines reflected something bigger than ticket sales.

“The audience is telling the industry something,” Dergarabedian told Fortune. “The most powerful people in Hollywood are the moviegoers and they either vote by being there or not being there.”

The odyssey back toward a monoculture

That enthusiasm is translating into broader box-office gains. According to data from Rentrak, the domestic box office has climbed 10.3% year-over-year to more than $5.4 billion, reaching the $5 billion milestone by July 8—a full 15 days earlier than when it hit that point in 2025. After one weekend in theaters, The Odyssey has nearly cracked the top 10, with its $263 million worldwide haul already earning back its $250 million budget, potentially setting it up to become the year’s third billion-dollar grosser, after Michael and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Toy Story 5 has fallen just shy so far.) 

Box-office analysts have been on tenterhooks for nearly half a decade as the billion-dollar blockbusters of the 2010s — many of them superhero movies and sequels — have been harder to recapture in this decade, with the notable exception of “Barbenheimer,” when the Barbie movie (total box office: $1.5 billion) was released the same weekend as Christopher Nolan’s last smash, the future best-picture winner Oppenheimer ($976 million). The tide began turning earlier this summer with the surprise smashes from former YouTube sensations, Backrooms ($384 million) and Obsession ($448 million). 

While premium formats still make up a relatively small share of overall ticket sales, Dergarabedian said they’re becoming an increasingly important part of the business because audiences are willing to pay more for the premium experience.

That shift marks a dramatic departure from pandemic-era predictions that movie theaters would permanently lose their place in the entertainment ecosystem. It’s another brick in the emerging theory that something has changed in the economy, and the streaming and AI ages are giving way to a resurgence in monocultural events. Executives for Kalshi told Fortune earlier this month that the prediction market’s up-to-the-minute data on consumer sentiment shows live events are surging in popularity, with the World Cup in particular outpacing all expectations. 

Consumer psychologists say that value has less to do with the screen itself than with the experience it creates.

Jorge Barraza, chief science officer at Immersion Neuroscience and a consumer psychologist who studies emotional engagement and immersive experiences, said consumers aren’t paying more simply for bigger screens or louder speakers. They’re paying for experiences that capture their attention, engage more of their senses and create stronger memories. 

What consumers often describe as “better sound” or a “bigger screen,” Barraza said, is often a shorthand for something deeper. 

“When these experiences are immersive, they’re a lot richer in a sensory way,” Barraza told Fortune. “They’re likely to generate stronger memories and connect with us more.”

The more senses an experience engages, the more quickly people become emotionally invested. Features like IMAX’s larger screen and immersive sound, Barraza said, create a richer sensory experience than watching the same movie at home. 

‘Streaming has strengthened our business’

The same shift has reshaped IMAX’s business. While streaming has made entertainment more accessible than ever, the company said it has strengthened demand for premium theatrical experiences rather than weakened it.

“Streaming hasn’t weakened our business—it has strengthened our value proposition,” an IMAX spokesperson told Fortune. “Audiences are increasingly looking for the best possible experience when they’re leaving their homes, and that’s exactly where IMAX wins.”

Before streaming, seeing a new release often meant going to the theater. Today, audiences know they’ll likely be able to watch the same film at home within weeks, making the decision less about access and more about whether the experience itself is worth paying for.

“It becomes, what is that decision process in terms of me experiencing it through home digital versus going to the movies?” Barraza said. “People will pay these premiums when these experiences are immersive.”

Ford’s experience mirrored that psychology. 

“The sound was actually one of the things that added to it the most,” Ford told Fortune after seeing it in both formats. “It was just something that you can’t really get anywhere else.” 

A regular moviegoer, Ford started posting reviews on Reddit in early 2025 after realizing there was little information about which films were actually worth seeing in premium motion-seat format. He now reviews virtually every major 4DX release, giving audiences a consistent point of comparison before spending extra money.

“I think the big thing that’s valuable about my reviews for a lot of people is just having one person go see everything,” Ford said. “That’s the consistency of having the same reviewer go and see it.” 

When The Odyssey opened, Ford bought tickets for both IMAX and 4DX. Before the screenings, he checked the seating charts out of curiosity. 

The IMAX auditorium was completely sold out. The 4DX showing had fewer than 20 people.

For Ford, The Odyssey was one of those rare experiences worth paying more for.

“I might even go see The Odyssey again in IMAX before they remove it,” Ford said. “It was just a spectacle—a very genuine cinematic experience.”