Christopher Nolan's latest film, "The Odyssey," has achieved a significant box office success, opening with $257.8 million globally. This impressive figure includes a domestic opening of $124.5 million in the U.S., making it the best opening of the year to date for a movie and a personal record for its star, Matt Damon. The film's worldwide opening surpasses Nolan's previous best, "The Dark Knight Rises," which earned $249 million.
The international market contributed $137.3 million from 73 markets, setting a new foreign debut record for Nolan. The film also marked Universal's biggest opening ever in 11 markets and Nolan's biggest opening in 45 markets, including France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and Brazil. Domestically, the film secured the fourth-best opening for an R-rated movie, behind "Deadpool & Wolverine" ($211.4 million), "Deadpool" ($132.4 million), and "Deadpool 2" ($125.5 million).
"The Odyssey" was made with a production budget of $250 million and has already demonstrated strong performance, with Universal initially projecting an $80 million to $100 million domestic opening. The film's strong reviews, including a 95% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 97% audience score, likely contributed to its success. It also generated an estimated $30 million from IMAX screens domestically, accounting for 25% of its North American haul, with an additional $22 million from international IMAX showings.
While the film's global opening of $257.8 million is the third highest year-to-date, behind "Super Mario Galaxy Movie" ($372.5 million) and "Toy Story 5" ($312 million), it stands as the best live-action opening of 2026. "The Odyssey" is now poised to potentially join other 2026 blockbusters in surpassing the $1 billion mark globally, which would require it to exceed "The Dark Knight Rises'" $1.085 billion total.
Domestically, "The Odyssey" represents Nolan's third-best opening, trailing only "The Dark Knight Rises" ($160 million) and "The Dark Knight" ($158 million). However, it is his biggest domestic opening for a film outside of the Batman franchise and his highest-grossing global opening ever. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, with a supporting cast including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron.
