UPDATE: Well, this film is becoming a behemoth. “The Odyssey” is marching toward a $50M first Friday, including Thursday previews, putting it on pace for a $124M three-day domestic opening and a $264M global debut.
Those global numbers are the biggest of Nolan’s career, besting “The Dark Knight Rises” ($249M), “The Dark Knight” ($199M) and “Oppenheimer” ($174M). Domestic, it’s third best, only ‘Dark Knight Rises’ ($160M), and ‘Dark Knight’ ($158M) made more.
That’s also the biggest live-action opening at the 2026 domestic box office, besting “Michael” ($97M), which went on to gross $1 billion worldwide. Overall, it’s the third highest opening of the year behind “Toy Story 5” ($159M) and “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131M).
EARLIER: Here comes “The Odyssey,” which is about to dominate movie theaters nationwide. The rave reviews that dropped on Wednesday gave it an immense boost, and that earlier $80M projection now looks like a severe lowball.
Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic pulled in $17.5M in Thursday previews, and there’s been a huge surge in Friday and Saturday ticket sales, leading some to project a $115M opening weekend.
I don’t think there will be much competition, either. The last two weeks have seen “Supergirl” and “Minions” underperform, and there’s no major wide release opening next weekend. The path has been laid bare for “The Odyssey” to absolutely dominate over the next 14 days.
The film also looks like a cinch for plenty of Oscar love and could very well deliver Nolan his second consecutive Best Picture winner.
As mentioned in my review, “The Odyssey” is an ambitious, visually staggering epic unlike anything else in theaters at the moment, even if it isn’t without flaws. Nolan’s daring adaptation of Homer’s classic features breathtaking practical effects, nonlinear storytelling, and, in certain sections, feels damn near surreal and dreamlike.
Of course, Matt Damon’s weary, deeply human Odysseus is the film’s standout performance—possibly the best of his career. Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson are excellent in supporting roles, though Tom Holland is miscast as Telemachus, Zendaya is underused as Athena, and a few other casting choices undermine parts of the film. Regardless, the sheer scale, imagination, and emotional payoff make “The Odyssey” an astonishing experience.
I’m sure many of our readers went to the early shows—what did you think? Post your review below. I’ll be bumping and updating this thread on Friday and Saturday to keep it fresh and continue the conversation surrounding the film.
Anthony and Joe Russo are directing, and the secrecy surrounding Jupe’s character naturally leaves plenty of room for rumors about whether he could be connected to an established Marvel character,