Tickets for premium formats (PLF – Premium Large Format), led by the highly anticipated screenings in IMAX 70mm, sold out within a few hours of their release. According to historical data from AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, the first day of pre-sales for The Odyssey recorded the best overall result for the title of any film studio since 2022.
A digital assault that put a strain on the servers.
The opening of virtual box office has sparked a real race for tickets by cinephiles, eager to secure the best seats for the debut weekends in July. The simultaneous influx of hundreds of thousands of users caused critical slowdowns and temporary crashes on the application and the official AMC website.
Many viewers reported digital waiting times of more than an hour and continuous errors during checkout, in scenes that recalled the historical debuts of blockbusters of the caliber of Avengers: Endgame or the phenomenon Barbenheimer by Nolan himself. To cope with unprecedented demand, several cinemas have already started to include extraordinary screenings in the middle of the night (at 2:00, 3:00 and even 4:00 in the morning), which are selling out at the same speed.
Why are Premium formats taken by storm
The reason behind this level of urgency lies in the very nature of production. The Odyssey, an epic adaptation of the Homeric myth centered on the exploits of Odysseus (played by Matt Damon), is the first film in the history of cinema to have been shot entirely with IMAX film cameras.
Nolan and his cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema, consumed over 2 million feet of 70mm IMAX film to ensure a monumental viewing experience, designed specifically for giant screens. As a result, fans know that in order to enjoy the work exactly as it was conceived by the director, viewing in cinemas equipped with 70mm analogue projectors is a fundamental prerequisite
Historic landmark venues such as New York’s AMC Lincoln Square have seen the tickets for the first weekends evaporate almost instantly, unfortunately also fueling a parallel online scalping market, with tickets resold for figures ranging between $200 and $400.
A film market driven by major events
This commercial debut confirms the macroeconomic trend that is redefining the entertainment industry: contemporary audiences move en masse mainly for the big “event films”. If auteur cinema or the habitual attendance of multiplexes struggle to find pre-pandemic numbers, titles structured for premium formats generate an involvement of an almost ritual nature.
With a stellar cast that includes — in addition to Matt Damon — Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o and Zendaya, The Odyssey is preparing to become the undisputed King of the summer box office, proving once again that the name of Christopher Nolan is a hallmark capable, on its own, of shifting the balance of the entire film industry.
Source: Deadline
