Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Just Made ‘Dunkirk’ Look Small, And $1 Billion Is Already In Sight
Christopher Nolan has spent years building a reputation as one of the only directors alive who can turn genuinely challenging cinema into a mainstream event. His track record includes war epics, mind bending thrillers and a three hour biopic about nuclear physics that somehow became a cultural phenomenon. Now his latest gamble, an R rated, nearly three hour adaptation of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey,’ is rewriting expectations all over again.
The film’s box office trajectory has been nothing short of historic. ‘The Odyssey’ opened with a sensational $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million globally, immediately establishing itself as one of the biggest launches of the year. It has now surpassed $600 million globally after just two weekends, generating $639.6 million worldwide, including $353.2 million internationally and $284.4 million domestically.
That kind of momentum has already blown past one of Nolan’s own classics. In just eleven days ‘The Odyssey’ beat ‘Dunkirk’s entire theatrical run of 550 million dollars and crossed 600 million globally, putting it on pace to join the billion dollar club. It had a second overseas weekend of 128.3 million dollars, just an 8.6 percent drop from its opening, compared to steeper declines for ‘Barbie,’ ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ and ‘Top Gun Maverick’ at the same stage.
The hold itself is turning heads across the industry. ‘The Odyssey’ followed its $123.5 million domestic opening with an $87 million second weekend, a drop of just 30 percent, ranking among the top three lowest second weekend declines ever for a film with a $100 million plus opening. That figure also stands as the second best sophomore weekend ever for an R rated release, trailing only ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’.
The scale of the achievement becomes clearer when stacked against Nolan’s own filmography. The film’s cume has already surpassed the entire lifetime totals of ‘Dunkirk,’ ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Tenet,’ with its performance running ahead of both ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ at the same point in release. Analysts are increasingly confident that a billion dollar global run is not just possible but likely. Even in worst case scenarios, industry trackers now consider the film a lock to hit one billion dollars worldwide.
Adding to the film’s staying power is its record breaking IMAX performance. IMAX has contributed roughly 140 million dollars of the global total, with ‘The Odyssey’ becoming only the second film in Imax history, after ‘Avengers Endgame,’ to cross 100 million dollars in that format, and the fastest ever to do it. Led by Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside an ensemble that includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Charlize Theron, the film’s audience skews notably young, a factor many believe is fueling its unusual staying power for a period epic.
With major markets like Korea, China and Japan still to open, and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ looming as a potential threat to its theatrical legs, the real test for ‘The Odyssey’ is only beginning. Do you think Nolan’s epic has what it takes to cross the billion dollar mark before those key Asian markets even join the party?
