Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey led the summer box office to a major box office victory, as the industry at large celebrates the commanding opening weekend for the Universal Pictures epic.
The retelling of classical Greek mythology got the box office back on track, scoring $124.5 million on 3,900 North American screens. Earning an A CinemaScore from audiences, the film sailed away to 2026’s biggest live-action opening, with only Toy Story 5 ($159 million) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131 million) debuting above it. The Odyssey also claimed the top R-rated opening of the year and Universal’s highest weekend launch ever for an R-rated movie.
Globally, The Odyssey collected a sum of $264.1 million, adding $139.6 million from 73 international markets. The film marks Nolan’s biggest worldwide opening of all time, topping The Dark Knight Rises’ $249 million global launch in 2012.
This counts as an even stronger start than initially projected for The Odyssey, which has a production budget of $250 million, as the studio was targeting a domestic opening in the mid-$80 million to $100 million range. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron star in the story of Odysseus (Damon) on his tumultuous trip home after the Trojan War to reclaim his throne as the king of Ithaca and reunite with his wife Penelope (Hathaway). Nolan and Emma Thomas produce for Syncopy.
The Odyssey skewed male, as men made up 56 percent of the general audience and counted as more than three-quarters of ticket buyers among those above age 25. Half of the audience was between the ages of 18 and 34.
With The Odyssey marking the first feature to be shot entirely on IMAX cameras, premium large formats have been a priority for many moviegoers, and cinephiles have flocked to the 25 U.S. theaters that screen IMAX 70mm film. The title is eyeing an estimated $30 million from IMAX screens domestically for 25 percent of its North American haul, with an additional $22 million expected from IMAX showings internationally.
This movie looks to notch the third-biggest opening weekend domestically of Nolan’s impressive career and the best outside of the Batman franchise, behind The Dark Knight Rises with $160 million and 2008’s The Dark Knight at $158 million.
The Odyssey was the weekend’s sole new offering in wide release, unlike the filmmaker’s most recent title, Oppenheimer, which opened in July 2023 alongside Barbie as part of the sensation known as Barbenheimer. The film about the physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb opened to $82.4 million domestically and ultimately collected $975 million worldwide, and it won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and Nolan’s first best director Oscar.
Nolan’s successful ride with The Odyssey was bolstered with enviable reviews, as its 95 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes makes it the best tally of his career, just ahead of The Dark Knight and Memento at 94 percent. The Odyssey is also “verified hot,” with a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from audiences. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, chief film critic David Rooney deemed it “a meditative action movie both immense and intimate, albeit one whose flow is impeded by the inherently episodic nature of the nonlinear source material and some questionable casting choices.” Additionally, THR’s list ranking Nolan’s movies places The Odyssey in second place, behind only The Dark Knight.
“Movie fans across the country and around the world have been showing up to see The Odyssey in every conceivable format, demonstrating the great demand of seeing grand-scale entertainment like this on the big screen,” Cinema United president and CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement.
Indeed, Hollywood breathes a sigh of relief after a few rocky recent weeks, including last weekend’s disappointing opening for Disney’s live-action Moana that followed underperforming debuts for Supergirl and Minions & Monsters. The Dwayne Johnson-led Moana docked in second place for its sophomore frame, scooping up $19 million domestically with a decline around 56 percent for a two-week run of $82.1 million in North America.
Illumination’s Minions & Monsters and Disney’s Toy Story 5 are in close competition for No. 3 on the chart. As the latest title in Universal’s Despicable Me franchise, Minions & Monsters picked up $14.8 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic haul to $136 million. Meanwhile, the newest installment in the popular Toy Story series also lassoed $14.8 million in its fifth frame for a domestic sum of $430.9 million and now stands as the year’s top domestic release, sliding past The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Toy Story 5 nears the billion-dollar mark globally with a worldwide cume at $958.4 million.
Closing out the top five is Warner Bros.’ Evil Dead Burn, the latest entry in the Evil Dead horror franchise. After its opening sum last weekend was well behind the debut of 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, Evil Dead Burn grossed around $5 million this weekend, declining around 66 percent for a two-week domestic total at $24.1 million.
Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina presents potential competition for moviegoing, particularly among international audiences. In a summer rarity, next weekend is without new wide releases, as studios skipped the chance to date any titles between The Odyssey and Sony’s July 31 release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, also starring Holland and Zendaya.
More to come.
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