'The Odyssey' is Christopher Nolans biggest-ever global opening with $264.1-million debut

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Set us as preferred It was a very warm homecoming at the box office this weekend for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” as the star-studded epic grossed $124.5 million in the U.S.and Canada, a welcome and massive jolt for theaters after a series of slower weeks.The Universal Pictures film’s haul outperformed studio expectations of a $117 million domestic opening and set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a live-action or R-rated film so far this year.“The Odyssey” now ranks as the third-highest domestic debut of 2026, trailing only Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” ($159.7 million) and Universal, Illumination and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131.7 million).The film, which stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, brought in a total of $264.1 million worldwide, according to studio estimates.

That marks the biggest global opening ever for a Nolan film.“The Odyssey” was produced by Nolan and his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas for their company, Syncopy, and had a production budget of about $200 million to $250 million.“It delivers on every sort of promise,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.“It is totally immersive.

It is great emotional storytelling.It is something that truly has to be experienced on the big screen.” Movies Christopher Nolan explains ‘The Odyssey’: The director discusses how he made the epic new film starring Matt Damon that was shot entirely on Imax.The nearly three-hour epic is the first feature to be shot entirely on Imax cameras, a feat that required extensive cooperation between Nolan and the Canadian entertainment tech company, which operates out of Playa Vista.Nolan first told Imax Chief Executive Rich Gelfond in early 2024 that he was considering making an entire film with Imax cameras and laid out what he...