IMAX has announced that it has the best month of July at the global box office with $176 million. That is an “Extraordinary Performance of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer”. Hence, IMAX Breaks the previous record by more than $50 million. This can be defined as the ‘Oppenheimer Effect’!

Our best July ever is just the latest in a long line of IMAX company records that have fallen in 2023 — from our highest grossing first quarter ever to our all-time biggest local language release, to our best-ever opening weekend market share with Oppenheimer.

IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond

IMAX breaks records

IMAX announced it delivered $176.2 million at the global box office in July — marking the Company’s highest-grossing month of July in history. The figure surpassed the previous highwater mark, set in 2019, by a whopping $52.1 million. The record-breaking performance was fueled by Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, which has already grossed more than $86 million across the IMAX global network with weeks left in its initial IMAX run. As stated by IMAX: “Shot with IMAX film cameras, Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer delivered the biggest IMAX July opening weekend of all time and the Company’s biggest share ever of a film’s global opening weekend box office, with 20% of total receipts”. Furthermore, IMAX says that Oppenheimer continues to drive extraordinary results for IMAX, which took in an additional $4.1 million with the film on Monday — including 32% of its domestic box office.

IMAX CEO: “Our best July ever”

As stated by IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond: “Our best July ever is just the latest in a long line of IMAX company records that have fallen in 2023 — from our highest grossing first quarter ever to our all-time biggest local language release, to our best-ever opening weekend market share with Oppenheimer. The fact that IMAX is having a year on par with its best ever at the global box office — despite only one movie hitting the $1 billion mark to date — speaks volumes about our surging market share and the strength of our diversified global content portfolio”. Last month was the highest grossing month of July ever for IMAX worldwide, in North America, and in China, where Maoyan’s “Creation of the Gods: Kingdom of Storms 1” has earned $20.1 million to date for the Company. The film debuted July 20 to an $8.6 million opening weekend in IMAX — an IMAX record 16.6% of the debut for a local release and IMAX’s biggest-ever summer opening weekend for a Chinese film.

The global run of Oppenheimer is extended

Moreover, IMAX has extended its global run of Oppenheimer, which is an additional week through August 17, with plans to schedule IMAX showtimes of Oppenheimer through late summer and fall. Oppenheimer is set to debut in IMAX in China on August 30. For those who have not seen it yet— Go and see it! Read here for the list of the relevant IMAX 70mm theaters, or here for the Oppenheimer Large Format Guide. Read our technical review here. Enjoy!