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    IMAX CEO says 'The Odyssey' box office is 'more extreme' than expected. He also addresses whether the company is for sale.
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    IMAX CEO says ‘The Odyssey’ box office is ‘more extreme’ than expected. He also addresses whether the company is for sale.


    IMAX CEO says ‘The Odyssey’ box office is ‘more extreme’ than expected. He also addresses whether the company is for sale.

    Posted by businessinsider

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      **From Business Insider’s Jason Guerrasio:** 
      Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, “The Odyssey,” had an opening weekend at the box office worthy of the gods.

      The movie, based on the centuries-old poem by Homer, took in the third-best domestic opening of the year with $124.5 million and $264.1 million globally.

      That’s not a shock to most in the business. Not only does the movie have a star-studded cast (Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, and Zendaya) and is helmed by an Oscar winner, another reason for the film’s success is IMAX, Nolan’s preferred presentation of his work.

      For years, Nolan made it his mission to craft much of his films, from his Batman trilogy to his Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer,” so that they are formatted for large-format screens. With “The Odyssey,” he went a step further, pushing IMAX to build a quieter version of its camera to shoot the entire movie.

      “When he called me, I always try to make our organization do what he wants,” IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told Business Insider on the phone Monday. “My answer to all of his questions is, ‘Let’s try to make it happen.'”

      With “The Odyssey” touted as the first movie ever shot entirely on IMAX cameras, it was a success for IMAX before a single frame was shown. Almost a year before its opening, presales of IMAX 70MM showings were sold out within an hour, earning $1.5 million.

      And things only got better when the movie came out. The company reported earning $51.8 million globally, more than 20% of the movie’s worldwide box office. Of that, IMAX 70MM screenings generated an astounding $6.3 million from just 41 screens worldwide, an average of $153,000 per screen.

      Gelford spoke to Business Insider to look back on the success of “The Odyssey,” explained why it’s so expensive to create IMAX 70MM theaters, and addressed the report that the company is for sale.

      [Read more here. ](https://www.businessinsider.com/imax-rich-gelfond-the-odyssey-box-office-company-sale-rumors-2026-7?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-entertainment-sub-post)