Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Breaks Ticket Sale Record In 4 Years

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has conquered a major ticket-sale record more than a month before its release.

The upcoming fantasy movie based on Homer's epic is one of the most anticipated movies this year and Nolan's most ambitious project to date. The Odyssey is notorious for being tough to adapt because it's a non-linear 24-book poem, filled with the Trojan War, Greek gods, and a man's will to return home. However, Nolan has proven himself to be the perfect director to accept this challenge, and it's only built hype as the first movie to be shot entirely in IMAX 70 mm cameras.

On June 4, 2026, The Odyssey tickets went on sale only for premium large formats (PLF), which include IMAX 70mm, Dolby Cinema, and Prime at AMC. However, once they became available, AMC crashed with buyers waiting as long as an hour to buy the tickets on the website. Regal and Cinemark did not report similar circumstances, while standard showtimes won't go on sale until later this summer.

Now, Deadline reports that the first-day advance PLF ticket sales for The Odyssey were the highest that AMC has seen for a major studio movie since 2022. This presale with AMC even outdid any major movie presales that were not just PLF alone in the last four years, as well as the best year-to-date for the theater chain. Meanwhile, music-oriented projects produced higher first-day advance tickets, especially if they were initially released within AMC Theatres.

The latest ticket accomplishment only adds to a growing list, given that The Odyssey doesn't release for another month. While tickets tend to release no more than two months before release, Universal Pictures decided to release the first wave for 70mm and 70mm IMAX one year before the movie's release on July 17. While it's unheard of, the strategy worked, with tickets quickly selling out and excitement building for Nolan's upcoming epic. That sale reportedly generated $1.5 million.

Part of the reason this proved successful is simply due to Nolan's reputation and his films historically being made for IMAX. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has advocated for enhancing the movie theater experience by filming certain movie scenes with an IMAX camera, which goes back to 2008's The Dark Knight. Nolan has continued to refine the filmmaking technique with each movie, such as Interstellar and Oppenheimer. This has since set a new standard in moviemaking, with the director even convincing Ryan Coogler to shoot his award-winning horror movie Sinners with 70mm IMAX cameras.

While there is a lot of demand to view The Odyssey in PLF, the supply is limited since only 24 theaters in the United States are playing it in IMAX 70mm. The first ticket drop in July 2025 prompted some to be resold on sites like eBay for over $100. The recent presale has generated a similar phenomenon, with tickets being resold for as high as $10,000.

Although The Odyssey is one of the most hyped movies this year, it's not without controversy, ranging from the accents to Lupita Nyong'o's casting as Helen. However, that has done little to impact the audience's excitement, as proven by the recent presale and record.

Matt Damon's Odysseus goes on a dangerous journey home after the events of the Trojan War and encounters Greek gods along the way. The Odyssey has a star-studded ensemble of Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, and Benny Safdie, to name a few. Nolan also wrote the movie, while co-producing with his spouse, Emma Thomas.

The Odyssey releases in theaters on July 17, 2026.