Highbrow box-office king Christopher Nolan seals biggest second weekend ever with $87 million haul for ‘The Odyssey’

“The Odyssey” continued to exert a mighty hold on moviegoers in its second weekend in North American theaters, with $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That’s only a 30% drop from its first weekend, an incredibly modest slide for a blockbuster. It’s also filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s best second weekend ever, not accounting for inflation. In 2008, “The Dark Knight” earned $75.2 million in weekend two.

“That would be an impressive opening weekend for any film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends. “This is a testament to the outpouring of excitement and enthusiasm that moviegoers are having for Christopher Nolan’s latest epic.”

With $128.3 million from international theaters, “The Odyssey” has made an estimated $639.6 million globally. Theaters around the world are adding showtimes to try to meet the demand, Dergarabedian said.

As with last weekend, much of that sum is from premium large format screens. IMAX screens alone accounted for $48 million........

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