Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
Published Aug 1, 2026, 11:36 AM EDT
Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.
The Odyssey is charting new box office territory for Christopher Nolan.
Nolan wrote and directed the new movie, which is an adaptation of Homer's epic poem of the same name. Its star-studded cast is similarly epic, featuring Oscar winners Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong'o, Oscar nominees Elliot Page and Samantha Morton, Emmy winners John Leguizamo, Benny Safdie, and Zendaya, and BAFTA winner Tom Holland, alongside Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth. 2026's The Odyssey is already a smash hit, quickly climbing past $700 million worldwide after earning the best domestic debut for a Matt Damon movie in history and Nolan's best non-Batman debut, among multiple other records.
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, The Odyssey is projected to earn a 3-day total of $51 million by the end of its third weekend at the domestic box office. Even though this total could fluctuate slightly by the end of Sunday, it is set to see the movie breaking an all-time record, becoming the highest-grossing third weekend for any Christopher Nolan movie in history (not adjusted for inflation).
The previous record-holder was Nolan's billion-dollar Batman adaptation The Dark Knight, which grossed $42.6 million during its third weekend on its way toward earning $1.004 billion worldwide (which makes it the director's second highest-grossing movie overall). It accomplished that previous record by a considerable margin, as Nolan's next biggest third weekend belonged to The Dark Knight Rises, which earned almost exactly $7 million less than its immediate predecessor during its third domestic weekend.
Below, see a breakdown of the third-weekend performance of all the previous Christopher Nolan movies (not adjusted for inflation):
|
Following (1998) |
N/A |
$126,052 |
|
Memento (2000) |
$685,863 |
$39.7 million |
|
Insomnia (2002) |
$6.1 million |
$113.7 million |
|
Batman Begins (2005) |
$15.6 million |
$373.4 million |
|
The Prestige (2006) |
$7.5 million |
$109.7 million |
|
The Dark Knight (2008) |
$42.6 million |
$1.004 billion |
|
Inception (2010) |
$27.5 million |
$839.8 million |
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
$35.7 million |
$1.085 billion |
|
Interstellar (2014) |
$15.3 million |
$681.1 million |
|
Dunkirk (2019) |
$17.1 million |
$550 million |
|
Tenet (2020) |
$11.6 million |
$376.6 million |
|
Oppenheimer (2023) |
$29.1 million |
$975.8 million |
The fact that the new Nolan movie has earned his biggest third weekend by such a wide margin, even though its domestic debut earned less than both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, shows that it boasts some of the director's strongest audience retention ever. This could be due to the fact that The Odyssey reviews are spectacular.
In fact, on Rotten Tomatoes, the new movie has earned a Certified Fresh 94% score from critics (which is tied with Memento and The Dark Knight as Nolan's highest-ever Tomatometer score) with an even better Verified Hot score of 97% from verified audience members (Nolan's best Popcornmeter score, bar none, besting Memento, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight's matching 94% scores).
It is also impressive that The Odyssey has managed to maintain this level of retention even though its third weekend put it in direct competition with a huge new release tentpole. Although no new major wide release movies opened during its sophomore weekend, its third frame saw the debut of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a hotly anticipated project that is expected to finish out the weekend with the best domestic debut of 2026 so far and the best debut for a Spider-Man movie in history.
Given its current trajectory, it is more or less a given that The Odyssey will pass the $1 billion milestone by the end of its run. Its momentum could also make it the highest-grossing Christopher Nolan movie in history before long, though if it hopes to best all of his previous movies when adjusted for inflation, it will have to push even further to climb past $1.5 billion.
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Release Date July 15, 2026
Runtime 173 minutes
English (US) ·