LOS ANGELES — Summer 2026 will be remembered as the season we saw movies on the biggest screens possible.

Less than a month after its July debut, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” became the highest-grossing Imax release of all time with $289 million so far.

That total accounts for more than 26% of the film’s global box office haul, which now stands at $1.1 billion. (The previous Imax record belonged to 2009’s “Avatar,” which made $271 million across an initial run, as well as an additional theatrical return.)

And the momentum doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. As of Sunday, Imax had booked nearly $40 million in presales for showings of “The Odyssey,” said Rich Gelfond, chief executive of Imax Corp., which is based in Canada but operates out of Playa Vista.

Gelfond told me he’d felt confident about the performance of the film, which was shot entirely on Imax film cameras. But the actual results have exceeded even his high expectations.

Since mid-July, Imax has reported four consecutive weekends of more than $50 million at the global box office; prior to “The Odyssey,” the company never had back-to-back $50-million weekends.

“There’s no question in my mind that we brought in new audiences that had never been to Imax theaters before, not just in 70 millimeter but also in digital,” Gelfond said. “I think once they’ve experienced Imax, they’ll come back again to see other movies.”

As we think about the lessons of this summer’s box office, it’s clear that Imax and other enhanced formats have cemented themselves as heavyweights in the industry.

Domestic summer box office revenue to date is nearly $3.99 billion, a 22% improvement compared to the same period last year and — importantly — 4.4% higher than prepandemic 2019, according to data from Rentrak.

About 11.9% of the summer box office has come from premium large-format screens, according to Rentrak data, which did not include Imax. That percentage has steadily grown over the last few years, from 6.6% during the same period in 2019 to nearly 10.7% for last summer.

“I certainly do not see this growth as a fluke,” Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, wrote in an email. “It looks like a trend that is likely to continue, and one need only look at the blockbuster weekend of Dec. 18, when ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Dune: Part Three’ open, as titles that should be a major draw in premium formats.”

(In addition to enhanced formats, which command higher ticket prices, the summer’s theatrical revenues also have been aided by general inflation in ticket prices, as well as higher attendance. From May 1 to Aug. 2, cinemas sold 262.1 million tickets, up 16% from the 226.2 million sold during the same time last year, according to data from media analytics firm EntTelligence.)

For Universal Pictures’ “The Odyssey” in particular, enhanced formats made up 41%, or $450 million, of the worldwide box office haul, according to estimates. (The term “enhanced formats” includes Imax, 70 mm, 35 mm, so-called premium large format screens operated by theater chains and 4DX motion and environmental effects theaters.)

For the U.S. and Canada, enhanced formats made up $256 million, or 55%, of the film’s domestic box office.

Enhanced format screens have been significantly overproducing for “The Odyssey” — and it’s not just cinephiles who are seeking out those screenings, Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, told me.

Since the pandemic, people have become more choosy about the movies they want to see in theaters.

“But when they want to get back in,” he said, “they want to watch in the most immersive experience possible.”

“The Odyssey” isn’t the only driver of these premium large screen viewings. Two weekends ago, Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” drove Dolby Cinema’s highest-grossing domestic box office weekend ever with more than $11 million. Two-thirds of the available Dolby Cinema tickets for “Brand New Day” were sold before the film’s Thursday previews, the company said.

The strong performance for “Brand New Day” comes on the heels of Dolby Cinema’s highest-grossing box office year in 2025, which topped $203 million. Dolby Cinema has 177 locations in the U.S. in AMC Theaters and more than 300 worldwide.

“When we look at ‘Spider-Man,’ I think in our mind, it was a pretty clear evidence point that the demand is there,” said Jed Harmsen, vice president and general manager of Dolby’s cinema business. “Candidly, we haven’t matched on the supply side yet.”

While enhanced formats clearly have grown, that doesn’t mean every film will be on the biggest screen possible — or needs to be. There’s still demand for regular screens. After all, not every moviegoer will want to pay a higher price for that kind of experience, and some movies still can be successful without an opening weekend in Imax.

Just look at “Brand New Day,” which did not have Imax screens for its debut, but still broke the domestic opening weekend record with $360 million. (“Brand New Day” has a limited run on Imax that began last weekend.)

But as people increasingly seek out more communal and in-person experiences, the overall draw of these enhanced formats is not abating.

“I’ve been here for more than 30 years, and I know what a hugely successful culture-building film can do,” Gelfond said of “The Odyssey‘s” effect on Imax. “I think it’ll change our business for the positive.”

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