Toxic is officially taking over almost all IMAX screens in India starting today, August 26. This has brought the 40-day run of The Odyssey to a stop, even though the film was still performing at a very high level. According to a report by Bollywood Hungama, the distributors of Toxic asked for all available IMAX shows across the country, leaving no room for the Hollywood holdover.
The numbers for The Odyssey in IMAX have been quite unusual for the Indian box office. In 40 days, the film collected Over 187 crore net in India, and nearly half of that—about 90 to 91 crore—came strictly from 34 IMAX screens. This shows how much the premium format drove the film's business here. Even on Tuesday, August 25, which was its last full day in IMAX, the film had 43 percent occupancy and made 71 lakhs from IMAX screens alone. Its total collection across all formats on that day was 89 lakhs.
Warner Bros, the distributor of The Odyssey, reportedly asked to keep just one show per day in IMAX because the demand was still there. However, the request was turned down because the Toxic team wanted the full IMAX inventory for their release. Some industry insiders believe that if the film had stayed for even one show per day, it could have easily crossed the 100 crore mark in IMAX alone, which would have been a massive record for any film in India.
Currently, Broadway Cinemas in Coimbatore is the only place in India where you can still watch both movies in IMAX. They have scheduled two shows for The Odyssey at 11:30 am and 11:00 pm, while Toxic will take the other three slots at 7:40 am, 3:10 pm, and 7:05 pm. For all other IMAX locations, Toxic has now taken complete control.
While Toxic is expected to have a huge opening, pulling out a film with 43 percent occupancy on its 40th day is a rare move. There is a chance The Odyssey might return to some IMAX screens in a week or two, but breaking the momentum now might make it harder for the film to reach that 100 crore IMAX milestone.
Bollywood
