So much for cautious projections. The Odyssey box office numbers came in Friday and they were huge: $51 million in a single day from 3,919 North American theaters. Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey didn’t just win the day, it lapped the field. According to Variety, tracking had the epic pegged somewhere between $90 million and $100 million for the weekend. Then Friday happened, and The Odyssey opening weekend estimate jumped to $120 million.
The Odyssey Box Office Could Be Nolan’s Biggest in Over a Decade
Some context on what The Odyssey $120 million debut would mean. Only two 2026 releases have cracked $100 million out of the gate: Toy Story 5 at $159 million and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at $131 million. The Odyssey would be the third. And in terms of Christopher Nolan box office history? You’d have to go all the way back to The Dark Knight Rises and its $160 million debut in 2012 to find a bigger opening on his resume.
Oppenheimer opened to $82 million in 2023, which felt enormous at the time, and that film went on to gross roughly $975 million worldwide. This one needs a similar marathon. The reported budget on The Odyssey is $250 million, so a big box office debut is the start of the job, not the finish.
The film itself is Homer by way of Nolan: Odysseus fighting his way home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, with Matt Damon in the lead. The supporting cast is almost comically stacked. Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo. Take a breath.
Weekend Box Office Runner-Up: ‘Moana’ Can’t Find the Current
Disney’s live-action Moana slipped to second on the weekend box office chart in its sophomore frame with about $5.5 million Friday, pointing toward a $19 million weekend. That’s a 56% drop from a $43 million opening that already had Burbank nervous. This remake also cost $250 million, and Variety previously reported it could lose the studio around $100 million if things don’t turn around.
Can it recover? Maybe. Mufasa: The Lion King limped out with $34 million in December 2024 and still clawed its way to $722 million worldwide. But Mufasa had the empty winter months mostly to itself. Moana is stuck sharing screens with Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters, and families only have so many weekends.
The Animated Standoff in the Weekend Box Office Results
Speaking of which: Minions & Monsters grabbed third with $4.3 million Friday, headed for a $14 million weekend and roughly $136 million domestic after three frames. It may end up on the low end for the franchise, but Universal reportedly spent just $85 million making it, which changes the math considerably.
Toy Story 5 was right on its heels with $4.2 million Friday and a projected $13.8 million weekend. Five weekends in, Pixar’s sequel is sitting at around $429 million domestic and still drawing crowds. Not bad for the year’s reigning opening-weekend champ.
‘Evil Dead Burn’ Hangs On as The Odyssey Ticket Sales Soar
And in fifth, Evil Dead Burn with an estimated $1.4 million Friday, a projected $4.7 million weekend, and about $23 million total. Modest numbers next to the giants, sure. But surviving the top five while The Odyssey ticket sales swallow the marketplace is exactly the kind of thing this franchise does.
The rest of the chart is a fight for second place, though. The Odyssey box office story is only getting started, and this weekend belongs to Ithaca.
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