“Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ conquers North American cinemas”

New York – 21.07.2026 : Christopher Nolan conquered the North American box office with a journey into mythical Greece. His adaptation of Homer’s “Odyssey” grossed $124.5 million during its opening weekend, according to industry estimates, putting it clearly in first place. Additional revenue was added worldwide, bringing the film’s total to around $264.1 million for its launch.

The success is all the more remarkable because “The Odyssey,” at 2 hours and 53 minutes, demands far more than an ordinary summer trip to the cinema. Nolan tells the story of Odysseus’s return after the Trojan War as a large-scale adventure, shot on IMAX film. The director thus appears to be betting that even an ancient subject can still exert appeal when treated as an event.

Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the cunning king of Ithaca. Anne Hathaway plays his waiting wife Penelope, and Tom Holland his son Telemachus. Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron are also in the cast. This prestigious lineup is less mere ornament than an element of the strategy: Nolan turns one of the foundational narratives of European literature into a contemporary studio event.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Moana,” known in German-speaking countries as “Vaiana,” came in second. The film took in around $19 million over the weekend. “Minions & Monsters” followed in third place with about $14.8 million, nearly tied with “Toy Story 5.” For competing family programs, it was a weekend in which yellow exuberance and Pacific navigation paled beside a much older sailor.

Nolan’s result surpasses the theatrical opening of “Oppenheimer” and marks his best opening since “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012. Unlike his multi-award-winning film about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, “The Odyssey” does not rely on historical restraint, but on gods, monsters, war and the return home. Yet the story remains deeply human: it centers on a man who, after years of violence, wants to return to his family.

For Universal Pictures, this launch indicates that the cinematic event can still work in the heart of summer, even without the reassuring safety of a superhero franchise. The wide release in 3,919 North American theaters and special IMAX screenings likely contributed. The decisive question now will be whether the film can retain, beyond the initial enthusiasm, an audience willing to take the time to follow its journey.

In France, “The Odyssey” had already been released on July 15, 2026. There, as in the United States, the production is reaching an audience that knows Homer’s epic in many forms, but has rarely experienced it with the power of a Hollywood spectacle. Nolan has not turned the oldest of all wanderings into school material, but into a movie theater open to the high seas.