A 3,000-Year-Old Story — Shot on Film No Director Had Used Before
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, opened this weekend to $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million globally — the biggest opening weekend of his career, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises‘ $249 million worldwide launch in 2012. The film, distributed by Universal Pictures, also set the studio’s all-time record for an R-rated film and the best live-action domestic opening of 2026.
The $250 million production is the first feature in cinema history shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras — a format so demanding that Nolan’s crew burned through more than two million feet of IMAX film over a six-month shoot. Cast members like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, both busy with other high-profile projects, joined one of the biggest ensemble casts assembled for a Nolan film.
Opening Weekend — By the Numbers
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From Homer’s Pages to 70mm IMAX Film — Unchanged in 3,000 Years, Seen Differently
Homer’s Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in Western literature — an oral poem composed around the 8th century BC, first written down even later, and passed between generations as a song before it became a text. It follows Odysseus across ten years of monster encounters, divine interference, seductions, storms, and shipwrecks, all on his way from the ruins of Troy back to Ithaca and his family.
Nolan’s adaptation preserves the broad shape of that journey — the Trojan War background, the sea voyage, the mythical encounters, the return home — while condensing the episodic poem into a more linear story. The film’s nearly three-hour runtime still lands well below Homer’s original, which runs to 24 books and thousands of lines.
What makes this production physically historic is the camera format. The Odyssey is the first feature film ever made entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras — hardware that did not previously exist in a form that could sustain a full feature shoot. Nolan’s team, working with IMAX, developed new camera technology to make it possible. The result played at just 41 IMAX 70mm locations worldwide during opening weekend — 25 of them in the United States — because so few theaters are equipped to project 70mm film at that scale.
Travis Scott’s casting as the bard drew attention during production. Nolan has explained that the ancient Greek bard — the figure who keeps a warrior’s deeds alive through song — is a direct predecessor to the rapper, both operating within an oral tradition of storytelling through rhythm and performance. Scott had previously collaborated with Nolan on the soundtrack for Tenet in 2020. His appearance here is a speaking and singing role within the film’s narrative, not a cameo.
“In much the same way the original story was passed down through oral tradition, the bard recounts Odysseus’s war story in song fashion. Rap and oral poetry are analogous art forms.”
— Christopher Nolan, on casting Travis Scott as the bard (Time Magazine)
From Script to Screen — A Six-Year Journey
96% on Rotten Tomatoes — Where Does It Land Among Nolan’s Films?
The Odyssey sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 89 on Metacritic — what the site categorizes as “Universal Acclaim.” As of its opening week, not a single negative review had been counted on Metacritic. Critics praised the ensemble cast, the scale of the production, and the immersive quality of the IMAX 70mm cinematography.
Matt Damon’s performance as Odysseus has drawn his career-best notices. Several reviewers placed the film alongside Nolan’s most critically celebrated work — The Dark Knight (2008), Memento (2000), Dunkirk (2017), and Oppenheimer (2023). Some noted that the nearly three-hour runtime makes The Odyssey slightly less narratively precise than Oppenheimer, but the gap in consensus is minimal.
For Hollywood’s broader box office picture in 2026, The Odyssey landed third overall domestically for the year behind only Toy Story 5 ($159M opening) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131M), both animated titles. Among live-action films, it is the year’s largest domestic opening.
The film earned a CinemaScore of “A” from audience exit polls on opening night — a strong indicator that general audiences, not just critics, are responding positively. At $250 million, it is the most expensive film of Nolan’s career and a major financial bet for Universal Pictures. At $264.1 million globally in its first weekend alone, that bet appears to be paying off.
A Weekend the Numbers Will Remember
The Odyssey opened on July 17, 2026, and the opening weekend report reviewed here confirmed $124.5 million domestic and $264.1 million global — the largest opening in Nolan’s career. The film’s historic distinction as the first feature shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras was covered, along with the production’s six-month, seven-country shoot. The cast — led by Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Travis Scott — was outlined. Critical scores of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 89 on Metacritic, alongside an “A” CinemaScore, were reported. The Odyssey, distributed by Universal Pictures, is currently showing in theaters worldwide.
