Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey could have been titled The Odyssey Featuring IMAX. Universal spent months reminding audiences that Nolan shot the movie entirely with IMAX film cameras, a first for a narrative feature. Tickets for IMAX 70mm screenings went on sale a year before the movie opened.

Audiences got the message. Half of the film’s North American opening-weekend audience chose a premium large format (PLF), including 23% who chose IMAX. The Odyssey generated $81.4 million globally in IMAX (and $264.1 million overall).

Premium formats including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX and ScreenX are capturing a growing share of theatrical spending by giving audiences something increasingly difficult for a standard movie screen to offer: a compelling reason to leave the living room.

‘The Odyssey’ Has Company At The Box Office

A number of 2026’s biggest movies succeeded with help from premium screens, across genres that extend well beyond the action blockbusters traditionally associated with the format.

Project Hail Mary, which was filmed for IMAX, opened with $28 million in global IMAX box office. The sci-fi film went on to gross roughly $684 million worldwide.

The Michael Jackson biopic Michael saw IMAX and other PLFs account for 48% of its U.S. opening-weekend ticket sales, with 16% coming from IMAX and 32% from other premium formats. The movie eventually crossed $1 billion worldwide. Concert-like sound and........

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