Well, that didn’t take long.
A full year before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is set to hit theaters, tickets for the IMAX 70mm screenings have already sold out in several major cities—and resellers are wasting no time cashing in on the demand.
The film doesn’t open until July 17, 2026, but Universal and IMAX made the unprecedented move to release early IMAX tickets for a select number of 70MM locations over its first weekend. The result? A frenzy. Within just one hour of going live, 95% of seats were snapped up, pulling in around $1.5 million in pre-sales from a relatively small number of available seats.
But here’s where it gets even wilder: tickets—originally priced at around $25–$28—started popping up on resale sites like eBay for as much as $300 to $400 each. That’s premium concert-level hype for a film still in production.
A Global Sellout
At the time of reporting, about half of the 22 IMAX 70MM locations in the U.S. and Canada are sold out. Key locations that went first include:
- AMC Lincoln Square 13 (NYC) – sold out in 15 minutes
- Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood – sold out within the first hour
- Regal Irvine Spectrum (Orange County), AMC Metreon (San Francisco), and Regal Mall of Georgia followed
- Internationally, London’s BFI IMAX, Science Museum IMAX, Cineplex locations in Toronto, and Melbourne’s IMAX also quickly sold out
Additional U.S. sellouts were reported in Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Buford, Grand Rapids, King of Prussia, and Indianapolis.
Nolan’s Latest Epic
Nolan’s The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and features a stacked cast: Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, and Bill Irwin.
The story follows Odysseus’s perilous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, facing mythical trials like the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, Circe, and even a journey to the Underworld.
With a reported $250 million budget, this is Nolan’s most expensive film to date—and the first commercial feature to be shot entirely on IMAX film cameras.
Marketing Momentum
Although the film is still shooting, Universal debuted a teaser trailer in theaters exclusively in front of Jurassic World: Rebirth over Fourth of July weekend. That teaser has since leaked online, but the buzz is clearly working in Nolan’s favor.
Notably, theaters were only allowed to release one 70MM showtime per day from July 16–19, further limiting availability and contributing to the frenzy.
What’s Next?
More screenings will eventually roll out in standard, PLF, and digital IMAX formats, but Nolan and Universal’s decision to treat this release like a cinematic event—a full year early—has already paid off.
If this level of early demand is any indication, The Odyssey is shaping up to be not just one of 2026’s biggest films, but another cultural phenomenon from a director who continues to redefine what a movie event can be.