The Odyssey hits awards season with raves, gripes and Oscar buzz
Deadline says Christopher Nolan’s Homer epic is drawing awards heat, even as some Rotten Tomatoes users push back hard.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has roared into awards season with the kind of attention studios dream about: strong critical response, a big global launch and, according to Deadline, a noisy pocket of viewer pushback online.
Deadline’s Damon Wise reported that Rotten Tomatoes users have posted a run of one-star and half-star reactions to the film, with complaints calling it “super boring,” “long-winded and poorly written” and one of Nolan’s major letdowns. Wise also noted that some viewers compared it unfavorably with Troy and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, both released in 2004.
The backlash has not stopped the movie from landing as a commercial force. Deadline separately listed The Odyssey at more than $264 million worldwide, including a $124 million-plus U.S. opening that it described as the best live-action haul of 2026 and Nolan’s best global opening.
Oscar talk starts early
Wise framed the film as a serious awards player, with likely attention for best picture, director, sound, visual effects and costume design. The bigger question, he wrote, is whether Nolan’s cast can break through in acting races.
Nolan’s Oppenheimer won seven Oscars from 13 nominations, including acting wins for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., with Emily Blunt also nominated. Deadline noted that Nolan’s history with actors at the Academy has been uneven, pointing to Leonardo DiCaprio missing a nomination for Inception.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek warrior trying to return home. Deadline described the performance as less conventional action-hero swagger and more inward-looking anguish, comparing the character’s burden to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s torment over destructive power.
Damon has three acting Oscar nominations, according to Deadline, but his only Academy Award to date came for co-writing Good Will Hunting with Ben Affleck. Wise suggested that history could help fuel a campaign if momentum holds.
A packed cast, and a December rival
Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, and Deadline singled her out as a strong contender, saying the role gives the film a human center as Penelope tries to keep Ithaca together while her husband is gone.
Robert Pattinson appears as Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors. The cast also includes Tom Holland as Telemachus, Samantha Morton as Circe, Charlize Theron as Calypso and John Leguizamo as the blind swineherd Eumaeus.
Deadline also flagged the calendar fight ahead. Nolan has often used mid-July releases for his large-scale films since Inception, a timing that has still led to Oscar success. This year, Wise wrote, Warner Bros. has dated Denis Villeneuve’s Dune 3 for Dec. 18, putting another effects-heavy epic into the awards conversation nearly five months after The Odyssey.
For now, Deadline’s read is that Nolan’s Homer adaptation has the money, the craft credentials and the Academy-friendly scale. Whether that carries Damon, Hathaway or anyone else to the Dolby Theatre is the long voyage still ahead.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.