After many months of anticipation, Christopher Nolan's epic blockbuster "The Odyssey" had an impressive start at the global box office. The work not only exceeded initial revenue forecasts but also set many new milestones in the career of the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
According to the latest estimate, the film grossed over $51.2 million on its first global premiere in North America, including revenue from early screenings. With the current growth momentum, "The Odyssey" is forecast to reach over $120 million in the last three days of the weekend, becoming the highest-grossing first-person film of 2026. The film also recorded the most successful weekend premiere ever for a R-rated work by Universal Pictures.
In the international market, the film continues to maintain its appeal when it is expected to gross about 137.3 million USD from 73 countries and territories, raising total global revenue in the first weekend to nearly 258 million USD. This achievement helps "The Odyssey" surpass the previous global opening record of "The Dark Knight Rises", marking the biggest international debut in Christopher Nolan's career.
In Vietnam, the film also quickly attracted audiences. According to data from Box Office Vietnam, just after the first days of screening, "The Odyssey" grossed more than 14 billion VND, ranking second in the box office revenue chart. Before its release, the work also set a record as Christopher Nolan's film with the highest pre-order ticket volume in Vietnam and achieved the highest IMAX opening ticket sales on the first day of this director's career.
The above result is considered to exceed the expectations of experts. Before release, many forecasts said that the film would start in about 85-100 million USD in North America. With a production budget of about 250 million USD, the project adapted from the famous epic by the great poet Homer was once considered a challenging choice when exploiting the Greek mythology theme.
However, the attraction from the Christopher Nolan brand, the large-scale promotion campaign and the audience's interest in the IMAX format contributed to bringing the film to make a breakthrough right in its first week.
This is also the first work in history to be filmed entirely with an IMAX camera system. Many IMAX 70mm screenings in the US and some international markets quickly sold out, contributing significantly to opening revenue. It is estimated that the IMAX system alone accounts for about a quarter of the film's domestic revenue.
The film gathers a cast of famous actors including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong'o. In it, Matt Damon plays Odysseus - the king of Ithaca on his journey back to his homeland after the Trojan War to reunite with his family and regain the kingdom.
After the success of "Oppenheimer" with a global revenue of nearly 1 billion USD and 7 Oscars, including the Best Director statue for Christopher Nolan, "The Odyssey" continues to receive great attention from professionals and movie lovers. The film currently has positive reviews from both critics and audiences on many film websites.
Besides the praise for the scale of staging, filming techniques and IMAX experience, the work also created many mixed opinions. Some critics highly appreciate the ambition to bring Greek epics to the big screen in modern cinematic language, while there are also opinions that the film focuses on visual performance rather than emotional depth and the adaptation of the original is still controversial.
However, the impressive debut of "The Odyssey" continues to affirm Christopher Nolan's appeal at the box office. In the context that there will be no more blockbusters released next weekend, the film is predicted to maintain its leading position in many markets before giving up the focus to "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" at the end of the month. With a start that exceeds expectations, "The Odyssey" is facing the opportunity to become one of the highest-grossing works in 2026.
