It’s a box office debut fit for a king. Christopher Nolan‘s action epic “The Odyssey” ignited to $124.5 million from 3,919 domestic theaters over the weekend, defying expectations and setting up the R-rated adventure for a long, long journey in theaters.
These ticket sales are notable as Nolan’s biggest debut since 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160 million) as well as the third-largest opening of the year following “Toy Story 5” ($159 million) and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million). They’re also impressive not just because “The Odyssey” is a nearly three-hour sword-and-sandal movie, a genre that’s rarely made these days, but also because it is rated R, which limits who can buy tickets.
At the international box office, “The Odyssey” collected $139.6 million from 73 markets for a stellar worldwide tally of $264.1 million. It marks Nolan’s biggest global opening ahead of “The Dark Knight Rises” ($249 million, not adjusted for inflation), 2009’s “The Dark Knight” ($198 million, not adjusted for inflation) and “Oppenheimer” ($180 million).
Adapted from Homer’s 3,000-year-old epic poem, “The Odyssey” stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, and chronicles his seemingly eternal, perilous voyage back to Ithaca after the Trojan war. Damon leads an all-star cast of Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal and John Leguizamo. It’s one of the best reviewed films of the year with an “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls and 95% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
