At a time when Hollywood wants a win, acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan is once more betting on the expertise economic system. His epic masterpiece The Odyssey hits theaters right this moment (Friday, July 17) and is already projected to interrupt field workplace data.
Let’s check out the numbers, what units this movie aside, and the way this summer season blockbuster suits into the large image of the moviegoing expertise.
‘The Odyssey’ by the numbers
The Odyssey is based on the epic poem attributed to Homer and written within the eighth or seventh century BCE. The plot tells the story of King Odysseus’ 10-year journey residence to Ithaca after the Trojan Struggle. He runs into some hassle on the highway to say the least.
Nolan was first impressed to adapt this literary traditional 20 years in the past when he was briefly hooked up to direct 2004’s Troy.
9 movies later—and using the success of 2023’s Oppenheimer—he has the clout to do that movie precisely how he needed to. If you make $975.8 million on the worldwide field workplace and win seven Academy Awards, individuals wish to fund your subsequent undertaking.
It took Nolan seven months to write down the script. Filming took 91 days throughout six international locations. Nolan truly wrapped 9 days early. The film’s price range was over $250 million.
Selection initiatives that The Odyssey will make between $90 million to $100 million in North America within the opening weekend alone.
If these figures come to fruition, this might be Nolan’s greatest non-Batman opening. Tickets went on sale a yr in the past, and lots of the restricted 70mm IMAX screens have already offered out.
What units ‘The Odyssey’ aside
Nolan is the first filmmaker to shoot a function completely on 65mm IMAX movie cameras. A brand new digicam known as the Keighley made this doable.
Beforehand, the cameras had been too loud for intimate dialogue-heavy scenes, however a blimp was created to muffle the noise. Mirrors had been used to offer actors eye traces to attach with their scene companions. True cinephiles will wish to see it in IMAX 70mm, however additionally it is accessible in codecs relying on the theater’s capabilities.
Nolan additionally selected to make use of principally sensible results, limiting inexperienced screens. Odysseus’ boat is basically on the water. The Cyclops, voiced by Invoice Irwin, was bodily created by puppetry and animatronics, augmented by laptop graphics.
The all-star forged relished this filming expertise. Odysseus himself, Matt Damon, gushed about it to Empire. “I can say, with out hyperbole, that it was the most effective expertise of my profession,” he said.
Damon’s sentiments have been echoed by costars Anne Hathaway (Penelope), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Robert Pattinson (Antinous), Zendaya (Athena), and Charlize Theron (Calypso.)
What do critics assume?
Nolan’s laborious work has already impressed critics. Early opinions are glowing.
Deadline’s Gregory Nussen called it Nolan’s “most achingly humanistic movie.” Nussen continued: “Terribly staged and brimming with profundity, The Odyssey is a thunderous, anti-war screed on the persistent injury of patriarchal conceitedness.”
Rolling Stone’s David Worry agrees. “What you are inclined to stroll away with after bearing witness to The Odyssey, arguably Christopher Nolan’s greatest work after 2017’s Dunkirk, is an total sensation of awe,” they gushed.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praised the “gasp-inducing, Imax-sized landscapes of loneliness shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema” and “thrilling ambition, boldness, seriousness, generosity and aptitude” discovered all through the movie.
What ‘The Odyssey’ might imply for field workplace
Nolan’s love of the cinematic expertise might as soon as once more assist theaters show their relevance within the age of streaming.
In accordance with Selection, 2026 summer season blockbusters are already on track to gross greater than $4 billion, a feat that has solely been achieved one different time because the pandemic. The Odyssey will solely add gasoline to this fireplace and should deliver field workplace figures even nearer to 2019’s numbers.
