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Is Christopher Nolan the most reliable director working today? With his latest film, the Oscar winner has pulled off a feat that few filmmakers can.
Nolan's "The Odyssey," a nearly three-hour epic based on the classic poem by Homer, is officially a hit at the box office: It opened to a massive $124.5 million in North American theaters, according to studio estimates released by Rentrak on July 19.
This sets a new record for Nolan as the director's biggest opening weekend at the domestic box office for any of his films that aren't sequels, meaning the largest outside of his "Dark Knight" trilogy. That record was previously held by "Oppenheimer," which launched with $82.5 million domestically in 2023.
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"The Odyssey" also debuted with $264.1 million globally, the biggest worldwide opening weekend of Nolan's career.
That "The Odyssey" nabbed a bigger debut than "Oppenheimer" is especially impressive, given the latter movie benefited from the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon: Fans paired Nolan's J. Robert Oppenheimer biopic with "Barbie" in a double feature, which was believed to have boosted both movies at the box office.
No such pairing existed with "The Odyssey," though the film boasted a star-studded cast that included Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway. But the most important star may have been Nolan himself, who in recent years has become one of a handful of directors whose name alone can sell a movie. His last two films, "Oppenheimer" and "The Odyssey," have both managed the kind of blockbuster openings typically reserved for franchise movies.
"The Odyssey," in fact, had a larger opening weekend than the latest entries in the "Star Wars," "Minions" and DC Universe franchises. Its debut ranks as the second biggest of the summer movie season, behind only "Toy Story 5," and the third biggest of the entire year, behind "Toy Story" and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." For live-action films, "The Odyssey" had the biggest domestic debut of 2026.
In an unusual move, tickets for select screenings of "The Odyssey" went on sale in July 2025, a full year before the movie's debut, and quickly sold out. Tickets for IMAX 70mm screenings were particularly in demand, in part because "The Odyssey" made history as the first major studio movie to be completely filmed using IMAX cameras.
"The Odyssey" is likely to do big business throughout the summer, as fans who were unable to snag IMAX tickets on opening weekend see it in subsequent weeks.
And even after the summer ends, the conversation around the movie is sure to extend into 2027: "The Odyssey" is widely expected to be a major player at next year's Academy Awards, just three years after Nolan's "Oppenheimer" dominated the Oscars in 2024, winning seven awards, including best picture.
How 'The Odyssey' opening compares to other Christopher Nolan films
With "The Odyssey" added into the mix, here's a look at the opening weekend for all of Nolan's films to date, excluding his early movies "Following" and "Memento," which did not receive wide theatrical openings, and "Tenet," which was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, when movie theaters were shut down in much of the U.S.. The numbers, via Box Office Mojo, are not adjusted for inflation.
- "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012): $160.9 million
- "The Dark Knight" (2008): $158.4 million
- "The Odyssey" (2026): $124.5 million
- "Oppenheimer" (2023): $82.5 million
- "Inception" (2010): $62.8 million
- "Dunkirk" (2017): $50.5 million
- "Batman Begins" (2005): $48.7 million
- "Interstellar" (2014): $47.5 million
- "Insomnia" (2002): $20.9 million
- "The Prestige" (2006): $14.8 million
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey' debut breaks major box office record
