‘The Odyssey’ Breaks Records With Massive Debut at U.K. and Ireland Box Office
Universal's Christopher Nolan epic "The Odyssey" opened to a record-breaking £12.5 million ($16.8 million) at the U.K. and Ireland box office, marking a significant shift at the top of the charts. It became Nolan's second-biggest opening in the market, well ahead of "Oppenheimer," and posted the biggest opening Friday of the year alongside Universal's fifth-biggest Friday launch ever, driven largely by strong premium large-format screenings.
The film's success was especially notable at London's BFI Imax, the UK's largest screen, which recorded its highest-ever three-day opening weekend with $294,249, surpassing the previous record set by "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in 2017. The venue has now taken over 82,000 admissions for the film, generating $2.9 million with 94% occupancy and 173 consecutive sold-out shows. Elsewhere in the chart, "Toy Story 5" held second place with $2.2 million (five-week cume $60.6 million), while "Moana" took third with $2 million in its second weekend.
- "The Odyssey" opens to record £12.5m at UK/Ireland box office.
- Nolan's second-biggest UK opening, beating "Oppenheimer".
- BFI Imax sets all-time weekend record, breaking "Last Jedi" mark.
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Christopher Nolan is a British-American filmmaker known for large-scale films such as "Inception," "Interstellar" and "Oppenheimer," often shot for and shown on giant-screen formats like Imax. "The Odyssey" is his adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, which follows the hero Odysseus on his long journey home after the Trojan War. The film is distributed by Universal Pictures and has been heavily promoted around its scale and its suitability for premium large-screen cinemas.
Box office takings in the days after a film's release are widely used across the industry as an early measure of its popularity and commercial success. The UK and Ireland make up one of the biggest cinema markets outside North America, so strong results there are seen as a significant indicator for a film's prospects worldwide. Comparisons to previous openings, including Nolan's own earlier films, are commonly used by studios and analysts to judge how a new release is performing relative to past hits.
Large-format screens, such as Imax, have become an increasingly important part of cinema economics, often commanding higher ticket prices and drawing dedicated audiences for spectacle-driven films. London's BFI Imax is one of the best-known and largest such venues in the UK, making its performance a frequently cited benchmark when discussing a film's success in premium formats.