Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey” will open on more than 20,000 screens across mainland China, including some 90% of the territory’s Imax footprint of nearly 800 sites, distributor data shows.
Presale box office of the Universal title reached RMB39.5 million ($5.9 million) as of August 12 (Beijing time), with combined preview and presale grosses hitting RMB91 million ($13.5 million) ahead of the film’s Aug. 14 wide release in the Middle Kingdom, per ticketing agency Maoyan.
Maoyan Pro is forecasting an opening day gross of RMB70.4 million ($10.4 million) for the film. The Imax allocation will hold even as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” continues its successful run in Chinese theaters, with no reduction planned to “The Odyssey’s” screen count, Imax has confirmed.
Nolan traveled to China with producer Emma Thomas and stars Matt Damon and Charlize Theron for a multi-stop publicity tour. The visit opened with a photocall at a Beijing courtyard centered on a maple tree more than a 100 years old, where Thomas, Theron and Damon surprised Nolan with a birthday cake and led a serenade for the director. Nolan completed two major print interviews at the stop, while Theron and Damon met with four content creators whose combined social media following exceeds 100 million.
