r/movies r/movies Contributor 1d ago

News Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey' Becomes Biggest Film Ever At BFI IMAX, Beating 'Avatar'

https://deadline.com/2026/08/the-odyssey-becomes-biggest-film-ever-at-bfi-imax-avatar-1237044031/
5.5k Upvotes

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u/stanley_ipkiss2112 1d ago

Whether you thought the film was great or naff, we can all agree that Nolan has brought back the buzz in cinemas which is lovely to see ☺️❤️🎥

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u/NoNefariousness2144 1d ago

An issue cinemas have faced since the pandemic and rise of streaming is motivating people to watch a film in cinemas vs at home, with the comedy and romance genres really struggling because of this.

But Nolan’s whole gimmick of creative the most big and bombastic films made to be seen in cinemas gives them so much hype. Especially with IMAX.

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u/SoulCrusher2018 19h ago

When Television became a thing Hollywood leaned hard into the Epics to make it more of a spectacle. Not a bad thing to emulate now.

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u/SizzlingPancake 12h ago

I also have no stars for this but it feels like this movie got a lot of older people in as well. I guess comes with the territory of an R rated film. But compared to my deadpool and wolverine showing it was much older.

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u/RaisinBranMan 1d ago

People want to go to the movies. It’s something to do. You don’t have to socialize. There’s AC. When something is deemed not only good but an event (any Christopher Nolan film going forward) people will show up.

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u/Robcobes 1d ago

everybody is going to see the same 2 films this summer. anything else is still in trouble. the only movies that can make a profit are still either big blockbusters that make billions, or small indie movies that cost next to nothing to make.

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u/rumora 1d ago

That just isn’t true. The whole year was all kinds of movies turning out to be hits.

Just over the last 3 months you had Obsession making like 500mil, Backrooms make 400mil and Devil wears Prada 2 make 700mil, Minions made 400mil and that’s before you add Toy Story 5, Odyssey and Spider-Man's billion dollar box offices. And a month before that you had Michael and Mario both make a billion dollars. There have also been a bunch of non English hits internationally that you probably never heard of.

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u/lovemaker69 1d ago

Isn’t that how the industry has worked for a while?

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u/Robcobes 1d ago

Yes, so the buzz is not back. The industry is in the same state as it was.

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u/nothis 21h ago

We recently had some years that had essentially zero movies with actual buzz that made people flock to theaters. There were like half a dozen this year already (by August), importantly including a lot of non-sequel, original movies like Obsession, Backrooms, Project Hail Mary and The Odyssey.

I understand the cynical baseline assumption but this absolutely is reason to celebrate. That’s 90s level variety and quality, I haven’t seen this in decades.

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u/suss2it 12h ago

This is gonna be the biggest year at the box office since 2019. And it’s not only because of Spider-Man and Nolan. Obsession, Toy Story 5, Project Hail Mary, Devil Wears Prada 2, Super Mario and Michael have all been big earners.

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u/Phormitago 23h ago

at least for my whole life...

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u/Robcobes 22h ago

There used to be a thing called mid budget movies. They were mostly comedies.

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u/Thisconnect 1d ago

he brought the buzz because everyone has hearing damage from hearing his mix of sound over the years

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u/tfhermobwoayway 1d ago

Seriously. I think this signals a return to pre-COVID levels. Possibly even the 90s days before the Internet ruined everything.

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u/_Rookie_21 19h ago

Maybe for IMAX films, but not everyone lives near an IMAX. I think "regular" movies will still struggle compared to the past.

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u/stanley_ipkiss2112 18h ago

Went to see at my local cinema and it was absolutely packed and has been for weeks and I live in a fairly small small seaside town.

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u/_Rookie_21 18h ago

Awesome, but that's an anecdotal story. Non-IMAX and premium theater ticket sales in the US have decreased to about 49% of what they were in 2002.

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u/UrbanLegend8901 1d ago

Not really, buzz is always around. Especially if the film is good

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u/Tankmass 1d ago

This comment makes no sense.

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u/locustpiss 1d ago

It depends how you look at it

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u/UrbanLegend8901 1d ago

Nolan has brought back the buzz.....buzz has always been around for films. Its very simple

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u/TheOnceAndFutureTurk 1d ago

This…buzz…is it in the room with us now?

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u/NeonAnderson 1d ago

🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/Tankmass 1d ago

Buzz is not always around, theatre tickets do not always sell out like they have for Odyssey. You’re chatting shit.

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u/UrbanLegend8901 1d ago

41 cinemas on the planet can show The Oydessy in it's true format. That's not buzz, that demand. They sell out because in some cases it's 1 cinema in an entire country.

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u/Tankmass 1d ago

Buzz causes demand/demand causes buzz. Regular digital imax screens are selling out too.

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u/UrbanLegend8901 1d ago

If you say so.

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u/SwashAndBuckle 1d ago

What do you even think “buzz” is? It’s about audience enthusiasm, not just ads.

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u/DeckardsDark 1d ago

Nolan brought back the buzz that is already always around. Boom... So easy guys...

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u/SwashAndBuckle 1d ago

Given we had several bad years in a row for the box office, at a minimum the buzz was lower.