{"id":700463,"date":"2026-07-19T20:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/700463\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T20:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:25:11","slug":"the-odyssey-becomes-christopher-nolans-biggest-global-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/700463\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Odyssey’ Becomes Christopher Nolan’s Biggest Global Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThe Odyssey<\/a>\u201d is off to an epic start at the box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal\u2019s action-adventure generated $264.1 million globally over the weekend, including $139.6 million internationally and $124.5 million domestically. It\u2019s a towering debut for a movie that\u2019s R-rated, nearly three hours in length and isn\u2019t part of a major franchise. Of course, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d isn\u2019t original \u2014 it\u2019s adapted from Homer\u2019s roughly 3,000-year-old epic poem \u2014 but the film\u2019s initial success is a testament to Nolan\u2019s outsized popularity as a filmmaker. He\u2019s long been a box office draw, having directed blockbusters like \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d trilogy, \u201cInception,\u201d \u201cDunkirk\u201d and \u201cInterstellar.\u201d But Nolan reached new levels of acclaim after 2023\u2019s \u201cOppenheimer\u201d became a box office behemoth and won the Oscar for best picture.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d marks the biggest worldwide opening of Nolan\u2019s career, ahead of 2012\u2019s The Dark Knight Rises\u201d with $249 million and 2009\u2019s \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d with $198 million. (This benchmark comes with a caveat because ticket sales weren\u2019t adjusted for inflation.) It\u2019s also the third-biggest opening of the year behind \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie\u201d ($372.5 million) and \u201cToy Story 5\u201d ($312 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tNolan wrote and directed \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d which stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who endures a treacherous journey to get home after the Trojan War. Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal and John Leguizamo round out the starry ensemble. With stellar reviews and great word-of-mouth, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d is primed for a long, long run in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d opened in 73 international markets, with top territories including the United Kingdom and Ireland with $17.4 million, France with $13.7 million and Italy with $11.5 million. \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d stands as Nolan\u2019s biggest opening in 48 of those territories, including France and Italy, as well as Universal\u2019s largest debut in 11 markets. The film has yet to open in South Korea, China or Japan.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith\u00a0\u2018The Odyssey,\u2019 we had the extraordinary opportunity to unite moviegoers worldwide around a story that has resonated across cultures for centuries. Christopher Nolan<\/a>\u2018s passion, vision and unique cinematic voice consistently drive anticipation and attendance on a truly global scale. He, alongside the force that is Emma Thomas, continues to set the standard for ambitious, event filmmaking,\u201d said Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of distribution for Universal Pictures International.\u00a0\u201c\u2018The Odyssey\u2019\u00a0is that rare kind of movie that brings audiences together across every market in a shared cultural moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d is notable as the first feature shot entirely with Imax cameras, and those premium large formats contributed a sizable portion of initial ticket sales. The movie earned $22.2 million internationally (16% of revenues) and $51.8 million globally (23% of revenues) in Imax, delivering the company\u2019s biggest opening in like-for-like markets ahead of \u201cAvengers: Endgame.\u201d And it\u2019s currently pacing 47% ahead of \u201cOppenheimer,\u201d which was particularly huge in Imax with $35 million worldwide to start and $180 million by the end of its run.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you don\u2019t see \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 in Imax, you aren\u2019t seeing it in the way that Chris Nolan intended,\u201d says the company\u2019s CEO Richard Gelfond. He called this weekend a \u201ctranscendent moment\u201d for Imax, predicting the ripple effect from \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d will lead to \u201cmore Imax theaters opening and more audiences seeking out\u201d the format.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d is off to an epic start at the box office. Universal\u2019s action-adventure generated $264.1 million globally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2826,96,59,22546,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-700463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-the-odyssey","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}