The box office is on fire this summer, and while Spider-Man: Brand New Day is leading the charge with $1.67 billion globally coming out of its second weekend, Christopher Nolan is also celebrating a landmark this morning with his epic The Odyssey pushing its global haul to $1.105 billion, giving the acclaimed filmmaker the highest-grossing release of his career.
The critically-acclaimed film, which sees Matt Damon in the lead role as mythical Greek hero Odysseus, saw its box office total surpass Nolan’s previous record, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($1.085 billion) in its fourth weekend in cinemas. It currently sits second in the list of the highest-grossing R-rated movies behind Marvel Studios’ Deadpool and Wolverine ($1.3 billion) with a China release still to come, and has also surpassed Avatar’s $271 million to become the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time with $289 million from the format.
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The Odyssey is the third of Nolan’s movies to have crossed the $1 billion mark after The Dark Knight Rises and its 2008 predecessor The Dark Knight ($1.005 billion), while 2023 Oscar-winner Oppenheimer fell just short with $975.8 million worldwide. The filmmaker’s combined box office gross now stands at $7.35 billion, trailing only Steven Spielberg ($10.9 billion) and James Cameron ($10.6 billion) in terms of the highest-grossing directors – although the Russo Brothers ($6.76 billion) will likely have something to say about that when Avengers: Doomsday opens in December.
“After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.”
The star-studded cast of The Odyssey includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, Hamish Patel, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, John Leguizamo, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Nick Tarabay, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Vlamis and Iddo Goldberg.
The Odyssey is in cinemas now.