‘The Odyssey’ Keeps Conquering Asia, but Japan Tells a Different Story

Some films earn their success at home and then struggle to travel. Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ has done the opposite, turning a huge domestic and global run into a string of local records across Asia. The ‘Odyssey’ Asia box office story has been especially strong in two of the region’s biggest markets, and the latest weekend figures underline it.

The film arrived in theaters on July 17 with a reported $250M budget and was shot entirely with IMAX cameras. That format has mattered enormously overseas, where premium screens have driven a large share of the film’s audience. By now it has passed $1.68B worldwide and become the highest-grossing R-rated film ever.

The newest numbers, shared by box office watcher Luiz Fernando on X, show how deep that success runs in Korea and China, while Japan looks like the outlier. In Korea, the film added $3.1M over its seventh weekend, a drop of just 40.4%, for a total of $91.6M. In China, it added $2M on its sixth weekend, down 42.9%, to reach $108.1M after 38 days.

In #Korea’s #BoxOffice though, #ChristopherNolan’s Epic #TheOdyssey beats #Frozen2’s $87.2M & #Aladdin’s $91M runs as #3 HIGHEST GROSSING HOLLYWOOD FILM OF ALL TIME, & beats #InfinityWar as #5 BIGGEST Admissions EVER, after still being #2 adding $3.1M on 7th 5-day weekend, just a… pic.twitter.com/RotONBR1mL

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 20, 2026

Korea has been the film’s most dramatic story. According to the report, its $91.6M total moves it past ‘Frozen 2’ at $87.2M and ‘Aladdin’ at $91M to become the third-highest-grossing Hollywood film in the country. It has also reached 11.2M admissions, ahead of the 10.8M for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and matching the 11.2M for ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ putting it in the top five for tickets sold by a Hollywood film.

In #China’s #BoxOffice, Epic #TheOdyssey keeps rewriting history, as #ChristopherNolan adds $2M on 6th 3-day weekend, just a -42.9% drop from last weekend, after grossing STRONG $517k on 6th SUN, despite playing over just 18k screenings (-1k from last SUN).

It hits a $108.1M… pic.twitter.com/QoO5Iaaqpd

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 20, 2026

The path there has been steady. The film opened on Aug. 5 and crossed 10M admissions after just 33 days, making it the first foreign title in four years to hit that mark. It is also Nolan’s second, after ‘Interstellar,’ and it led the Korean chart for six straight weekends before its latest frame.

In #Japan’s #BoxOffice, after spending the weekdays at #1, #ChristopherNolan’s Epic #TheOdyssey disappoints on 2nd frame, losing momentum falling to #4 engulfed by phenomenon #Chiikawa + two local debuts, grossing $1.5M on 2nd 3-day weekend, a -48.3% drop from pure Opening… pic.twitter.com/orUpxXsblB

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 20, 2026

Premium formats helped too. IMAX admissions passed 1.1M in Korea, beating the 929,000 record held by ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’ Universal said Korean audiences enjoy interpreting films and sharing opinions, which suits Nolan’s tendency to leave room for interpretation.

In China, the film has passed $100M, a level that Media Partners Asia analyst Adrian Tong said would be exceptional for a Hollywood release outside the biggest franchises. It opened on Aug. 14 across more than 20,000 screens, including about 90% of the country’s roughly 800 IMAX sites. Its three-day opening of $36.3M beat the $29.8M debut of ‘Tenet’ to become Nolan’s biggest China opening.

The latest report says the film earned $517K on its sixth Sunday despite playing on only about 18,000 screenings. It also had $212K in presales for its sixth Monday. Audience scores remain strong, with the film sitting at 9.7 out of 10 on Maoyan, matching the highest rating recorded for a Hollywood film in the post-COVID era.

Japan has been a very different story. After spending the weekdays at No. 1, the film fell to No. 4 on its second weekend, grossing $1.5M, according to the same report. That was down 48.3% from its opening weekend without previews and 64.3% with previews included.

The film was overtaken by the ‘Chiikawa’ phenomenon and two local debuts, and its total stands at $7.6M after 10 days. The report compared the second weekend to earlier Nolan films in Japan, including ‘Oppenheimer’ at $1.5M and ‘Interstellar’ at $1.1M, and the drop was steeper than several of them. Still, the film holds a 4.4-star rating on the platform shown in the screenshot, which suggests audiences who saw it liked it.

Japan also opened later than other markets, arriving on Sept. 11, so its run is still young. Strong reviews and word of mouth could help, although the competition from local titles is fierce. The market has historically been tougher for Hollywood films than Korea or China.

A film by Christopher Nolan shot entirely with IMAX film cameras. Watch The Odyssey trailer and experience the film in theaters 7 17 26. pic.twitter.com/Lqap9dFI09

— The Odyssey Movie (@odysseymovie) December 22, 2025

Even with Japan’s soft start, the wider picture is very positive. Korea and China are both delivering huge numbers, and the film’s worldwide total keeps climbing. Its international gross has topped $1B, making it the first Hollywood non-sequel and non-remake to do that since ‘Avatar’ in 2009.

For Universal, that overseas strength has helped make ‘The Odyssey’ the studio’s highest-grossing film ever. It has also given Nolan the biggest hit of his career. The remaining question is how much longer its legs can keep carrying it.

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