The Odyssey Global Box Office Collection Day 3: Christopher Nolan’s epic earns $264 million in massive opening weekend

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has made a powerful start at the global box office, collecting $264.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend and recording the biggest worldwide launch of the director’s career.

The Odyssey global box office day 3

The action epic earned $124.5 million from 3,919 cinemas in North America, while its international release across 73 markets added $139.6 million. The film has yet to open in China, Japan and South Korea, leaving room for further growth in the coming weeks.

The opening has placed The Odyssey ahead of Nolan’s previous global launch records for Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight Rises. Domestically, however, the film ranks as the director’s third-biggest opening weekend, according to data from Rentrak.

“He’s reinvented the superhero genre, captured the zeitgeist with multiple thought-provoking originals, and turned a three-hour biopic into a global blockbuster. He’s done it again with the retelling of a 2,700-year-old poem that serves as the foundation of what we recognize as modern storytelling,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory.

Premium formats played a significant role in the film’s opening. IMAX contributed around $22 million, or 15 per cent, to the international debut. Around 7.5 million tickets were sold domestically, according to EntTelligence, with premium large-format screenings accounting for 45 per cent of all tickets sold at an average price of $19.

The film’s 70mm screenings also generated considerable demand. They accounted for 5 per cent of domestic tickets sold and had an average price of nearly $22.50. Several cinemas showing the film in the coveted format reportedly sold out, with tickets having been available in some locations since July 2025.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, said, "Christopher Nolan is one of a handful of movie directors whose name on the marquee is a guarantee for box office success. [His] body of work has endeared him to movie fans and film aficionados around the world. He’s truly in a class of his own.”

The Odyssey’s opening gives Nolan’s latest film a strong commercial foundation as it continues its international theatrical run, with major markets still to open.

More about the film

The film's first weekend performance comes amid considerable interest in Nolan's latest project, which adapts Homer's ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, whose perilous journey home after the Trojan War forms the centre of the story. The narrative follows his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway.

The ensemble cast also includes Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya and Charlize Theron. Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas have produced the film through their production company, Syncopy.

Nolan began writing the screenplay in March 2024 and secured the project with Universal Pictures later that year. Casting took place from late 2024 into early 2025, with Damon confirmed in the lead role in February 2025.