Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ fires up UK-Ireland summer box office with huge £12.6m weekend

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Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has fired up the UK-Ireland summer box office with a huge £12.6m opening weekend, the second biggest of the year so far.

Released in 754 cinemas by Universal, the film took a £16,731 average, the third highest for the director. The Odyssey recorded the second biggest opening weekend of the year, behind Toy Story 5  (£14.4m) and ahead of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (£9.4m). It also recorded the biggest opening Friday of the year, and a fifth-biggest opening Friday ever for Universal.

It is a second-biggest opening weekend ever for Nolan, behind only 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises (£14.3m) and ahead of The Dark Knight  (£11.2m), Oppenheimer (£10.9m), Dunkirk  (£10.1m) and Inception  (£5.9m).

The Odyssey flourished in Imax, with the biggest-ever Imax opening in the territory and becoming the fourth-biggest Imax release of the year after just two days.

It recorded the biggest-ever three-day opening at London’s BFI Imax with £219,867 from the single screen where it plays in Imax 70mm, topping the £216,454 of 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was also the biggest result of any single Imax venue in all international markets. It has sold out 173 consecutive screenings across the coming eight weeks; including those presales, it is already in the venue’s top three highest-grossing films of all time with £2.2m, and has sold more than 82,000 tickets.

While The Odyssey dominated screens and audiences, three other titles stayed in seven-figure territory.

Disney’s Toy Story 5 maintained second place in the chart on its fifth weekend with a decent hold, dropping just 33%. It added £1.7m and is up to £45.3m, now tracking slightly behind Toy Story 4  at the same stage (£47.3m) but overtaking the totals of Toy Story 2 (£44.3m), Frozen  (£43.3m) and Finding Dory  (£43m).

Disney stablemate Moana dropped 47% on its second weekend with £1.5m, and is up to £5.5m total, likely to finish well down on the £20.7m of 2016’s animated Moana and huge £42.6m of 2024’s Moana 2.

Universal animation Minions & Monsters  added £1.2m on its third weekend in cinemas – a 32% drop that brought it to £9.3m total. It is tracking behind previous titles in the Despicable Me/Minions franchise, with five of the six previous titles landing precisely between £47m-£48.6m.

Studiocanal’s Evil Dead Burn dropped 56% on its second weekend with £303,846. It is up to £1.7m total, falling behind the rate of 2023’s Evil Dead Rise which ended on £5.5m

Takings for the top five films soared a huge 110% to £17.2m, boosted by The Odyssey, and are up 49% on the equivalent weekend from last year. Nolan’s blockbuster will hold sway next weekend with Vue Lumière’s animated Animal Farm among the few challengers, before Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings in on July 31.

Invite to all

Olivia Wilde’s The Invite added £238,000 on its third weekend in cinemas, a 45% drop that brought it to £2.5m total for Black Bear. It is beyond the £1.5m of Wilde’s 2019 debut Booksmart, though will fall in behind the £10.6m of 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling.

Curry Barker’s horror phenomenon Obsession remains in the top 10 titles through its 10^th weekend in cinemas, despite being available on digital platforms for the past three weeks. The low-budget film added £186,183 on its latest session for Universal, a slim drop of just 31%; and is up to £18.6m total, with the £18.9m of 2019’s It: Chapter Two within reach before it leaves cinemas.

On its fourth weekend in cinemas, Warner Bros’ Supergirl added £95,510, a 74% drop on its previous session. It has reached £5.5m to date, lower than all but two of the 16 films from the prior DC Extended Universe of superhero titles.

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day dropped 67% on its sixth weekend in cinemas for Universal, with £68,632 taking it to £12.6m total.

Jackass: Best And Last leads Paramount’s slate with a £43,000 fourth weekend, down 65% on its previous session. The prank anthology film is up to £2.2m in total, as the second-lowest-grossing of five Jackass films.

Adventure comedy Dhamaal 4 led South Asian titles this weekend with a £38,523 second session for Bakrania Media, and £208,094 total.

Kane Parsons’ horror Backrooms added £36,784 on its eighth weekend in cinemas for A24, a 56% drop that brought it just past the £13m mark. It has passed the £12.9m of 2017’s Alien: Covenant and should overtake the £13.1m of 2025 horror Nosferatu by this time next week.

Paramount horror comedy Scary Movie put on £15,000 on its seventh weekend in cinemas, and is up to £9.4m total, behind only the £10.5m of 2000 first film Scary Movie in the six-film franchise.

Universal’s Michael is finally starting to end its song after 13 weekends, with a £13,467 latest session and £53.1m total, currently the highest-grossing film of the year.

Park Circus continued its re-releases of Aardman Animations titles, with a double bill of A Close Shave and A Matter Of Loaf And Death taking £9,960 at the weekend.

Comedy Nirvanna: The Band, The Show, The Movie added £9,662 on its third weekend for Vertigo Releasing, and is up to £185,494 total.

Bakrania Media’s Welcome To The Jungle put on £2,762 on its second session, with the Ahmed Khan-directed film up to £282,542 total.

Marc Isaacs’ AI navigation documentary Synthetic Sincerity brought in £2,067 from limited screenings for Verve Pictures.

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