What The Strong Opening For 'the Odyssey' Says About What Audiences Want

It took an ancient Greek epic to ignite a occurrence astatine nan container agency past weekend, arsenic Christopher Nolan’s adjustment of “The Odyssey” became 1 of nan biggest movie events of nan year.

The film, led by Matt Damon arsenic Odysseus, hauled successful $123.5 cardinal successful nan U.S. and Canada connected its measurement to a world full of astir $264 cardinal — nan biggest-ever world opening for 1 of Nolan’s films.

In galore ways, “The Odyssey” is simply a throwback to old-school Hollywood filmmaking, pinch Nolan’s usage of applicable effects and galore on-location shoots. It’s besides a motion that audiences will still battalion theaters for nan correct benignant of movie.

The Universal Pictures movie besides outperformed workplace expectations of a $117-million home premiere and group a grounds for nan highest-grossing opening play for a live-action aliases R-rated movie this year.

“Audiences ever want to beryllium thoroughly immersed successful nan theatrical acquisition and engulfed by nan communicative and nan production, and Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ is simply a cleanable illustration of that,” Jim Orr, Universal’s president of home distribution, said Sunday. “When you person a very important opening, and you person those kinds of assemblage scores, it only points to what should beryllium a singular tally passim nan summertime and into nan fall.”

That’s bully news for nan summertime container office, which lately has seen a spot of ebb and flow.

“The Odyssey” now ranks arsenic nan third-largest home opening of nan year, trailing only kid-friendly films specified arsenic Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and Universal, Illumination and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” Though family-friendly films person go powerfulness players for theaters, nan 2 astir caller flicks — Disney’s live-action “Moana” and Universal and Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” saw softer openings.

After nan large play for “The Odyssey,” nan summertime container agency is up 7.3% compared pinch nan lackluster 2025 season, according to intermezo information patient Rentrak. More encouraging, nan year-to-date home container agency is now 10.4% higher than for nan aforesaid play past year.

That’s been helped not only by large blockbusters specified arsenic “The Odyssey,” which had a accumulation fund of $200 cardinal to $250 million, but besides by the occurrence of smaller-budget films specified arsenic A24’s “Backrooms” and Focus Features’ “Obsession.”

The communal denominator is nan tie of board who person cultivated beardown instrumentality bases. “Obsession” head Curry Barker, 26, and 21-year-old Kane Parsons, who helmed “Backrooms,” person been building their estimation connected YouTube among Gen Z audiences, and that loyalty is starting to count for thing astatine nan container office.

Nolan, of course, is 1 of nan masters of building a religious pursuing complete much than 2 decades. Fans started grabbing Imax 70 millimeter tickets for “The Odyssey” erstwhile they first went connected waste a twelvemonth ago, and nan movie ended up driving grounds presales for nan Canadian intermezo tech company, which operates retired of Playa Vista.

The movie has notched a 95% connected aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore rating.

“His films person tapped into nan taste zeitgeist,” said Shawn Robbins, head of movie analytics astatine Fandango and laminitis of nan website Box Office Theory. “That’s what keeps bringing group back. They cognize they’re going to get a different experience; there’s ever going to beryllium a watercooler speech astir his movies, and they’re portion of nan taste fabric.”

For “The Odyssey,” portion of that speech was Nolan’s old-school movie magic, including nan puppetry, animatronics and robotics he utilized successful scenes pinch nan Cyclops, arsenic good arsenic nan existent Viking vessel that nan actors learned to sail.

The movie besides has driven liking successful 70mm screenings from movie buffs and casual moviegoers.

Ahead of nan premiere of “The Odyssey,” Allen Michaan, proprietor of Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater, knew nan play would beryllium very engaged for his four-screen movie palace. He is showing nan movie some successful modular integer format and connected 70mm film.

Michaan has made 70mm showings a privilege since 1982, erstwhile nan projector was installed for nan merchandise of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. nan Extra-Terrestrial.” He said nan theatre played that movie for 45 weeks that year. Due to nan request astatine nan time, he installed 2 much 70mm projectors, making 3 of his 4 screens tin of nan old-fashioned format.

Demand for nan 70mm showings of “The Odyssey” has importantly outperformed their integer screenings, he said.

“We’re thrilled to get immoderate 70mm people because it’s a gift from nan filmmaker and nan studio,” Michaan said.

Enhanced format screenings for “The Odyssey” made up 53% of nan home play container office, pinch Imax movie and integer gross accounting for astir 24%.

Imax 70mm accounted for astir 4% of that total, pinch Imax integer making up nan rest. Non-Imax 70mm movie screening gross totaled 3%, while 35mm showings made up 0.3%.

The astir three-hour epic besides marked nan first characteristic movie changeable wholly connected Imax cameras, a feat that required extended collaboration betwixt Nolan and Imax.

Nolan first told Imax Corp. Chief Executive Rich Gelfond successful early 2024 that he was considering making an full movie pinch Imax cameras and laid retired what he’d request for that to happen, including a quieter and lighter camera, a measurement to make movie reloads easier and getting capable trained projectionists.

“It took a adjacent magnitude of clip and investment” to fig retired those challenges, Gelfond said. But by August 2024, nan Imax squad put together a bid of tests to show cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Two months later, Nolan saw nan tests and was impressed.

“As filmmakers and studios merge Imax, we go an progressively important portion of nan ecosystem,” Gelfond said. “When a movie is released successful Imax aliases changeable successful Imax, I deliberation it’s a awesome to audiences that it’s somewhat special, and nan filmmaker is really leaning successful in a unsocial way.”

Times unit writer Cerys Davies contributed to this report.

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of nan week

Streaming elephantine Netflix narrowed its 2026 gross forecast to $51 cardinal to $51.4 cardinal from its previous, larger scope of $50.7 cardinal to $51.7 cardinal in its past Thursday’s second-quarter net report, renewing concerns among investors and equity analysts astir nan Los Gatos-based company’s early growth.

On nan Friday greeting aft nan net call, Netflix banal slid 13% to $65.08 a share, marking a caller 52-week low. Shares yet closed that time astatine $68.95.

As my workfellow Wendy Lee has reported, investors are increasing nervous that successful caller months, Netflix’s stock of TV viewing clip successful nan U.S. has been decreasing, while YouTube’s stock has increased, according to Nielsen data. Investors are concerned that if consumers are watching Netflix less, they’ll cancel their subscriptions, and that will put unit connected nan company’s expertise to raise prices successful nan U.S.

Netflix has said its engagement rates are healthy.

What I’m watching

I emotion a bully teen enigma show, particularly erstwhile it has a spot of a “Veronica Mars” vibe, truthful I binged Paramount+’s “School Spirits” past weekend.

Where Veronica Mars was solving realistic crimes astir her section formation city, “School Spirits” tries to excavation into why truthful galore teens person died astatine (and haunt) a Wisconsin precocious school. At times, they’re hitting astatine a batch of different themes and storylines, but I loved nan colorful ensemble of shade characters from different decades, and Jennifer Tilly makes for an unthinkable villain.