The Odyssey smashes five box office records in one go
- By Asim Mallick -
- Jul 19, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s epic new film The Odyssey has exploded onto the big screen, delivering a massive opening weekend that’s already rewriting the record books.
The movie, Nolan’s ambitious adaptation of Homer’s classic poem, features an all-star cast led by Matt Damon as Odysseus. Anne Hathaway stars as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Elliot Page as Sinon, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Samantha Morton as Circe, and Lupita Nyong’o playing both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra.
Fans have been buzzing about this one for months. It’s sitting pretty with a 95% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it famously sold out over a dozen IMAX 70mm screens a full year before release.
According to Deadline, The Odyssey is projected to open at No. 1 with a domestic three-day total of $120.5 million. That number gives it the biggest opening weekend ever for a film starring Matt Damon in the lead, comfortably beating the previous record holder, The Bourne Ultimatum (69.2 million unadjusted).
But that’s just the start. The film also marks Nolan’s strongest non-Batman debut, surpassing Oppenheimer’s 82.4 million and trailing only The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
On top of that, The Odyssey claims the biggest live-action domestic opening of 2026 so far (third overall behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Toy Story 5), and the strongest R-rated debut of the year, well ahead of the recent horror hit Backrooms.
It’s also now Universal’s biggest-ever R-rated opening, topping Fifty Shades of Grey.
With this kind of debut, the movie has already outgrossed the entire domestic runs of most 2026 releases, including titles like Disclosure Day, Wuthering Heights, Mortal Kombat II, and others.
Of course, the stakes are high, the film reportedly cost 250 million dollars to make, meaning it needs a huge worldwide total to break even. Still, early signs are very promising. Strong audience scores (97 percent Verified Hot on Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter) suggest it has the legs to become a billion-dollar blockbuster, building on the momentum from Nolan’s previous hit Oppenheimer.
This is shaping up to be one of the biggest cinematic events of the year.
Also Read: Watch the leaked trailer of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’