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

It was a precise lukewarm homecoming astatine the container bureau this play for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” arsenic the star-studded epic grossed $124.5 cardinal successful the U.S. and Canada, a invited and monolithic jolt for theaters aft a bid of slower weeks.

The Universal Pictures film’s haul outperformed workplace expectations of a $117 cardinal home opening and acceptable a grounds for the highest-grossing opening play for a live-action oregon R-rated movie truthful acold this year.

“The Odyssey” present ranks arsenic the third-highest home debut of 2026, trailing lone 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 arsenic Odysseus, brought successful a full of $264.1 cardinal worldwide, according to workplace estimates. That marks the biggest planetary opening ever for a Nolan film.

“The Odyssey” was produced by Nolan and his woman and producing spouse Emma Thomas for their company, Syncopy, and had a accumulation fund of astir $200 cardinal to $250 million.

“It delivers connected each benignant of promise,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of home distribution. “It is wholly immersive. It is large affectional storytelling. It is thing that genuinely has to beryllium experienced connected the large screen.”

The astir three-hour epic is the archetypal diagnostic to beryllium changeable wholly connected Imax cameras, a feat that required extended practice betwixt Nolan and the Canadian amusement tech company, which operates retired of Playa Vista.

Nolan archetypal told Imax Chief Executive Rich Gelfond successful aboriginal 2024 that helium was considering making an full movie with Imax cameras and laid retired what he’d request for that to happen, including a quieter and lighter camera, a mode to marque movie reloads easier and getting capable trained projectionists.

“It took a just magnitude of clip and investment” to fig retired those challenges, Gelfond said. But by August 2024, the Imax squad enactment unneurotic a bid of tests to amusement cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Two months later, Nolan saw the tests and was impressed.

“As filmmakers and studios integrate Imax, we go an progressively important portion of the ecosystem,” Gelfond said. “When a movie is released successful Imax oregon changeable successful Imax, I deliberation it’s a awesome to audiences that it’s somewhat special, and the filmmaker is truly leaning successful in a unsocial way.”

Anticipation for the movie has been gathering for astatine slightest a year, erstwhile the archetypal Imax 70mm tickets went connected sale. Pre-sales for “The Odyssey” shattered the erstwhile Imax grounds by astir double, the institution said.

Enhanced formats made up 53% of the home weekend’s total, with some movie and integer Imax gross comprising 23.8%. Imax 70mm comprised astir 4% of that total, with Imax integer making up the rest. Non-Imax 70mm movie screening gross totaled 3%, portion 35mm showings made up 0.3%.

Adding to the film’s mystique is Nolan’s reliance connected old-school Hollywood applicable effects, specified arsenic his usage of puppetry, animatronics and robotics successful scenes with the Cyclops, arsenic good arsenic a existent Viking vessel that the actors learned to sail.

The monolithic reception for the movie is simply a alleviation for theatre owners, who weathered their ain unsmooth waters successful the past fewer weeks, arsenic Walt Disney Co.’s live-action “Moana” underperformed successful its opening astatine the container bureau and Universal and Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” had a softer debut.

“Moana” came successful 2nd astatine the container bureau this play with a home haul of $19 million. “Minions & Monsters” ($14.8 million), “Toy Story 5” ($14.8 million) and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Evil Dead Burn” ($5 million) rounded retired the apical five, according to information from Rentrak.