Odyssey is boosting IMAX ticket sales and revenue

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” was a huge hit at the box office IMAX And enhancing investor confidence that the company will reach record ticket sales in 2026.

IMAX shares jumped more than 8% on Thursday after the company announced it remains on track to make a record $1.4 billion at the global box office this year. Wall Street was worried about that when Netflix Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” has been pushed back from its November release date to February 2027, as IMAX will not be able to reach that guidance.

worldwide “The Odyssey” alleviates these concerns. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $52 million at the global IMAX box office. The company’s locations account for less than 1% of total screens but account for 20% of a film’s worldwide debut.

The opening of “The Odyssey” was 47% higher than Nolan’s previous film, “Oppenheimer.” The biopic has grossed more than $190 million via IMAX throughout its 2023 run.

The Odyssey’s momentum shows little sign of slowing. The film earned another $11 million on Monday and $10.6 million on Tuesday, the best Tuesday performance ever for the company, according to IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond, who spoke to investors on an earnings call Thursday.

“Our second weekend advance sales will qualify on their own as one of our biggest opening weekends ever,” he said. “These numbers help prove that we are in the warm-up phase.”

We have yet to make it to global IMAX screens this year Sony and marvel “Spider-Man: A Brand New Day”; Zach Cregger for “Resident Evil”; Tom Cruise’s latest movie “Digger”; “Godzilla minus one”; “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt, and inspired by the movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” directed by Quentin Tarantino; and Paramount “Street fighting.”

then Warner Bros. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part III will close out the year. The first Dune movie grossed $61 million in IMAX theaters during the end of the pandemic, and Dune: Part Two earned $147 million globally.

“Our momentum continues to translate into demand from our exhibition partners,” Gelfond said.

The company installed 38 IMAX systems globally during the second quarter, up from 36 during the same period a year earlier. That’s the highest number of installations in the second quarter in a decade, IMAX CFO Natasha Fernandez told investors during an earnings call Thursday. Nineteen systems were installed in the first quarter, and the company is on track to install between 160 and 175 systems by the end of 2026.

IMAX currently has 421 backlogged screen construction contracts.

“We continue to see tremendous runway for our global expansion, and we continue to innovate in ways that make IMAX even more valuable to creators, studios, exhibitors and audiences alike,” Gelfond said. “This is a very exciting time for our business.”