The Odyssey box office: Nolan film's 2nd weekend out-earns Oppenheimer's opening; epic races past $600 million globally

The Odyssey has now earned $640 million globally on the back of a superb second weekend that saw it mint over $200 million worldwide.

Updated on: Jul 27, 2026, 08:40:58 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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The Odyssey continued to exert a mighty hold on moviegoers in its second weekend, both in the US and globally. The epic from Christopher Nolan has earned more in its second weekend than his last release, Oppenheimer, managed in its opening weekend. This is a staggering achievement for the R-rated adventure, which is also breaking the bank internationally.

A scene from The Odyssey where Odysseus faces off against giant Laestrygonians.

The Odyssey leaves Oppenheimer behind

The Odyssey opened at $123 million in its opening weekend and remained steady over the week, hardly showing the big drops that tentpole films are accustomed to. In its second weekend, Universal Pictures said that the film earned $87 million. This is the second-best second weekend for an R-rated film after Deadpool and Wolverine. The mere 30% drop from the first weekend is a record for any major studio-backed R-rated feature.

Impressively, the $87 million The Odyssey earned in its second weekend is more than what Nolan's Oppenheimer had managed in its opening weekend three years ago. The biographical drama had earned $82 million in its first three days in 2023.

AP quoted Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends, as saying, “That would be an impressive opening weekend for any film. This is a testament to the outpouring of excitement and enthusiasm that moviegoers are having for Christopher Nolan’s latest epic.”

The Odyssey races past $600 million

With $128.3 million from international theatres in its second weekend, The Odyssey has continued its monopoly globally. After ten days, it has made an estimated $639.6 million globally. Theatres around the world are adding showtimes to try to meet the demand, Dergarabedian said.

As with last weekend, much of that sum is from premium large-format screens. IMAX screens alone accounted for $48 million of the global earnings this weekend. The coveted 70 mm IMAX screens, of which there are only 41 worldwide, earned $5.2 million. Most of those showtimes are sold out through September, the company said.

The strong earnings for The Odyssey are partly due to Nolan's goodwill and partly due to a lack of competition with no major releases alongside it in the last two weeks. These open waters will become a little more crowded next weekend when audiences get another blockbuster option with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Some analysts say that Spider-Man could net the biggest opening weekend of the year. Still, Nolan’s film will have its run of most IMAX screens for weeks to come.

About The Odyssey

Based on Homer's epic, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, on a perilous ten-year journey back home after the Trojan War. The film also stars Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope and Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, along with Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita N'yongo, Samantha Morton, and Zendaya in key roles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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