While Spider-Man: Brand New Day is rewriting the record books, it is not the only film turning August into an unlikely box office bonanza. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has been on its own remarkable run, and it is proving that a nearly three-hour, R-rated adaptation of a 2,700-year-old Greek poem can still be one of the biggest events of the year.
An opening fit for a king
Nolan’s take on Homer, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, opened to roughly $124 million domestically and $263.7 million worldwide. That global figure is the biggest opening weekend of Nolan’s career, topping even his Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. For a sword-and-sandal epic with a lengthy runtime and a hard R rating, defying the usual box office logic is exactly the point. According to The Hollywood Reporter, roughly half of the film’s opening audience was between 18 and 34, evidence that Nolan has become a genuine draw for younger moviegoers, not just the prestige crowd.
Staying power
Big openings are common. Holding on to them is not. In its second weekend, The Odyssey dipped just 27 percent to around $90 million domestically, a total many films would be thrilled to post as an opening. After two weekends it had grossed about $289 million in North America and $652 million globally, and it did so while Spider-Man was storming into theaters. Rather than cannibalizing each other, the two films gave exhibitors a rare gift: two blockbusters powering what is usually a sleepy late-summer stretch.
The IMAX story
Part of what makes The Odyssey unusual is how it was made. It is the first feature shot entirely with IMAX cameras, which are famously loud, bulky, and expensive, and which most productions reserve for a handful of action beats. Nolan built the whole movie around them. IMAX responded by dedicating its entire global footprint to the film for three weeks, with some theaters running showtimes around the clock. The premium 70mm screens, Nolan’s preferred format, are so scarce and so in demand that many showings have been selling out well into September, and IMAX leadership has openly credited the film with lifting its full-year outlook.
The Nolan effect
Universal reportedly spent about $250 million producing The Odyssey, a huge bet on a filmmaker who has become one of the few reliable guarantees in modern Hollywood. The starry ensemble, which includes Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son Telemachus and Anne Hathaway, has helped, but the real engine here is trust. Audiences turned out early, in premium formats, at premium prices, for a challenging piece of classic literature, simply because Nolan made it. On the strength of this run, the only question left is how far the journey goes.
