Ever since Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey premiered back in July, the film has proven to be a cultural phenomenon. Filmed for the IMAX experience in a way that most blockbuster movies could ever dream of, the film has proven that audiences will seek out a great film in a format that’s only available in select theaters around the world just to see a beloved director’s vision come to life. To that end, it’s no surprise that the film has been a box office smash, but in the more than 50 days since the epic film was released, it has destroyed a slew of box office records, often by major margins.
Among the new box office records that were set by The Odyssey in that time are not only that it became Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever (eclipsing 2008’s blockbuster The Dark Knight for that title), but also the highest-grossing R-Rated movie ever after it beat Deadpool & Wolverine for the spot. As expected, The Odyssey and its extensive engagement in 70mm theaters have resulted in the film becoming the highest-grossing IMAX movie of all time too. There’s another record that’s officially within reach of The Odyssey now, though, that would put it in Hollywood history forever: the highest-grossing movie released by Universal Pictures.
The Odyssey Is on Track to Be Universal’s Biggest Movie Ever
As of this writing, and as the Labor Day holiday weekend comes to a close, The Odyssey‘s global box office total is officially sitting at $1.631 billion. To take the record as the highest-grossing Universal movie of all time, the film needs to gross just a little more, as the current holder of that record is 2015’s Jurassic World with $1.671 billion globally, still the top title in the 114 year history of Universal Pictures.
The margin between them is now $40 million, which may not seem like much when we’re talking about movies with over a billion dollars in grosses, but the potential for Nolan’s movie to cross the threshold is still very much alive as the film is still grossing millions of dollars every day of the week, with more IMAX screenings just confirmed for the rest of September.
Jurassic World being the only film ahead of The Odyssey for this title is nothing new, as it eclipsed the other films on the list a while ago. Currently, the #3 Universal movie ever is 2015’s Furious 7 with $1.516 billion, with 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie at #4 with $1.3631 billion, and 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at #5 with $1.308 billion.
The domestic totals for The Odyssey tell a slightly different story, and might put the film out of reach of becoming Universal’s biggest domestic hit. Currently, Nolan’s movie has over $588 million at the domestic box office, a number that puts it slightly out of reach of Jurassic World‘s US haul of $653 million from 2015. That said, if The Odyssey wins the domestic record from the Chris Pratt-starring film, that means it will secure both it and the global one as well.
There’s also the “adjusted for inflation” argument to be made as well. When adjusting the box office totals for classic Universal movies, it becomes clear what the biggest hit really is, and who was behind them. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park from 1993 was once a titan of the box office record books, and its $978 million haul from that time adjusts to over $2.2 billion, and that’s without adding all the re-releases.
1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial brought in over $797 million globally upon its release, which, adjusted for inflation, is more like $2.743 billion. Finally, 1975’s Jaws made an impressive $490 million over fifty years ago, which adjusts to over $3 billion by today’s standards. In short, the record books might eventually say that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is Universal’s highestgorssing moving ever, but there will be something of an asterisk there. That said, it’s still in REALLY good company.
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