On Screen · c. 1200 BC (Late Bronze Age setting) · Ithaca, Ionian Islands, Greece
Nolan's Homer epic The Odyssey takes $652 million worldwide in 10 days
Christopher Nolan's R-rated, nearly three-hour adaptation starring Matt Damon as Odysseus had the biggest second weekend of 2026 and has not yet opened in China.
News reports
Ithaca, Greece Christopher Nolan's film of Homer's Odyssey took $652 million at the worldwide box office in its first 10 days, Variety reported. That total includes $289 million in North America and $362 million from other markets. The film opened on 17 July and stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king trying to get home after the Trojan War.
Variety says it is already the sixth-highest grossing Hollywood film of 2026 worldwide. It is rated R and runs nearly three hours. Universal released it. Central Jersey reports that the cast also includes Zendaya, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson.
Record weekends, with two sets of figures
The two sources give slightly different numbers. Variety puts the North American opening weekend at $123.5 million. Central Jersey reports $124.5 million from 3,919 domestic theatres and $264.1 million worldwide. It calls this the best opening of Nolan's career and the biggest live-action opening of 2026.
For the second weekend, Variety reports $90 million, a fall of 27%. Central Jersey gives roughly $87 million. Variety notes that most films opening above $100 million drop by 50% or more in their second weekend. By its count this was the biggest second weekend of the year. It was also the second largest ever for an R-rated film, after Deadpool & Wolverine with $96 million.
Central Jersey reports that the film earned $18.67 million on Monday 20 July, the best single Monday of 2026. Large screens bring in much of the money. Premium large-format screenings made up 45% of opening-weekend tickets, at about $19 each. True 70mm film projection made up 5%, and some 70mm seats had been on sale since July 2025.
Imax receipts reached $140 million worldwide, according to Variety. The film passed $100 million on Imax screens in 10 days, a pace beaten only by Avengers: Endgame.
'The Odyssey' has crossed over from hit blockbuster to global cultural event.
Richard Gelfond, chief executive of Imax
The film opens in China on 14 August. Variety reports that "want to see" registrations on the ticketing platform Maoyan Pro passed 252,000 by 24 July. It says the film could overtake The Dark Knight ($1.008 billion) and The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion) as Nolan's highest-grossing film. PostTrak surveys found that audiences named the director as the main reason for buying a ticket.
The poem and the Bronze Age world behind it
The two reports date the poem differently. Variety calls it 3,000 years old, Central Jersey 2,700 years old. Scholars generally place the composition of the Homeric epics in the 8th or 7th century BC, at the end of a long tradition of oral poetry. The story itself is set earlier, in the years after the Trojan War.
Archaeologists identify Troy with the mound of Hisarlik in north-west Turkey, where one city level was destroyed around 1200 BC. Whether that destruction reflects the war of the poems is still debated. Mainland Greece was then ruled from palaces such as Mycenae and Pylos. Their clay tablets are written in Linear B, a script that records an early form of Greek.
Scholars also disagree about whether modern Ithaca, in the Ionian Sea, is the island Homer describes as Odysseus's home. Neither box-office report includes comment from historians or archaeologists on how the film presents this world.
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