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Christopher Nolan‘s box office journey with The Odyssey has gotten off to an eye-opening start.
If there were any questions regarding whether a nearly three-hour, R-rated adaptation of a 2,700-year-old Greek poem — not to mention a movie that initially got caught up in the culture wars — would find success, those concerns were swiftly vanquished. In landing 2026’s biggest live-action opening weekend, The Odyssey brought home $123.5 million domestically with a global launch of $263.7 million, with the latter marking the accomplished filmmaker’s highest-grossing worldwide opening ever.
It’s not news that Nolan, hot off his first best director Oscar for 2023’s Oppenheimer, has become a brand unto himself as he continues his run as one of Hollywood’s most sure-thing directors. But the fact that half of the film’s audiences were between the ages of 18 and 34 confirmed that he has captured the excitement of Gen Z and younger millennial filmgoers as much as that of older viewers who might typically be more drawn to an adaptation of classic literature. Audiences cited Nolan as their top reason for seeing The Odyssey, according to PostTrak surveys, which is no small feat, given that the star-studded cast includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and no shortage of others.
