6 million. The opening has placed The Odyssey ahead of Nolan’s previous global launch records for Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight Rises.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has opened to $264.1 million worldwide, including $124.5 million domestically, marking the filmmaker’s biggest global launch.Benny Safdie plays King Agamemmnon in The Odyssey.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 3The 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 filmThe 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.About the AuthorTrisha BhattacharyaTrisha Bhattacharya is a Senior Content Producer at Livemint, with over two years of experience covering entertainment news from India and beyond. She spends her days tracking what’s trending, breaking down pop culture moments, and turning fast-moving entertainment stories into sharp, engaging reads that actually make people want to click — and stay. She holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Lucknow University, a background that shapes her love for layered narratives, strong voices, and stories that linger long after they’re told. Before joining Livemint, Trisha worked with India Today as an entertainment jo
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has opened to a strong start in India, earning ₹17.40 crore net on its first day across 8,413 shows, with the Matt Damon-led epic targeting a robust opening weekend.Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has arrived in theatres on 17 July, 2026.(HT_PRINT)Christopher Nolan's latest directorial venture, The Odyssey, has made a solid start at the Indian box office, collecting an estimated ₹17.40 crore net on its first day of release.The Odyssey box office collection day 1According to early trade figures, the epic adaptation of Homer's classic poem earned a gross collection of ₹20.76 crore in India on Day 1. The film was screened across 8,413 shows nationwide, reflecting one of the widest releases for a Hollywood title in the country this year.The opening puts The Odyssey in a strong position heading into its first weekend, with exhibitors expecting collections to rise further as premium format screenings and weekend footfall gather pace.Quick answers to key questions•5 QUESTIONSThe Odyssey collected an estimated ₹17.40 crore net on its first day of release in India.Nolan's adaptation aims to tell a more profound story of a man's struggle for redemption rather than simply focusing on a hero's journey home.The Odyssey is the first feature film shot entirely with 65 mm IMAX cameras, a significant technical achievement for filmmaking.Prior knowledge of the poem is recommended, as the film retains elements of the original structure while offering a unique interpretation.The ensemble cast features strong performances, particularly Matt Damon as Odysseus, who has been praised for his depth and emotional portrayal.Christopher Nolan's films have historically performed well in India, particularly following the commercial success of Oppenheimer, which emerged as one of the biggest Hollywood releases in the market in recent years.The Odyssey adapts Homer's ancient Greek epic, following Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, as he undertakes a perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he encounters mythical creatures and formidable challenges while striving to reunite with his wife, Penelope.Matt Damon leads the film as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway portraying Penelope. The ensemble cast also features Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya and Charlize Theron. The film has been produced by Nolan alongside his wife Emma Thomas under their Syncopy banner.Development on the project began in March 2024, when Nolan started writing the screenplay. By October that year, Universal Pictures had secured the film, before officially announcing the project in December.Principal photography took place between February and August 2025 across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, Western Sahara and Malta, with additional filming completed at the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles.With positive audience interest and a strong opening day collection, The Odyssey now turns its focus to the weekend, where sustained occupancy will determine whether Christopher Nolan's ambitious retelling of the Greek classic can convert its impressive start into a major box office success in India.About the AuthorTrisha BhattacharyaTrisha Bhattacharya is a Senior Content Producer at Livemint, with over two years of experience covering entertainment news from India and beyond. She spends her days tracking what’s trending, breaking down pop culture moments, and turning fast-moving entertainment stories into sharp, engaging reads that actually make people want to click — and stay. She holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Lucknow University, a background that shapes her love for layered narratives, strong voices, and stories that linger long after they’re told. Before joining Livemint, Trisha worked with India Today as an entertainment journalist and film critic. There, she reviewed films, covered industry news, and built a strong foundation in storytelling and cultural analysis. Trisha
Christopher Nolan says younger audiences are turning away from 'AI slop' and embracing handcrafted filmmaking, arguing that recent hits such as Backrooms and Obsession prove cinema continues to thrive through authentic human creativity.Filmmaker Christopher Nolan poses on the red carpet during the Mumbai premiere of The Odyssey, in Mumbai, India, July 11, 2026. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas(REUTERS)Academy Award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan believes younger audiences are increasingly turning away from AI-generated content and instead embracing films driven by human creativity, pointing to the recent success of Backrooms and Obsession as evidence that cinema continues to evolve rather than decline.Christopher Nolan: Younger audiences are rejecting AI slopSpeaking to The Telegraph, Nolan dismissed the long-held argument that younger viewers no longer have the attention span for ambitious, slow-burning films. Instead, he said recent box office successes suggest audiences are seeking originality and immersive storytelling.Nolan cited two of the year's surprise hits, Backrooms and Obsession, as examples. He said, “This is why I never bought into the arguments that young audiences’ attention spans are too fried to enjoy a three-hour Greek epic. Those films are so mysterious and ruminative. I mean, parts of ‘Backrooms’ are like David Lynch at his most obscure. And yet young people can’t get enough of them.”The filmmaker also took aim at the growing enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence in creative industries, arguing that public opinion — particularly among younger generations — has moved in the opposite direction.“I’ve never seen a more rapid wholesale dismissal of a supposedly foundational jump in technology in my lifetime,” Nolan said about AI. “So much energy has been expended on bringing in AI, but if you look at that generation’s reaction, they’re utterly rejecting it.”Expanding on that view, Nolan said his own children have been quick to recognise and dismiss AI-generated material.Nolan shed light on how his own children’s “judgment of AI slop has been immediate and harsh. They see it for what it is very quickly – and it’s much easier for them to identify it, because it grew out of an online world they know really well. And while that doesn’t mean that every aspect of the technology is useless or meaningless, in filmmaking it’s hitting at exactly the wrong time. After years of driving towards heavily virtual environments, we’re seeing a renewed interest in more tactile, more real forms of storytelling.”The director reiterated those concerns in an interview with AFP, arguing that while artificial intelligence has been widely embraced by investors and technology companies, audiences have not responded with the same enthusiasm.The Oscar-winning artiste added, “The interesting thing with AI is I’ve never seen a technology that’s been so successfully adopted by Wall Street and by investors and by tech companies that the public has so thoroughly rejected. It’s just sort of an odd thing. Young people in particular, they coined this term ‘AI slop.’ There’s a sort of disdain for things AI… I think the idea that it replaces human beings wholesale and human creativity, to me it’s a nonsense.”Nolan has long championed practical filmmaking, large-format photography and the theatrical experience, often favouring real locations and in-camera effects over extensive digital techniques. His latest comments come as the film industry continues to debate the role of artificial intelligence in screenwriting, visual effects and production workflows.The director is currently preparing for the release of The Odyssey, his adaptation of Homer's epic poem.The film arrives in theatres on 17 July. About the AuthorTrisha BhattacharyaTrisha Bhattacharya is a Senior Content Producer at Livemint, with over two years of experience covering entertainment news from India and beyond. She spends her days tracking what’s trending, breaking down pop cul
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