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Before sitting down to watch The Odyssey, moviegoers started streaming this two-decade-old historical fantasy film in preparation to go back to the era of gods and warriors.Zack Snyder directed the film in question, and it was one of his early works, 10 years before he entered the DCU, plus it features the talents of Gerard Butler, who played an iconic Greek historical figure.
The film in question is 300, which first premiered in 2006 but entered U.S. theaters in 2007. Based on the 1998 graphic novel of the same name, it recounts the Battle of Thermopylae, in which King Leonidas (Butler) led an army of 300 men against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). 300 was a box office success, generating over $468 million worldwide and becoming the 10th-highest-grossing film of 2007. It won Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film and Best Director at the Saturn Awards. Two decades later, the feature found a new audience as they prepare to return to Ancient Greece once more for Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of Homer'sOdyssey.
Recently, 300 landed at #5 on Vudu's Top 10 Movies in the United States, sitting between Cast Awayand Jurassic Park. Since its release, 300 has been praised by fans and critics alike, earning a 61% critics' score and an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.4 score on Letterboxd. Critics described 300 as a "muscle fantasy"; some called it boring, and one called it "Greek Myth meets Looney Tunes". Meanwhile, audiences claimed it was "empowering" and filled with adrenaline.
Other Greek Mythology Titles Worth Watching
If you're excited to watch The Odyssey, have finished streaming 300, and want to watch other content based on Greek mythology, there are other titles worth watching that will bring you back to that era. The first that comes to mind isPercy Jackson and the Olympians, both the Disney+ series and the films. Based on Rick Riordan's book series of the same name, this is a modern telling of Greek myths, as it follows Percy Jackson, who discovers he's not just a demigod but also a forbidden child, as he's the son of Poseidon. Each film/season has Percy and his friends embarking on a brand-new quest, and the Disney+ series will release Season 3 this year.
There's also Disney'sHercules, the 1997 animated musical fantasy starring Tate Donovan as the strong demigod, Hercules, Danny DeVito as Philoctetes, James Woods as Hades, and Susan Eganas Megara. The film is loosely based on the Greek mythology of Hercules, a god known for his superhuman strength, who completed a series of tasks called the Twelve Labors.
But if you are after something close to The Odyssey, then 2004's Troy is worth watching, and features a star-studded cast, like Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and Brian Cox, to name a few. The feature is based on Homer's Greek epic, the Iliad, which tells the story of the Trojan War.
300 is available to stream on Vudu. Follow Collider for more updates.
