Chief Executive Officer, IMAX Corporation
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond Talks "The Odyssey' Sellouts | Bloomberg Talks
The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's interpretation of Homer's epic poem, brought in $264.1 million globally in its opening weekend, surpassing expectations in North America and around the world. The film's release following a multimillion-dollar promotional campaign and setting records for Imax, including a record-breaking opening weekend for the company.
For more, Bloomberg's Katie Griefeld and Sally Bakewell spoke with Imax CEO Rich Gelfond.
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
Bloomberg Talks curates top interviews from around Bloomberg Ne...
About Richard Gelfond
In July 2026, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond discussed the record-breaking performance of Christopher Nolan's *The Odyssey*, which he said delivered a global opening weekend of $52 million for Imax and a Monday gross of $12 million, double the typical Monday-to-weekend ratio. Gelfond stated that the film was the first to be shot entirely with Imax 70-millimeter film cameras, and that Imax collaborated with Nolan to develop a new, quieter camera, which he described as a "blimp" that enables close-up shots. He noted that Imax added screenings between midnight and 3 a.m. in 42 theaters to meet demand, and that shows in London's BFI were sold out weeks in advance. Gelfond said Imax expects 2026 to be its best year ever, projecting $1.4 billion in global box office revenue. He attributed the outlook to a portfolio of upcoming releases, including *Spider-Man*, *Dune 3*, and *Avengers*, and noted that 12 films released in 2026 were shot with Imax cameras. He added that he anticipates five or more films will be released on Imax film in 2027.
Transcript (16 segments)
A
Announcer0:02
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.
H
Host0:07
Let's get to our top story this hour. It's one of the year's most anticipated films, delivering big time in the box office. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, the number one film in the US and Canada in its debut weekend, posting nearly $125 million in ticket sales. Now, a large portion of the weekend's box office performance generated from screenings in IMAX's giant auditoriums, many of which were sold out months in advance. Let's discuss with Richard Gelfond. He is the CEO of IMAX joining us on set. Richard, it's great to see you.
R
Richard Gelfond0:41
It's great to be here. Thank you.
H
Host0:43
So, I want to start there. You know, you think about the large auditoriums. That's where people want to see the Odyssey. It's very hard to do. I mean, there's been viral social media posts that even if you want to see a 2 a.m., a 3:00 a.m. screening, it's sold out. You can't get in. So, I mean, is there a plan to expand this to more theaters, more auditoriums around the world?
R
Richard Gelfond1:05
So, I've got to divide it into pieces. One is there's lots of availability in IMAX globally, and we have about 2,000 screens. A subset of that is film screens because Chris Nolan was the first director to ever film an entire movie with IMAX cameras. So if you want to see it captured in IMAX film, projected in film, you can only do that at the film theaters. Our network overall has done very well. It was a record opening for us. We did $52 million on a like-for-like basis, the highest we've ever had. And in fact it was almost 50% above Oppenheimer which you know went on to be a huge success right so the question is about the fact that there are lots of IMAX digital theaters, the film ones are rare. In a way though those theaters are like the Rolls-Royce and the economics around them are very high-end. You have to put them in a very big auditorium with a very big specialty made screen. Film prints are $50,000 for one print at one theater. So, you have to get tremendous amounts of capacity. So, fortunately, in the places it is, it's worked very well. So, at the TCL in LA, we did $500,000 in one day in one screen, which is an incredible number. And as you said in your intro, people are flying places. So the economic model doesn't really work to put film IMAX film on every corner but fortunately there are a lot of digital theaters so people can go to those.
H
Host2:45
Absolutely. So I hear what you're saying there but I mean knowing what you know now about what a hit this has turned out to be, what demand has looked like. I mean in the runup would you have planned anything differently about this rollout?
R
Richard Gelfond2:57
Well, for Oppenheimer, we only had 30 film theaters and we have 40% more for this one. We knew it was going to be very big, partly because it was the first film shot completely with IMAX cameras. We invented a new camera in order for Chris to make this film. Partly because we know Chris and conquering a story like the Odyssey, he thinks big and we are big in a lot of ways. So, we knew there's not really much we could have done. We kind of scoured the world to try and find film projectors and, you know, we added shows in almost every theater. So, we added in 42 theaters, we added shows between midnight and 3:00 a.m. I mean, the 6 a.m.'s were sold out. In London at the BFI, we've already sold out a large number of shows in weeks 7 and 8. So, just stop and think about that now, 2 months from now. So, we were prepared, but there's not more we could have done really.
H
Host3:59
So, thinking about the bigger picture, IMAX expects that 2026 will be its best year ever at the global box office with some 1.4 billion projected. How will you hit that number? How much do you need the sort of big Hollywood hits to carry the load compared to the local language international blockbusters?
R
Richard Gelfond4:18
So, we're a portfolio of films. Last year, we did 1.2 billion in the first half of the year. This year we did about 600 million. And then you go fast forward to the second half. So you have Odyssey, which is going to be one of our biggest movies of all time. We've got in select locations Spider-Man. We have Dune 3 which was filmed with IMAX cameras also by Denis Villeneuve and that's around Christmas and tickets have already sold out for that. We have Avengers in certain territories, a new Tom Cruise movie. So, we think that goal is attainable.
H
Host4:59
Another more general question. In May there were reports that IMAX was exploring a sale and has approached entertainment companies as potential buyers. What would be the rationale for doing that? And are you able to give us any updates on such a process?
R
Richard Gelfond5:14
Well, we've said many times that when we sign a contract, we'll let everybody know. So, it's our corporate policy not to comment on these kind of rumors. And with all the turnover in the media space and the M&A activity, it's not surprising that that rumor would be out there, but we'll let you know if it happens.
H
Host5:37
Yeah, please do. Ideally, you know, right here on this set, with this show,
R
Richard Gelfond5:41
Should I put you on speed dial on my cell phone?
H
Host5:44
That would be great. You know, just put us on speaker phone in the room where it happens. But, getting back to sort of the movie theater biz, you did mention that this is the Odyssey, the first movie to be filmed entirely with IMAX cameras here. You've seen other films partly filmed with your cameras. Do you think that, and have you seen any more directors being more encouraged to shoot either primarily or entirely with IMAX cameras given the success that we've seen with Christopher Nolan and with the Odyssey?
R
Richard Gelfond6:13
So this year we released 12 films that were shot with IMAX cameras. What makes this different is it was shot with a new film camera that we invented with the Nolans specifically for this project. So that took a significant amount of resources both capital and human capital. And we invented something called a blimp. IMAX cameras traditionally are noisy because the film spools are huge, but the Blimp takes away all external noise. So, it allows you to do close-ups where the actors aren't acting in front of a refrigerator. It's very quiet. So, it opens up a whole new avenue for us. But digital cameras, which we've used for a long time. Many pictures this year were filmed with digital cameras, including The Mandalorian used digital cameras, and Hail Mary was captured with digital cameras but released on film and we've done that for years. But I do think this will create more demand and as we look forward to 2027, I think there'll probably be five or more films released on film.
H
Host7:34
All right, Rich, that's a good place to leave it. Always great to see you. That is Richard Gelfond.