In cinemas, the film’s global takings include £12.6m from the UK – making it the second-biggest opening weekend in the country so far this year, behind Toy Story 5.
In the process, The Odyssey broke the record for the highest takings in an opening weekend for a film on Imax screens in the UK, according to industry publication Screen Daily, external.
The three-hour epic, which stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway, was the first theatrical release to be shot entirely with Imax 70mm film cameras.
While there are more than 50 Imax screens in the UK, only three are showing it using 70mm film projectors – the BFI and Science Museum in London, and Printworks in Manchester.
“You do feel like you’re very close to the characters, you’re immersed in the action. So it is a heightened experience, I would say,” film critic and Girls on Film podcast host Anna Smith told the Today programme.
Imax screenings are more expensive than regular cinema tickets, however.
“If you have the money and you’ve been lucky enough to book, I don’t think you would regret seeing it in Imax 70mm,” Metro film critic Tori Brazier said.
“But at the same time it’s very expensive and we do live in a world where lots of people watch films on laptop screens and phone screens now, so if you’re going to the cinema you’re going to have a big-screen experience regardless.”
