Key Points
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The Odyssey premiered to $124.5 million at the domestic box office and $264 million globally this weekend.
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That global figure tops Nolan’s previous best premiere, when The Dark Knight Rises opened to $249 million (not adjusted for inflation) in 2012.
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Curry Barker’s ultra-low-budget horror flick Obsession also reached an important milestone, crossing $250 million in the domestic market this weekend.
It’s the wrath of Poseidon! No, the wisdom of Athena! Wrong again — it’s the unfailing ability of Christopher Nolan to drive audiences to movie houses.
The Odyssey, Nolan’s latest epic, whipped up a serious squall at the box office this weekend with a $124.5 million domestic gross and $264 million globally, per Rentrak. That places the film at No. 12 domestically and No. 13 globally off the bat, meaning if it only earns half those amounts in its sophomore weekend in theaters it will have secured a place on the top 10 in both markets.
That global figure breaks an important record for Nolan, shattering his previous all-time opener at the worldwide box office, when The Dark Knight Rises opened to $249 million in 2012; of course, that figure blows The Odyssey‘s out of the water when adjusted for inflation (roughly $366.9 million by 2026’s standards). But the American auteur’s ability to drum up mass excitement for cinema remains relatively unparalleled among his peers, bolstered this time by the novelty of The Odyssey being the first feature film to be shot entirely on 70mm IMAX cameras.
Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston in ‘Obsession’
Credit: Focus Features
Aided by the splashy simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie, Nolan’s last film, 2022’s Oppenheimer, earned $82 million domestically and $174 million globally, making The Odyssey a massive step forward.
The Odyssey is an adaptation of the eternal poetic epic from the Greek scribe Homer. The story follows the wandering hero Odysseus (played in the film by Matt Damon), as he wearily sails from land to strange land in search of his home, Ithaca, after years spent toiling in the Trojan War. The film’s supporting cast packs major star power in the form of Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, Mia Goth, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and more.
The Odyssey‘s success also makes it the third-best R-rated premiere after at the global box office after Deadpool & Wolverine‘s $444 million in 2024, and Deadpool 2‘s $301 million in 2018.
The Odyssey sweeping the domestic box office away is a welcome change from last weekend’s sluggish $43 million Moana premiere, and the week prior’s franchise-low $36.4 million premiere for Minions & Monsters.
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One other film that could be found toward the bottom of this weekend’s domestic and global leaderboards that nevertheless achieved a major victory this week is Obsession. The debut film from 26-year-old wunderkind Curry Barker crossed the $250 million mark at the domestic box office this weekend — on a shockingly scant sub-$1 million budget.
Globally, the film featuring breakout performances from Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette currently stands at $442.6 million, making it the seventh highest-grossing film released around the world in 2026.
It isn’t kind, but it is fair to say that next week, no film’s slated for release stands a chance against The Odyssey.
The title with the best chances in the bunch is Motor City, a stylized actioner starring Reacher‘s Alan Ritchson, as well as Ben Foster and Shailene Woodley. Then there’s Pinocchio: Unstrung, the inevitable horror-ization of Pinocchio after the Disney classic finally entered the public domain. And finally, there’s Her Private Hell, the latest neon-lit nightmare from Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn, starring Yellowjackets standout Sophie Thatcher.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
