2023 prompts remembrance for many reasons but for cinephiles, the most iconic one was the Hollywood Battalion between Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Known for defining the summer with a box office retribution straight from the legend’s playbook, the Oscar-winning director and his Oscar-winning team made the entire year a field day for scoopers to predict the award season with eyes closed. However, trophies and ovations were not the only things written in the stars for Nolan, since the glittering IMAX success story has prompted him to opt for some factory-seal IMAX technology for his next.

Nolan has always been a visionary, but this update takes the expectations to an atomic stake once again.

IMAX Corporation recently reported its financial outcomes for the third quarter of 2024. Despite the big boom Deadpool & Wolverine brought in the business, it could not meet the eyes of Christopher Nolan’s atomic bombshell, Oppenheimer. However, as per a Variety report, the success story Nolan wrote with the IMAX lenses has prompted CEO Richard Gelfond to invest in “never-used-before Imax equipment” for the director's next big thing on the horizon.

The Oppenheimer mastermind, who is set to return with a new, highly guarded project with Tom Holland and Matt Damon in 2026, is expected to put this new technology to use which IMAX has been developing since last year. During a call with analysts and investors, Gelfond reportedly disclosed the information right after the quarterly IMAX performance numbers surfaced. 

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While the stakes for Nolan’s next were already high with a Steven Spielberg release around the same window, with new technology in the works, the Oppenheimer numbers illustrate quite a cinematic 2026. 

Deadpool & Wolverine may have been the Marvel Jesus for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for IMAX? Not as much. According to the financial outcomes of the third quarter of the year, although the film delivered $83 million grosses in IMAX, the overall revenue of the corporation dropped 12% down from $103.9 million to $91.5 million that it logged during Oppenheimer.

Though net income for the three months ending in September saw a 16% hike from the 12 million IMAX had a year ago with $13.9 million, earnings per share stayed flat while its adjusted EBITDA declined to $38.7 million from $50.5 million. In contrast to last year’s performance in the same three months, 2024 saw a drop in global box office earnings from $347 million to $239 million. However, with Richard Gelfond’s forecast to gross $1.5 billion worldwide next year, the prediction numbers for 2026 already feel blinding.

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What do you think of the IMAX preparations for Christopher Nolan's 2026 project? Let us know in the comments below!