The Odyssey is shaping up to be one of the biggest movies of the summer. However, it's also generated controversy, with social media users complaining about everything from casting decisions to the use of modern language and costume/armour designs.
Along with rapper Travis Scott, Elliot Page's name has been at the centre of that casting backlash. Social media users got themselves into quite the tizzy after it was reported that The Umbrella Academy star would play Achilles, one of the greatest warriors of the Trojan War.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, Into Film has learned that Page will, in reality, play Sinon, a Greek warrior and cousin of Odysseus, who played a pivotal role in the fall of Troy.
He doesn't appear in Homer's Odyssey. However, his story is told in the Aeneid of Virgil and other accounts, where Sinon is portrayed as a treacherous agent of the Greeks who misleads the Trojans, encouraging them to bring the Trojan Horse into the city.
So, it was much ado about nothing, which is hardly surprising these days. Page is expected to have a minor role in the movie, though it certainly sounds like an interesting one.
In related news, Deadline has learned that early projections for The Odyssey point to it opening between $80 million and $100 million in North American theaters next month.
While 70MM IMAX screens sold out a year in advance, filmmaker Christopher Nolan's movies are notoriously difficult to track. Oppenheimer, for example, was expected to debut in the $40 million to $50 million range, and blew away expectations with an $82.4 million start. How much "#Barbenheimer" factored into that is tough to say.
Nolan's top three openings at the domestic box office are 2012's The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million), 2008’s The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and Oppenheimer.
Finally, Empire Online recently caught up with Robert Pattinson, who plays one of The Odyssey's antagonists, Antinous. "I mean, he’s just the worst stepfather you could possibly have," he says of the villain's hopes to marry Odysseus' wife, Penelope, mother to Tom Holland's Telemachus.
"I always end up doing these slithery things with Tom and I don’t know why. This was just a fun part to play: 'I just want to be your daddy. I want to be your daddy. That’s all I want!'"
Holland, meanwhile, added, "Having a familiar face and someone that I could share the screen with was a real safety blanket for me. I’m always eager to share scenes with Rob, because he just brings the best out of everyone. I admire his ability to take big swings and make them feel like the perfect decision for that character."
The cast of The Odyssey includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Lupita Nyong'o, Will Yun Lee, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Corey Hawkins, Josh Stewart, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, and Logan Marshall-Green.
Shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology, the film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.