“A Journey Begins” - that’s the tagline for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic, The Odyssey, and from the looks of it, the journey to see the film is already well underway. In an unprecedented move, tickets for select IMAX 70mm screenings of The Odyssey went on sale on July 17, 2025 - a full year before the movie’s July 17, 2026 release date. The result? A near-instant sell-out across the globe.
Universal Pictures and IMAX decided to offer tickets exclusively for the 26 IMAX cinemas worldwide equipped with the specialized 1570 film projection system-the format Nolan prefers for his films. These tickets were only available for select showtimes, emphasizing the director’s vision for audiences to experience the movie in its fullest grandeur. Other formats and screenings are expected to be released closer to the film’s debut.
The demand was staggering. As reported by The Guardian, the IMAX Melbourne, roughly 1,800 tickets vanished across just four screenings overnight. In the USA, almost every available seat sold out within an hour, with reports of scalpers reselling tickets for sky-high prices ranging from $300 to $400. London’s iconic BFI IMAX and the Science Museum IMAX both saw their showings disappear as well. An insider revealed to Variety that within 24 hours, 95% of available seats had been snapped up. Fans shared their victories on social media, while many others found themselves frustrated by stalled websites and sold-out notifications.
This bold pre-sale strategy highlights the enormous anticipation for Nolan’s follow-up to 2023’s Oppenheimer, a film that not only cemented Nolan’s reputation as a box office titan but also earned Best Picture at the Oscars and amassed a global haul of $975 million. IMAX screenings alone accounted for $190 million of that total - about 20% - showcasing how critical the premium format is to Nolan’s work.
Oppenheimer featured the most expensive film reel ever made: a 1570 reel over 18 kilometers long and weighing 260 kilograms. IMAX had to widen their platters to 1.85 meters just to accommodate it, and we predict The Odyssey’s reel may be even bigger!
Nolan’s devotion to IMAX isn’t new. Since pioneering its use in select sequences of The Dark Knight (2008), he has consistently pushed the format’s boundaries with Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), and Tenet (2020). But The Odyssey takes this to the next level - it will be the first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras, promising an immersive scale unlike anything Nolan’s fans have seen before.
An adaptation of Homer’s classic Greek epic, The Odyssey follows Matt Damon as the cunning Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey home after the Trojan War. The cast is a strong ensemble, including Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.
Filming is still underway, with stars recently spotted shooting scenes in Scotland as of July 2025. Despite no official runtime being announced yet, Universal and Nolan’s team are already stoking excitement with a teaser trailer released exclusively in cinemas before Jurassic World Rebirth and Superman screenings.
The buzz around The Odyssey recalls the unique cultural phenomenon Nolan experienced with Oppenheimer, which, despite sharing a release date with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, created the “Barbenheimer” event - drawing crossover audiences and expanding interest, especially among younger viewers and female demographics. Nolan’s daring approach to the IMAX format and his status as a filmmaking brand make The Odyssey an event film before it even hits theaters.
However, not all is perfect in this rush to secure tickets. The early release window created a thriving secondary market, with scalpers auctioning tickets online mere hours after sales opened. Listings on eBay show prices climbing to 400% above face value, with some packages for prime showings starting at $1,000.
With tickets for the IMAX 70mm screenings gone almost instantly and anticipation already through the roof, The Odyssey is shaping up to be a cinematic milestone. Nolan’s epic journey is still unfolding behind the scenes, but one thing is clear: cinephiles aren’t just excited to see the film - they need to see it the way Nolan intended, on the world’s biggest IMAX 70mm screens.
The Odyssey is scheduled for release on July 17, 2026.
