To celebrate the recent opening of Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey in China, lets take a look at how the movie has performed so far. Christopher Nolan has spent much of his career making films about journeys: journeys through memory, time, dreams, war, space and the human mind. With The Odyssey, he has finally found a story large enough to contain almost all of those obsessions at once. You might enjoy starting by reading our old blog post about why Homer’s Odyssey was voted the most influential story ever told by a BBC News poll.

Released on July 17, 2026, Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is not merely another attempt to bring one of the foundational works of Western literature to the screen. It is an extraordinarily ambitious attempt to make an approximately 3,000-year-old poem feel like a modern cinematic event. Starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron, the film takes Homer’s story of war, adventure, temptation, violence, identity and the longing for home and transforms it into one of the biggest theatrical spectacles of the modern era.

And audiences have responded.

As of August 18, 2026, The Odyssey has passed roughly $1.29 billion worldwide, making it Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever. It has also become the highest-grossing IMAX film of all time, surpassing Avatar, while establishing a remarkable collection of opening-weekend, IMAX and box-office records along the way.

But the numbers are only part of the story. The more interesting question is whether Nolan has actually made a great adaptation of Homer.

The answer is, with a few reservations, yes.

A 3,000-Year-Old Story Becomes a Modern Epic

The extraordinary thing about Homer’s Odyssey is that its basic story remains almost ridiculously accessible. Odysseus wants to go home.

That is essentially the film’s emotional foundation.

After the Trojan War, the king of Ithaca begins his journey back to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Instead of being allowed a straightforward voyage home, he is caught in a chain of encounters involving monsters, gods, storms, temptation and human violence. The journey becomes an examination of what happens when a person is separated from everything that defines him.

Nolan understands this very well.

Rather than treating The Odyssey merely as a collection of famous mythical episodes, he gives the film a strong sense of psychological continuity. The Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, Calypso and the other supernatural elements are not simply attractions placed along a fantasy adventure. They become stages in Odysseus’s psychological and moral journey.

That is one of the film’s greatest achievements.

Homer’s poem has survived for thousands of years because the monsters are ultimately less important than the human problems underneath them. Odysseus is clever, but his cleverness repeatedly creates problems. He is courageous, but courage can become recklessness. He is a king, but leadership carries an enormous burden. Above everything else, he wants to return home, yet the person who eventually arrives in Ithaca has been fundamentally changed by what he has experienced.

Nolan makes those contradictions central.

The Odyssey IMAX Experience

If there is one area where The Odyssey unquestionably succeeds as an event, it is IMAX.

The film was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, making it the first narrative feature to do so. The production used more than two million feet of 70mm IMAX film, with the technical limitations of the format influencing how scenes were photographed.

The results are spectacular.

Landscapes become enormous. Ships appear tiny against the sea. Battles acquire an almost overwhelming physical presence. The Greek coastline becomes something that feels less like scenery and more like a mythological landscape.

The demand for the format has been extraordinary.

Before release, the BFI IMAX in London sold 28,000 tickets in its first 24 hours, breaking the cinema’s previous ticket-sales record.

The film then opened to an extraordinary $52 million worldwide IMAX weekend, which IMAX described as its biggest global opening weekend on a like-for-like basis. It represented approximately 20% of the film’s worldwide opening despite IMAX accounting for less than 1% of total screens.

The second weekend was even more remarkable: The Odyssey generated $48 million worldwide in IMAX, establishing the highest-grossing second weekend in IMAX history.

By early August, the film had generated approximately $289 million from IMAX screenings, overtaking James Cameron’s Avatar and becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time.

That is perhaps the most appropriate record of all for this particular movie.

Nolan has essentially turned the presentation format into part of the mythology surrounding the film.

The Odyssey: The Box Office Records

The film’s theatrical journey has been extraordinary from the beginning.

Tickets for selected IMAX 70mm screenings went on sale one year before release, an exceptionally early move for a major Hollywood production. Some screenings sold out within hours.

Then came the trailer.

The first major trailer generated approximately 121.4 million views in its first 24 hours, making it one of the most-viewed movie trailers of 2025.

When the film finally arrived, it opened to approximately $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million worldwide.

That immediately established several records.

It became Nolan’s biggest worldwide opening ever, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises. It also became Universal’s biggest opening ever for an R-rated movie, the biggest live-action opening of 2026 at the time, and the year’s biggest R-rated opening. Internationally, it opened in 73 markets and produced Nolan’s biggest international launch.

The second weekend was even more impressive.

Instead of collapsing after its huge opening, The Odyssey fell only around 30% domestically. Its roughly $87–90 million second weekend became Nolan’s biggest second weekend ever and one of the strongest sophomore weekends ever recorded for an R-rated movie.

That is an important indication of word-of-mouth.

People were not simply curious about Nolan’s Odyssey. They were recommending it.

Crossing $1 Billion

The biggest milestone came in August.

After only three weeks, The Odyssey crossed $1 billion worldwide, reaching approximately $1.008 billion at that stage. It became Nolan’s third billion-dollar film, following The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

It then passed The Dark Knight Rises, which had earned approximately $1.085 billion, to become Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever.

That was an extraordinary achievement for a movie based on an ancient poem, rated R, nearly three hours long and costing approximately $250 million to produce.

And it did not stop there.

By the weekend of August 14–16, The Odyssey had reached approximately $1.29 billion worldwide, with around $504.7 million domestically and $786.2 million internationally.

As of August 18, 2026, it remains Nolan’s biggest film and one of the biggest releases of the year.

It has also become the second-highest-grossing R-rated movie worldwide, behind Deadpool & Wolverine, although its theatrical run is still continuing.

A New Record for Universal

There is another fascinating aspect to the success.

Nolan has demonstrated that an R-rated, adult-oriented epic can become an enormous four-quadrant theatrical attraction without being based on an existing superhero, videogame or cinematic universe.

The Odyssey is based on Homer, certainly, but it is not a conventional franchise.

There are no previous films that audiences needed to see.

There is no cinematic universe.

There is no sequel setup required.

Instead, Nolan has taken one of humanity’s oldest stories and sold it as a contemporary event movie.

That is an impressive achievement in an industry increasingly dominated by established intellectual property.

The Odyssey — Major Milestones and Records So Far

Date	Milestone / Record
July 17, 2025	Selected IMAX 70mm tickets went on sale a full year before release; numerous screenings sold out rapidly.
December 2025	First major trailer generated approximately 121.4 million views in 24 hours, ranking among the most-viewed film trailers of the year.
June 2026	BFI IMAX sold 28,000 Odyssey tickets in its first 24 hours, breaking the venue’s ticket-sales record.
July 17–19	$124.5m domestic opening and approximately $264m worldwide — Nolan’s biggest global opening ever.
Opening weekend	Biggest live-action domestic opening of 2026 at the time and biggest R-rated opening of 2026.
Opening weekend	Universal’s biggest opening ever for an R-rated film.
Opening weekend	Nolan’s biggest international opening ever.
July 20	Set the year’s highest-grossing Monday in North America with approximately $18.6m.
July 19–26	Second weekend became Nolan’s biggest ever, with roughly $87–90m domestically.
July 20	$52m worldwide IMAX opening — a record IMAX global opening on a like-for-like basis.
July 26	$48m IMAX second weekend — the biggest second weekend in IMAX history.
Early August	IMAX’s July revenue reached a company-record $257m, with The Odyssey a major driver.
August 8	Passed $1 billion worldwide after approximately three weeks.
August 9–10	Surpassed The Dark Knight Rises to become Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever.
August 10	Reached approximately $289m in IMAX revenue, overtaking Avatar to become the highest-grossing IMAX film ever.
August 10	Became the second-highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide, behind Deadpool & Wolverine.
August 16	Passed approximately $1.2bn worldwide and reached roughly $1.29bn according to current box-office estimates.
August 18	Still in theatrical release, with its worldwide total around $1.29bn and further IMAX/70mm screenings continuing.

In short: The Odyssey has already become more than a successful adaptation. It has become a genuine theatrical phenomenon — and, remarkably, one centred on a story that humanity has been telling for almost 3,000 years. Go to the official website of the movie for more info.