The Odyssey (2026 film)

Did You Know?

• Ludwig Göransson composed the score, incorporating bronze gongs, ancient lyre and aulos, and Albanian iso-polyphony folk chorals.
• James Blake and Travis Scott contributed vocals to the score and collaborated on an original song, 'When I'm Home', with Nolan credited as co-writer.
• Lupita Nyong'o plays a dual role as Helen of Troy and her twin half-sister Clytemnestra.

Plot

Ithaca has been without its king Odysseus for twenty years. Suitors, led by Antinous, court his wife Penelope to claim the throne from her son Telemachus. Only Penelope, Telemachus, and the half-blind servant Eumaeus still believe Odysseus will return. Telemachus travels to Menelaus to learn of his father, while Antinous plots to kill him.

Athena appears to Odysseus on Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso holds him, and commands him to return home. Odysseus recalls the Trojan War, where his stratagem of the Trojan Horse led to victory. On his journey, he and his crew are trapped by the cyclops Polyphemus, who devours several men; they blind him and escape, but Polyphemus calls on his father Poseidon, bringing harsh seas. On Aeaea, giant Laestrygonians kill most of the crew.

Survivors rebel, and Odysseus alone seeks Circe, who turns his men into pigs. After he persuades her to reverse the spell, Circe tells him he must cross Oceanus to the Land of the Dead. There, the shade of Sinon reproaches Odysseus for deceiving him and reveals Antinous manipulated him. Agamemnon's shade warns Odysseus to disguise himself on his return. Finally, Tiresias predicts that only Odysseus will reach Ithaca.

Production

By November 2023, Christopher Nolan had not decided on his next film after Oppenheimer. After winning several Academy Awards for Oppenheimer in March 2024, he and Emma Thomas felt the success gave them the opportunity to explore his next project. Nolan began writing the script shortly after, and by October 2024 he was developing the film at Universal Pictures, with filming scheduled for early 2025. The logline and premise were kept largely secret, prompting rumors that it would be a vampire period piece, a reboot of Blue Thunder, or an adaptation of The Prisoner, all of which were debunked.

In December 2024, Universal announced the film as The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer's epic poem, described as a 'mythic action epic'. Nolan had previously been attached to direct Troy but felt he was 'in a little over his head'; after working on large-scale productions for 20 years, he believed he was more qualified to adapt the Odyssey. The film had a net budget of $250 million, making it the most expensive of Nolan's career. Filming took place from February to August 2025 in Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, Western Sahara, Malta, and at the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles.

Marketing

Before filming began in February 2025, Universal released a first-look still of Matt Damon as Odysseus. The costume, particularly the Corinthian helmet with a red plume, was labeled historically inaccurate by commentators and historians. /Film's Jeremy Mathai noted the image did not reveal much about the tone or Nolan's approach, while Joe George at Den of Geek felt Nolan paid homage to films like The 300 Spartans and Jason and the Argonauts. In July 2025, a 70-second teaser trailer featuring Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal debuted before Jurassic World Rebirth and leaked online. Critics described the teaser as 'haunting' and 'coy about revealing too much'. /Film's Rick Stevenson wrote that it continued Nolan's tradition of cryptic, vibes-first trailers. Esther Zuckerman at The New York Times felt the teaser was coy about the adaptation.

Reception

By September 2, 2026, The Odyssey had earned $568 million domestically and $989 million internationally, bringing its global total to $1.557 billion. The $250 million production is among Nolan’s priciest films and one of the most expensive ever made, marking his first billion-dollar hit since The Dark Knight Rises. A year before release, select IMAX 70 mm tickets went on sale—an unusual move for a major distributor—and half of the 22 U.S. venues sold out within 12 hours, generating roughly $1.5 million.

General ticket sales launched in June 2026, causing hour-long queues on Fandango and AMC sites, comparable to the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour frenzy. The first 24 hours of pre-sales brought in $3.4 million from about 150,000 tickets, the highest such gross in four years. At the BFI IMAX, 28,000 pre-sale tickets earned £750,000, more than doubling the venue’s previous record set by Dune: Part Two. By July 16, many IMAX venues were sold out through the film’s fifth weekend.