Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Will Be “Under Three Hours”

Christopher Nolan is tackling the most epic source material with “The Odyssey,” and has promised to be faithful to it, which has led many to guesstimate runtimes: 3 hours? 3 1/2 hours? 4 hours?

Turns out it won’t be as lengthy as many suspected, or at least that’s what Nolan’s producer, Emma Thomas, is telling Deadline.

Thomas “guaranteed” the epic film will come in “under three hours,” even though no actual runtime has been set yet, since the film is still in post-production. So, 2 hours 59 minutes? How else can you tell this story?

Truth be told, Nolan has only crossed the three-hour mark once in his career, with “Oppenheimer” running exactly 3 hours. His next longest films are “Interstellar” (2 hours 49 minutes) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2 hours 44 minutes). However, “The Odyssey” is a whole other beast — a story sprawling in scale and ambition.

Calling “The Odyssey” epic barely covers it. Translating Homer’s vast 8th-century BCE poem to the screen practically invites a runtime north of three hours. The poem itself isn’t just a single journey but a sprawling chain of mythic episodes, each one capable of anchoring its own film. And that journey is packed with figures like Cyclops, Sirens, Circe, Poseidon, Calypso, Nausicaa, and Odysseus’ son Telemachus.

While the film centers on Matt Damon’s portrayal of Odysseus and his arduous journey home following the Trojan War, Nolan’s film has a huge cast to take on the numerous characters involved, including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth.

“The Odyssey” reportedly has a budget of around $250M and will utilize brand-new, state-of-the-art IMAX cameras, with cinematography by Nolan’s go-to DP, Hoyte van Hoytema. It hits theaters on July 17.