‘The Odyssey’ Just Crossed $700 Million, and Christopher Nolan’s Record-Breaking Run Is Far from Over

Box office milestones have come fast and furious for Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, and this one might be the most impressive yet. Just under two weeks into its theatrical run, the director’s ambitious take on Homer’s ancient poem has officially crossed into territory that few adult-driven dramas ever reach.

‘The Odyssey‘ opened to massive fanfare, delivering Nolan’s biggest global launch ever and quickly establishing itself as one of the year’s defining box office stories. What’s followed since has been an unusually strong hold, with the film continuing to pack theaters well past its opening weekend in a way that’s rare for a nearly three-hour, R-rated literary adaptation.

That momentum has now pushed ‘The Odyssey’ past $700 million worldwide, according to Variety, making it the fourth-highest-grossing movie of the year after just 12 days in theaters. The film has generated $320.5 million domestically alongside $407.4 million internationally, bringing its combined worldwide total to $727.9 million.

That places ‘The Odyssey’ just behind 2026’s current top three earners: ‘Toy Story 5’ at $1.02 billion, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ at $1.001 billion, and ‘Michael’ at $1.001 billion. Given its current trajectory, the film is expected to join that billion-dollar club within the coming week, a genuinely remarkable outcome for a three-hour adaptation of a 3,000-year-old epic poem.

What makes these numbers even more striking is that ‘The Odyssey’ hasn’t yet opened in China, the world’s second-largest movie market. The country is reportedly rolling out a major release for the film, with plans for nearly 800 IMAX screens along with thousands of standard theaters, suggesting there’s still substantial global revenue left on the table.

Much of the film’s success has been driven by outsized demand for its IMAX presentation, since ‘The Odyssey’ holds the distinction of being the first feature ever shot entirely using IMAX cameras. That format alone has already generated $140 million globally, with the film ranking as the second-fastest title in IMAX history to cross the $100 million mark, trailing only 2019’s ‘Avengers: Endgame.’

Domestically, ‘The Odyssey’ is also closing in on a significant milestone of its own, with Variety reporting it’s on pace to soon surpass ‘Oppenheimer’s’ entire $330.1 million lifetime domestic run in just 13 days of release. That would make it Nolan’s third-highest grossing film in the United States, trailing only his two ‘Dark Knight’ films.

The film’s staying power is being tested this week with the arrival of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ Sony and Marvel’s own blockbuster that’s projected to score one of the biggest openings in box office history. Despite that competition, industry trackers still expect ‘The Odyssey’ to earn somewhere between $50 million and $60 million in its third weekend, a total that would be considered a strong opening for most adult dramas on its own.

At a reported production budget of $250 million, marking Nolan’s most expensive film to date, ‘The Odyssey’ is now on pace to become his most commercially successful movie as well. It’s expected to eventually overtake both ‘The Dark Knight’ at $1.008 billion and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ at $1.08 billion to claim the title of the director’s highest-grossing film of all time.

With China still ahead and domestic legs showing no signs of slowing down, ‘The Odyssey’ looks poised to keep climbing the charts for weeks to come.

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