Hollywood's Chinese Theatre Shatters Its Own Box Office Record With 'The Odyssey'

Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre has just become the highest-grossing theater for a single film in history, with Christopher Nolan's “The Odyssey” pulling in more than $4.1 million in ticket sales at the historic venue. Theater representatives confirmed the milestone was reached this past Sunday, just 37 days after the film's July 17 theatrical opening.

The record breaks the theater's own previous high, set in 2023 when Nolan's “Oppenheimer” became the top single-movie earner at the Chinese Theatre by grossing $1.53 million over three weeks, according to MyNewsLA. That 2023 haul had itself topped a longstanding mark of $1.51 million set by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” over a much longer 15-week run, as Collider reported at the time. “The Odyssey” has now nearly tripled that prior record in roughly a third of the time.

Jim Orr said the milestone carries special weight given the venue's place in film history. “The TCL Chinese Theatre has been at the center of Hollywood's moviegoing history for nearly a century, making this an extraordinary milestone for both the theatre and ‘The Odyssey,’” Orr said, per the same account. Universal Pictures distributed the film, which was written, directed, and produced by Nolan through Syncopy alongside producer Emma Thomas.

A Theater Built to Break Records

Part of what makes the Chinese Theatre's haul possible is the venue itself. During a 2013 renovation, the historic auditorium was converted into a 932-seat IMAX theater — the highest-capacity IMAX auditorium in the world — while preserving its 1927 decor and iconic curtain, according to LAist. The renovation lowered the floor and installed stadium seating beneath a 94-by-46-foot curved screen, giving the theater a seating advantage no other single-screen IMAX venue can match.

That capacity has translated directly into box office muscle. Brett Fellman said the film's success at the Chinese Theatre reflects something bigger than a single record. “‘The Odyssey’ embodies everything that is great about going to the movies,” Fellman said, according to the report. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, and Lupita Nyong'o, and was adapted from Homer's ancient Greek epic.

Shot Entirely on IMAX Film Across the Globe

“The Odyssey” was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras using newly developed IMAX technology, with filming taking place at locations around the world. Principal photography spanned 91 days across six countries — including Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, and Scotland — and consumed more than two million feet of physical 15/70mm IMAX film stock, according to KING 5.

To make that possible, IMAX Corporation re-engineered its film cameras to be lighter, 30% quieter, and faster to process than earlier generations, as DPReview reported. Older IMAX cameras were notoriously loud, which had limited their use during quiet dialogue scenes — a constraint Nolan's team needed to solve to record live location sound directly onto IMAX film.

A Record-Breaking Run Well Beyond Hollywood

The Chinese Theatre's milestone lands within a much larger commercial wave. Universal and IMAX launched advance ticket sales for 15/70mm screenings of the film a full year before its debut, on July 17, 2025, creating what inkl described as the longest advance presale window in modern film distribution, with opening-weekend showtimes at major 70mm venues selling out within hours.

IMAX Corporation reported this month that “The Odyssey” had become the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time globally, generating $289 million across its network in under a month and surpassing the lifetime $256 million IMAX gross of “Avatar.” The film was shown in true 15/70mm IMAX film in just 41 auditoriums worldwide and 25 in the United States — fewer than 2.5% of global IMAX auditoriums have the specialized projection equipment required. That scarcity has sent fans chasing tickets across the country, echoing scenes Hoodline documented as Nolan superfans flooded Grand Rapids for one of the few true film screenings in the country, and as fans packed Florida's AutoNation IMAX statewide.

Overseas, London's BFI IMAX reported that “The Odyssey” became the highest-grossing film in the venue's history, taking in £2.68 million (about $3.6 million) from more than 101,000 admissions, according to British Cinematographer. That made BFI IMAX the second-highest-grossing IMAX venue globally for the film, trailing only the Chinese Theatre, even though the London venue seats roughly half as many patrons.

On the same day the Chinese Theatre set its record, “The Odyssey” surpassed 2024's “Deadpool & Wolverine” to become the highest-grossing R-rated film in worldwide box office history, reaching $1.446 billion in total ticket sales, according to The Washington Post. The film has also become the highest-grossing of Nolan's career. Demand for the format has been so intense that $33 face-value tickets at major premier auditoriums have turned up on resale sites like eBay for $1,000 or more, a scalping trend Hoodline previously tracked when Lincoln Square's IMAX became a four-figure hustle.

The Chinese Theatre's IMAX 70mm run of “The Odyssey” is set to continue through September 16, giving Hollywood moviegoers weeks more to chase a piece of the record the theater just set for itself.