With a sensational second weekend at the box office, it’s clear “The Odyssey” will have a long — and epic — journey in theaters.
Christopher Nolan‘s take on Homer’s 3,000-year-old poem, starring Matt Damon as the Greek king Odysseus, has generated a remarkable $652 million worldwide, including $289 million domestically and $362 million internationally after just 10 days of release. It’s already the sixth-highest grossing Hollywood movie of the year at the global box office — no small feat for a sword-and-sandal epic that’s rated R and clocks in at nearly three hours.
With euphoric word-of-mouth and staggering demand for premium large formats like Imax, “The Odyssey” is expected to shatter all kinds of records throughout the rest of summer and into the fall. It could overtake 2009’s “The Dark Knight” ($1.008 billion) and 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” ($1.08 billion) as Nolan’s highest-grossing film. Depending on staying power and the turnout in China (it doesn’t open there until Aug. 14), “The Odyssey” could eventually surpass 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($1.33 billion) as the largest R-rated release in history. And it’s on pace to rank among Imax’s biggest hits, though the all-time benchmark set by 2009’s “Avatar” ($270 million) might be tough to beat.
