Neither the controversy surrounding its casting nor its intimidating running time of nearly three hours could stop Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” from becoming a box-office phenomenon and proving that Hollywood’s expensive gamble on the director paid off.
In its opening weekend, the film grossed more than a quarter of a billion dollars, taking in $264 million from Thursday through Sunday, roughly matching its reported $250 million production budget in box-office revenue alone.
‘The Odyssey’ trailer
(Video: Courtesy of Tulip Entertainment)
Along the way, it set a string of records. It delivered the biggest opening of Christopher Nolan’s career, surpassing all three of his Batman films, including “The Dark Knight”; the largest debut ever for a historical epic, and certainly for a film set in ancient Greece; the third-biggest opening of the year and the largest for a non-animated film, behind only “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”; and the third-largest opening ever for an R-rated film in the United States.
The R rating, which requires children and teenagers to be accompanied by an adult, is often considered a box-office “poison pill” in modern Hollywood, where most blockbusters are designed primarily to attract younger audiences.
In the U.S. alone, the film earned $124 million, easily surpassing Universal Pictures’ official opening-weekend projection of $100 million, which had itself been considered optimistic. The film has become a phenomenon. In major cities, it is screening around the clock, including late-night and early-morning showings, while tickets at some theaters, particularly for IMAX screenings, are selling out quickly.
Its audience profile is also unusual. Seventy-five percent of surveyed ticket buyers were 25 or older, while about half of viewers were reportedly between 18 and 34. That means the film is proving especially popular with demographics Hollywood has increasingly struggled to draw to theaters: adults and younger adults, particularly those aged 25 to 34, many of whom have grown accustomed to staying home, watching Netflix and skipping the cinema. Not in the case of “The Odyssey.”
The campaign that elevated the adaptation of Homer’s 2,700-year-old epic into a must-see theatrical event clearly succeeded, helped by a 95% positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has also surged to the front of the Oscar race. Nolan’s previous film, “Oppenheimer,” won seven Academy Awards and earned nearly $1 billion worldwide during its theatrical run after opening to $180 million in 2023. “The Odyssey” has surpassed that debut by roughly $70 million, fueling expectations that it, too, could cross the $1 billion mark before leaving theaters.
From The Odyssey
(Photo: Courtesy of Tulip Entertainment)
One factor that appears to have had little effect was the online campaign against the film led by prominent right-wing commentators, including Elon Musk, who tried to portray it as a failure before it had even reached theaters.
The decision to cast Black actor Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, along with the casting of transgender actor Elliot Page, triggered a wave of attacks accusing Nolan of “surrendering to woke culture.” In more extreme cases, social media users called for a boycott.
The backlash peaked with a campaign urging users to dislike the trailer released several months ago. It accumulated about half a million dislikes, second only to Disney’s live-action “Snow White,” starring Gal Gadot, which was likewise accused of embracing progressive politics before ultimately failing at the box office.
In the case of “The Odyssey,” however, every attempt to portray the film as reviled and destined to fail collapsed in the face of its overwhelming box-office success.