Jul 24, 2026 7:30pm IST
‘The Odyssey’: Has the IMAX Hype Put the Brakes on Christopher Nolan’s Epic In India?
Maverick filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, “The Odyssey,” opened to $264.1 million at the global box office over its opening weekend. In five days, the adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem grossed over $282 million, with the Indian market contributing ₹78 crore (net). While “The Odyssey” set the record for the biggest IMAX opening day in Indian cinema history, with growth on Saturday and Sunday, and emerged as the sixth-biggest market globally, it somehow impacted the overall collections in the country.
“The Odyssey” grossed ₹21.35 crore in four days with 34 IMAX screens, as per Recobee. With close to 30% contribution from the premium format, with just around 820 shows, the film raked in collections with a staggering 70 percent-plus average occupancy. However, due to its positioning as a primary format and IMAX film, the movie has failed to find footfalls in mass centers and normal screens. Hence, 90-100% of its IMAX tickets for the opening week were booked in a whisker during its advance sales and shows in the non-metros were canceled because of poor or no turnouts.
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While the MCU and big Hollywood franchises have garnered footfalls in regional dubbed versions, “The Odyssey” has failed to click in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The Telugu and Tamil dubbed versions of the film collected ₹4.32 crore and ₹2.65 crore with average occupancies of 25% and 24.6%, respectively. On the other hand, the Hindi version registered an average occupancy of merely 14.7% across 16,438 shows and collected ₹9.68 crore.
Analyzing the scenario shows that while “The Odyssey” has emerged as a box-office success, it could have done much better business if the film had not been trapped under the IMAX or Premium film brand.
Written, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan, “The Odyssey” features a stellar ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.
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