‘The Odyssey’ becomes Christopher Nolan’s biggest opening weekend ever

Christopher Nolan movies are a garanteed box office hit, and after its first weekend, ‘The Odyssey’ was no exception. Despite much-publicized controversies over its inclusive casting, its use of more modern language, and even its R rating, the film has made its mark by achieving the third-best opening weekend of 2026.

‘The Odyssey’ grossed a total of $124.5 million over the weekend in the domestic market. This places it in third place behind the $159 million earned by ‘Toy Story 5’ and the $131 million earned by ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ during their opening weekends. Not bad for a movie whose 3-hour runtime reduces the number of showings per theater and whose R rating limits the audience that can see it in theaters.

As for the international market, the film’s box office earnings have made it the British director’s best opening. With $139.6 million in international box office receipts, the film’s total gross has risen to $264.1 million, surpassing his other box office hits such as ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ ($249 million, unadjusted), ‘The Dark Knight’ ($198 million, unadjusted), and ‘Oppenheimer’ ($180 million).

An epic of epic proportions

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In our review of the movie, we mentioned that “‘‘The Odyssey’ is already shaping up to be one of the defining cinematic releases of 2026—and one of the few films that truly demands to be experienced in IMAX. Christopher Nolan once again demonstrates that large-scale historical and mythological epics still have a place in contemporary cinema when placed in the hands of a filmmaker willing to fully commit to the format.Despiteits considerable runtime, the film’s carefully constructed pacing ensures it never feels overlong."

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