IMAX Corporation had an explosive weekend, one of their biggest ever at the global box office. On the strength of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which delivered a $35M debut on 740 IMAX screens worldwide. The figure represented IMAX’s biggest share ever of a film’s global opening weekend box office, with 20% of total receipts.
Shot with IMAX film cameras, Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer set several IMAX records at launch, including the biggest July opening IMAX weekend ever, the biggest domestic and global IMAX opening weekend of 2023, and the biggest domestic and global IMAX opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film.
In North America, Oppenheimer opened to $21.1M— an IMAX-record 26.2% of the domestic box office from 411 screens. The figure marked a $51,000 per screen average for the film at IMAX locations in the United States and Canada. Internationally, Oppenheimer opened to $13.9M— 14.8% of the box office on 329 screens. Several markets have yet to open the film, including China, South Korea, Italy, and Greece. Oppenheimer scored the biggest IMAX opening weekend ever in a diverse collection of markets including Mexico, India, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Czech Republic. Thirty-four international markets overall posted a top-five all-time IMAX opening weekend with the film.
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer was shot in IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time, portions in IMAX black and white analogue photography. Oppenheimer will continue its three-week window run across the global IMAX network, both domestically and internationally.
“Oppenheimer is an undeniable demonstration of a paradigm shift in moviegoing, with IMAX taking a commanding share of global box office as audiences show a clear preference for experiences that transcend the ordinary in cinema,” said Rich Gelfond, the chief executive officer of IMAX. “As he has done throughout his career, Christopher Nolan pushed the boundaries of IMAX technology to deliver unforgettable storytelling with Oppenheimer and audiences are responding in numbers we’ve not seen in our 50-year history. Given the strength of our pre-sales, the ‘A’ CinemaScore, and the historical multiples of Christopher Nolan’s films, we believe this is just the beginning of what Oppenheimer can accomplish at the global box office. Around the world, we’ve seen sellouts at 4:00 a.m. shows and people traveling hours across borders to see Oppenheimer in IMAX 70mm — this is a phenomenon beyond compare in IMAX and we’re just getting started.”
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