Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Will Have A Bigger Box Office Opening Than Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan is truly in a class of his own. Nolan's name alone does more to move the needle than almost any piece of IP could. He's one of the highest-grossing directors ever at the box office, and he's once again going to prove his worth with his big-budget adaptation of "The Odyssey." It's a massive epic that, in the hands of any other filmmaker, would be a ridiculous gamble. In Nolan's hands? It's poised to deliver one of the biggest opening weekends of 2026.

Continuing the relationship that began with "Oppenheimer" in 2023, Nolan is once again teaming up with Universal Pictures for the release. Based on the early numbers, it looks like it will remain a fruitful partnership. "The Odyssey" is projected to open between $98 and $132 million when it arrives next weekend, per Box Office Theory. Earlier estimates were slightly more conservative, ranging from $80 to $100 million (per Deadline). The needle is pointing up as the release date creeps up.

A retelling of Homer's epic, the movie centers on Odysseus (Matt Damon), who faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The absolutely stacked cast also includes Tom Holland ("Spider-Man: No Way Home"), Zendaya ("Dune"), Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada 2"), and Robert Pattinson ("The Batman"), among many others.

For context, "Oppenheimer" had an explosive $82.4 million opening weekend in 2023, opening directly against "Barbie" as part of the Barbenheimer double bill. It was an eye-popping success story at the time and remains so now. The first reactions to "The Odyssey" have been overwhelmingly positive, and it is poised to open substantially higher than Nolan's Oscar-winning biopic.

To put even more context on this, "Oppenheimer" was the biggest biopic ever at the box office up until very recently, taking in $975.8 million worldwide en route to a Best Picture win at the Oscars. It's about as big a home run as one can hit in the realm of mainstream filmmaking. The fact that Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" is poised for a bigger opening weekend bodes very well.

Mind you, Nolan also generally has a very strong showing overseas for his movies. Nolan holds an impressive box office record as the only director ever to have five consecutive movies each make at least $500 million worldwide, with that streak running from "The Dark Knight" through "Dunkirk." That's largely because international audiences turn up in droves for his movies.

That likely $100 million-plus opening domestically will just be part of the equation here. And an epic of this sort is very much the kind of Hollywood movie that can play well overseas these days. Hollywood movies can struggle outside of North America these days, but sci-fi and fantasy tend to be the exceptions. This is a fantastical epic.

This also seems like a situation where a movie could easily blow by current projections. Mind you, last year's "The Odyssey" ticket stunt cemented Nolan as a cinematic event unto himself, with Universal releasing tickets for IMAX screenings a full year in advance. They sold out almost instantly. The demand isn't just there; it's feverish. Come Monday morning after opening weekend, these current projections could look small.

On paper, there are a couple of things working against "The Odyssey," relatively speaking. For one, it carries a reported $250 million budget, which is on the higher end for most any Hollywood blockbuster. That also makes it one of the most expensive R-rated movies ever made.

Traditional logic says that an R rating limits the audience, but it certainly didn't hurt "Oppenheimer" any. But that movie had a $100 million budget. This is a much larger financial risk for Universal. Risk is all relative, though, as Universal is sort of playing with house money here and wants to stay in the Christopher Nolan business.

Nolan's prowess and near-assured awards-season love can help offset some of that risk. Any other director? It would be a different calculus. Case in point, this is going to deliver the biggest opening weekend for a Nolan movie in 14 years, dating back to "The Dark Knight Rises," which opened to $160.8 million at the box office en route to $1.08 billion worldwide. And this one doesn't even need Batman to get the job done.

In terms of historical comparisons, a $132 million opening would put it in the same territory as Marvel's "Deadpool," which broke box office records in 2016 with a $132.4 million opening en route to $782.6 million worldwide. Even on the lower end of projections, it could do comparable business to "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2" ($102.6 million opening/$653.4 million worldwide). The point is, with a $100 million opening weekend and a favorable reception, the comparisons are pretty much always going to be friendly, even with a sky-high budget.

"The Odyssey" hits theaters on July 17, 2026.