Coming off an incredibly successful opening weekend, The Odyssey has now banked the best Monday of the year so far at the domestic box office.
Christopher Nolan's epic adaptation of the ancient Greek mythological tale took in $17.5 million yesterday for the best Monday year-to-date in the U.S./Canada, topping Toy Story 5's $17.3M and The Mandalorian & Grogu‘s Memorial Day Monday of $16.4M.
This brings The Odyssey's global total to $281.5M - more than double the total worldwide haul of DC Studios' Supergirl.
The second DCU movie has had a disastrous theatrical run, taking in just $1.525 million in North America in its fourth weekend of release. Supergirl's total worldwide gross now sits at around $120.86 million, and with a reported production budget of $170 million (not counting marketing expenses), DC Studios really needs Clayface and - more importantly - Man of Tomorrow to be big hits.
During a recent interview with The Guardian, Nolan revealed that he still gets nervous when he opens a new movie.
“It never gets any easier, because I make films for audiences and the audience tells me what it likes. They finish the film. I don’t have anything to hide behind. I can’t just be like: ‘Oh, people don’t get it.’ Those aren’t the films I make. What does the audience make of it? Do they turn up? Do they like it if they do turn up? “By the way, I don’t think I’d be doing my job right if I wasn’t petrified every time I put a film out, because you’re trying to challenge yourself, you’re trying to take risks.”
According to Jeff Bock, senior media analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co, Nolan basically functions as "his own buzz-generating IP."
“Since Oppenheimer won Best Picture, Christopher Nolan’s name recognition is so strong it can sell any movie. Whatever film he makes, audiences are going to show up. You want evidence? Just look to next weekend on the release schedule. There are no major films set. Everybody steered clear of The Odyssey because it’s Christopher Nolan and one of the premier event films of the summer.”
Have you been to see The Odyssey yet? If so, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments.
"Christopher Nolan’s next film The Odyssey is a mythic action epic 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," said Universal Pictures in a statement when the project was announced.
The poem has been adapted (sometimes very loosely) a number of times before, starting with the 1911 silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro, and followed by 1954’s Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas. The Cohen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is also based on the epic adventure, as is 2024’s The Return starring Ralph Fiennes.
Anime fans may also recall the '80s Ulysses 31 series, which put a futuristic spin on the tale.