The execs at Universal Studios must be “a tad nervous,” said Jordan Ruimy in World of Reel. With Christopher Nolan’s $250 million adaptation of The Odyssey due to open in theaters on the weekend of July 17, Universal barred critics from publishing reviews until the final day before theatrical release as controversy over Nolan’s casting choices continued to stir up loud attacks from online commenters. Since January, right-wing culture warriors, led by Elon Musk, have alleged that the film pushes a “woke” agenda, primarily because Nolan chose a Black actress, Lupita Nyong’o, to play Helen of Troy and cast trans actor Elliot Page as a soldier. And the attacks didn’t stop when critics praised the movie in their initial social media reactions. In fact, Universal blocked comments on its websites after a trailer for The Odyssey racked up more than 700,000 thumbs-downs on YouTube, making it the second-most-disliked trailer ever, behind only 2025’s Snow White, whose haters disliked seeing Latina actress Rachel Zegler as the lead.In my reading of the tea leaves, said Miles Klee in Wired, “there’s no reason to suspect that anyone at Universal is sweating right now.” Yes, the studio’s review strategy was unusual, but mostly because mainstream critics were given a chance to see and comment on Nolan’s star-packed film before the social media influencers who are relied upon these days to build audience excitement for most new movies. The bulk of the abbreviated early reactions, including from IndieWire and The Guardian, have been rapturous, and ticket presales point toward a $80 million to $100 million opening weekend for the director’s follow-up to 2023’s Oppenheimer, a Best Picture winner. Nolan himself seems unfazed that his take on a landmark cultural artifact is stirring backlash from at least one corner. “Remember,” he said last week, “I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman.” The only question now, said Matt McGloin in Cosmic Book News, is whether all those “angry thumbs” translate into empty seats or whether the anti-Odyssey mob “goes down as the loudest minority in movie marketing history.”Join 350,000+ subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of