‘The Odyssey’ Nosedives Almost 50% as Box Office Momentum Takes a Hit

For three straight weeks, Christopher Nolan’s name alone was enough to guarantee sold-out screens across the country. ‘The Odyssey‘ had turned IMAX theaters into a genuine phenomenon, with premium showtimes selling out weeks in advance and exhibitors scheduling screenings at odd hours just to satisfy demand.

That kind of dominance rarely lasts forever in the movie business, and this past weekend proved exactly why. A new blockbuster arrived with enough box office force to shake even Nolan’s grip on the format he had monopolized since mid-July.

Now, the fallout from that shift is becoming clear in the daily numbers. ‘The Odyssey’ saw its Tuesday earnings collapse by nearly 50%, pulling in $8.7 million in what marked its lowest-grossing day of the run so far, as the film continues losing IMAX screens to Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’

The shift didn’t happen quietly. IMAX made the call to split its North American screens between the two films after Sony’s superhero sequel posted a massive opening weekend, a decision that officially ended ‘The Odyssey’s exclusive run on the format. That exclusivity had been remarkable in its own right, with Spider-Man not playing on a single IMAX screen in North America during its opening frame, even as it still cleared roughly $360 million domestically without the format’s help.

‘The Odyssey’s IMAX numbers before this shift were staggering by any measure. The film had generated $221 million in IMAX global box office to date, making it the third-highest-grossing IMAX title of all time, while notching the best Tuesday performance in IMAX company history just weeks earlier at $10.6 million.

That earlier momentum helped push ‘The Odyssey’ past the $900 million mark worldwide, with a third global weekend haul of $136.2 million that included $68 million from IMAX screens alone, representing the exhibitor’s second-highest-grossing weekend ever. Universal’s Nolan epic had also posted the director’s best-ever third domestic weekend with $51 million, a performance strong enough to help the studio become the first to cross $4 billion at the year-to-date worldwide box office in 2026.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s own numbers explain why IMAX made the switch. The Sony and Marvel Studios sequel opened to a combined $927 million globally, the second-best global opening in motion picture history behind only ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond noted the franchise has now delivered $365 million in IMAX receipts to date, calling ‘Brand New Day’ a continuation of that legacy with its record-breaking start.

With Spider-Man now playing in select IMAX locations in North America starting this month, ‘The Odyssey’ is left sharing screen real estate for the first time since its release, a shift that helps explain why exhibitors are bracing for the film’s box office to decline further heading into the coming weekend. Industry estimates suggest a drop of roughly 50% is possible as the format squeeze intensifies.

Even with reduced IMAX access, ‘The Odyssey’ remains one of the year’s defining box office stories, still closing in on the billion-dollar mark worldwide after three weekends in release.

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