Christopher Nolan’s 'The Odyssey' keeps breaking box office records — the tally so far
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is tearing up the box office record books — and the sheer number of marks it’s toppled might surprise you.
By the time The Odyssey hit theaters, demand was already off the charts: IMAX alone racked up a record $50 million in pre-sales with shows selling out weeks early. Opening weekend delivered a global blast — $263 million worldwide and $124.5 million in North America — for Christopher Nolan ’s star-packed take on Homer, led by Matt Damon as Odysseus with Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson along for the voyage.
Opened to $263 million worldwide — Nolan’s biggest debut ever.
Records at a glance
- Biggest opening weekend of Nolan’s career worldwide — more than $263 million.
- Largest non–Batman domestic opening for Nolan — $124.5 million (behind only The Dark Knight Rises’ $160.8M and The Dark Knight’s $158.4M), topping the first weekends of Oppenheimer, Inception and Interstellar.
- Nolan’s biggest IMAX launch — over $50 million from IMAX in opening weekend.
- Biggest IMAX pre-sales ever — about $50 million before release, with sellouts weeks ahead.
- Highest-grossing IMAX release in history — nearly $300 million earned on IMAX screens, surpassing Avatar.
- Fastest film to cross $200 million in IMAX — achieved in just three weekends.
- Highest-grossing R-rated movie ever — overtook Deadpool & Wolverine.
- Now Nolan’s top-grossing film overall — passed The Dark Knight Rises at the global box office.
- Record-breaker at London’s BFI IMAX — beat Avatar and sold more than 101,000 tickets at a single screen.
- Biggest Hollywood opening for Nolan in India — with premium-format ticket prices hitting record highs.
IMAX is the engine
The movie’s premium-format footprint is doing historic heavy lifting. Beyond the $50 million opening-frame haul from IMAX, the film sprinted past $200 million in IMAX receipts in three weekends and has now pulled in nearly $300 million from the format alone — enough to dethrone Avatar as the all-time IMAX champ.
At home, that $124.5 million debut ranks as Nolan’s best outside Gotham, trailing only The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8 million) and The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) while surpassing the opening weekends of Oppenheimer, Inception and Interstellar.
Globally, the film’s R rating hasn’t slowed it down. It’s now the highest-grossing R-rated release ever, and it’s also the biggest movie of Nolan’s career. Overseas highlights include London’s BFI IMAX — where more than 101,000 tickets have been sold for this title alone — and Nolan’s strongest Hollywood opening in India, fueled by record premium-format pricing.