The Odyssey sails to $264 million as Imax crowds pack odd-hour shows
Christopher Nolan’s Homer adaptation opened to $124.5 million in North America and $264.1 million worldwide, with Imax driving a hefty share.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” launched with $124.5 million at the domestic box office and $264.1 million worldwide, according to Variety, giving the filmmaker the biggest global opening of his career.
The Universal release passed Nolan’s previous career-best global debut, 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” which opened to $249 million before inflation adjustments, Variety reported. For 2026, “The Odyssey” now ranks behind only “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” among the year’s biggest domestic and worldwide starts.
The film adapts Homer’s ancient Greek poem about Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, and his long trip home after the Trojan War. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo and Jon Bernthal also in the cast.
Imax became part of the main event
Variety reported that Imax accounted for $51.8 million of the film’s opening global ticket sales, or 23% of the total. The company said that was its biggest opening in comparable markets, ahead of “Avengers: Endgame.”
“The Odyssey” is the first feature shot entirely with Imax cameras, according to Variety. Imax CEO Richard Gelfond told the outlet, “If you don’t see ‘The Odyssey’ in Imax, you aren’t seeing it in the way that Chris Nolan intended.”
Imax is giving “The Odyssey” a three-week exclusive run on its screens, Variety reported, and demand has pushed some screenings into unusual time slots. Fans have booked 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. showings of the nearly three-hour movie, according to the report.
The most prized 70mm Imax auditoriums are especially scarce. Variety reported there are 41 such screens worldwide, and they generated $6.3 million over opening weekend.
Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, told Variety that some premium-format showtimes were already sold out for the next weekend, the weekend after that and midweek dates.
Nolan’s name did plenty of selling
David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe, told Variety that Nolan has built a loyal audience across 13 films. The director’s recent run includes “Oppenheimer,” the “Dark Knight” trilogy, “Inception,” “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk.”
Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory, told Variety that the project would have looked risky with another filmmaker: an R-rated, nearly three-hour sword-and-sandal film that is not a sequel.
The audience skew also helped. Variety reported that 50% of opening weekend viewers were between 18 and 34 years old, a notable showing for a film based on a Bronze Age story. Robbins told the outlet that Nolan reached multiple groups by making the film both a fantasy adventure and a character study.
Universal also sold the movie as a theatrical experience long before release. Variety reported that Imax tickets went on sale a year ahead of the premiere, and a nearly six-minute prologue later played before Imax 70mm screenings of “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.”
The movie’s early reception supported the rollout. Variety reported that “The Odyssey” earned an A grade from CinemaScore exit polls and held a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The strong start is especially important for Universal, which Variety said spent $250 million to produce the film.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.