‘The Odyssey’ Is Already Sitting on an Insane Global Haul Before Its Opening Weekend Even Starts
Christopher Nolan has spent the past year turning ‘The Odyssey’ into a genuine worldwide theatrical event, and the early numbers rolling in from overseas markets suggest that strategy is paying off in a big way. Universal rolled the film out across the same international footprint that carried ‘Oppenheimer’ to success back in 2023, betting that Nolan’s brand would translate just as powerfully outside North America as it has at home.
That bet appears to be landing. According to Deadline, the film’s offshore cume reached 22.2 million dollars over its first two days overseas, marking a genuinely legendary result when measured against ‘Oppenheimer’, which pulled in 15.9 million dollars across the same Wednesday and Thursday window during its own release three years earlier.
Breaking that overseas total down further, ‘The Odyssey’ grossed 3.3 million dollars on Wednesday before jumping to 18.9 million dollars on Thursday alone, giving the film serious momentum heading into its actual opening weekend. Combined with the 17.6 million dollars the film pulled in from Thursday preview screenings domestically, ‘The Odyssey’ has already crossed a 39.8 million dollar global cume before the weekend box office numbers even begin rolling in.
That international rollout is notably larger in scale than what ‘Oppenheimer’ received. The film is currently playing across 73 markets in more than 13,300 locations and 25,100 screens, compared to the 11,300 sites and 17,500 screens ‘Oppenheimer’ launched in during 2023, giving ‘The Odyssey’ considerably more room to build on its early numbers.
Looking ahead to the full opening weekend, projections suggest a range of outcomes depending heavily on how the ongoing FIFA World Cup final affects moviegoing patterns on Sunday. Domestically, the film is tracking toward a 110 million to 125 million dollar three-day weekend, while overseas estimates range from 120 million to 140 million dollars across a five-day opening window.
That overseas range carries some genuinely significant stakes attached to it. Hitting the top end would put ‘The Odyssey’ in position to challenge ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and its 131 million dollar overseas debut, long considered the biggest international opening any Nolan film has ever posted.
Combined globally, projections point to a worldwide opening somewhere between 230 million and 265 million dollars. Even the low end of that range would comfortably crush ‘Oppenheimer’s 180.4 million dollar global debut, making ‘The Odyssey’ Nolan’s biggest non-Batman opening by a wide margin, while the high end would edge the film past ‘The Dark Knight’s 252.6 million dollar debut entirely, positioning it as the second biggest global opening of Nolan’s career behind only ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and its 291.9 million dollar bow.
Interest in the film does not appear to be getting crowded out by the World Cup either, according to research from entertainment tracking firm JustWatch, which surveyed more than 3,200 people across six countries and found that 60 percent of respondents plan to watch both ‘The Odyssey’ and the World Cup final over the same weekend.
Are you surprised by how big ‘The Odyssey’ is performing before opening weekend?
With no major studio competition standing in its way for the next two weeks, ‘The Odyssey’ looks positioned to fully capitalize on this early momentum as final weekend numbers come in. Do you think ‘The Odyssey’ can actually catch ‘The Dark Knight’ for Nolan’s second biggest global opening ever, and are you watching the film or the World Cup final first. Let us know in the comments.
