‘The Odyssey’ Isn’t Just Beating Oppenheimer, It’s Chasing Records Held By Deadpool and Joker
Christopher Nolan’s box office track record has always been something of a spectator sport, but ‘The Odyssey’ is turning Thursday night into a full-blown historical event. Industry trackers spent weeks debating whether the three-hour mythological epic could match the fever pitch surrounding ‘Oppenheimer’, and the early receipts suggest Nolan may have blown right past that bar entirely.
The comparisons started with Nolan’s own filmography before expanding into something much bigger. ‘The Odyssey’ pulled in roughly $15 million in Thursday night previews, already ahead of ‘Oppenheimer’s’ $10.5 million previews from three years earlier, which itself was boosted by large format premium screen sales during the Barbenheimer stretch. That figure also ranks as the best previews so far this year for a live-action title, ahead of Lionsgate’s ‘Michael’, which posted $12.6 million in previews before a $97.2 million domestic opening.
Where things get genuinely historic is the comparison to 2026’s animated heavyweight. Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 5’ had set the year’s previous benchmark with $17.5 million in Thursday previews, the best single night for any film in 2026 up to that point and the second best preview number ever recorded for an animated release. With ‘The Odyssey’ landing right around $15 million, Nolan’s epic is closing in on that mark despite competing in a completely different genre and rating category.
The R-rated comparisons are even more striking. ‘Deadpool 2’ set the previous benchmark for R-rated previews back in 2018 with $18.6 million, topping the $13.5 million mark set by ‘It’ the year before. That record was later shattered by ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ in 2024, which pulled in an estimated $38.5 million from Thursday previews alone on its way to becoming an even bigger box office force.
‘The Odyssey’s’ $15 million puts it well within range of ‘Deadpool 2’s’ longstanding number two spot on that all-time list, an extraordinary result for a Greek mythology epic going up against superhero blockbusters.
That preview strength is already fueling bigger predictions for the weekend. Early estimates from Deadline pegged the film’s domestic opening between $85 million and $100 million, with another $110 million expected overseas, putting the global debut on track to clear $200 million. A domestic opening in that range would mark Nolan’s biggest debut since ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, a notable feat for a film with no comic book or franchise branding behind it.
Do you think ‘The Odyssey’ can become Christopher Nolan’s biggest box office hit?
Whether ‘The Odyssey’ ultimately catches those Deadpool numbers or settles just behind them, the sheer fact that a three-hour R-rated adaptation of a 2,700-year-old poem is even part of the conversation says something about where Nolan’s brand currently sits in Hollywood. Odysseus took ten years to get home in the original story. At this rate, Nolan might not need nearly that long to turn a profit.
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