“Oppenheimer” Breaks IMAX Record with $35 Million Opening

IMAX Corporation exploded to one of the Company’s biggest weekends ever at the global box office on the strength of Christopher Nolan’s”Oppenheimer“, delivering a massive $35 million debut on only 740 screens worldwide.

The stunning 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:

  • Biggest July opening weekend ever, Global and Domestic
  • Biggest opening weekend of 2023, Global and Domestic
  • Biggest opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film, Global and Domestic

In North America, “Oppenheimer” opened to $21.1 million — an IMAX-record 26.2% of the Domestic box office from only 411 screens. The figure marked a whopping $51,000 per screen average for the film at IMAX locations in the United States and Canada.

Internationally, “Oppenheimer” opened to $13.9 million — 14.8% of the box office on only 329 screens. The performance was even more notable given several markets have yet to open the film, including China, South Korea, Italy, and Greece. Remarkably, “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.