‘Dune: Part Three’ Dethrones ‘The Odyssey’ With Record-Shattering London IMAX Presale

Premium large-format tickets have become the hottest currency in Hollywood this year, and the scramble for the best seat in the house now starts months before a film opens. Few franchises understand that better than Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi saga, which began selling IMAX 70mm tickets for its finale eight months ahead of release. The latest ‘Dune: Part Three’ presale record shows that strategy is paying off.

To understand why the new number is so striking, it helps to look at the bar it had to clear. Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ sold 28,000 tickets at London’s BFI IMAX in its first 24 hours on sale, grossing £750,000. That more than doubled the £366,000 taken by ‘Dune: Part Two’ and nearly tripled the £254,000 posted by ‘Oppenheimer’.

‘The Odyssey’ went on to prove the demand was real. The BFI IMAX has since sold more than 101,000 tickets for it and generated about £2.7 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the venue’s history.

Now ‘Dune: Part Three’ has taken the crown. On October 21, BFI IMAX, the UK’s largest screen, announced it had sold 33,000 advance tickets in 24 hours, for a first-day gross of more than £880,000, or about $988,000. That tops the venue’s previous first-day presale record, set by ‘The Odyssey’.

The updated leaderboard reads like a who’s who of modern event cinema. ‘Dune: Part Three’ sits first at £880,000, followed by ‘The Odyssey’ at £750,000, ‘Dune: Part Two’ at £366,000, ‘Oppenheimer’ at £254,000 and ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ at £116,000.

The record follows a long run of sellouts. Three opening-weekend screenings vanished in under an hour back in April, and two previews sold out earlier this month. The BFI will present the film on an IMAX 70mm print, with preview screenings starting December 15 and earlier revivals of ‘Dune’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’ returning to the screen from December 11.

“Forgive me for all I’ve done.” Experience the epic conclusion. Dune: Part Three only in theaters and IMAX December 18. #DuneMovie #FilmedforIMAX https://t.co/x9Nftg9yXd

— DUNE (@dunemovie) July 8, 2026

Part of the appeal is how the film was made. ‘Dune: Part Three’ is the first entry in the franchise shot with a combination of IMAX-certified digital cameras and IMAX film cameras, and it features 71 minutes in IMAX’s expanded 1.90:1 aspect ratio. The project was primarily shot on 65mm film, with the desert sequences captured in IMAX Digital.

That format pitch has defined the rollout so far. Earlier waves of tickets arrived in July of last year and again in April, and a third round of premium-format sales came with new footage and “Dune Insider” screenings ahead of opening day. That third wave was not without drama, since AMC’s app reportedly buckled under the demand.

The film opens December 18 in North America and from December 16 internationally. It lands on the same weekend as ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, and the added early screenings give ‘Dune’ a head start in the race for the top spot at the box office. Reports have also suggested that the film secured an IMAX-heavy opening weekend.

The film adapts Frank Herbert’s 1969 novel ‘Dune Messiah’ and begins 17 years after the events of the previous film. Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, now rules as Emperor and is married to Princess Irulan, played by Florence Pugh, while his relationship with Chani, played by Zendaya, is under strain. Enemies including the Bene Tleilax plot against him, and Villeneuve has said the film leans more toward a thriller with more action than its predecessors.

The ensemble is stacked. Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Momoa and Robert Pattinson all return or join, with Pattinson playing Scytale and Momoa taking on a new version of Duncan Idaho. The film marks Chalamet and Villeneuve’s last outing in this universe.

There is a strong track record behind that momentum. The first 2 ‘Dune’ films earned more than $1.1 billion globally, and the trilogy-closing chapter is being sold as “The Epic Conclusion”. It is hard to find a better indicator of how much audiences want to see how the story ends than a 24-hour sales total this large.

What the BFI IMAX numbers cannot tell us yet is how wide the appetite runs beyond the most devoted fans. Standard-screen presales have not opened, and the figure that will ultimately matter most, the opening-weekend gross, is still weeks away. For now, though, a London cinema has handed Villeneuve’s finale a very loud vote of confidence.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!