The Odyssey film fans inspired to go back to the source
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- Nolan's The Odyssey opened to $264m (£198m) globally in its first weekend, including $52m on Imax screens, and set a UK record for highest Imax opening-weekend takings according to Screen Daily.
- Print sales of Homer's The Odyssey jumped 700% in the UK last week versus the same period in 2025, with Waterstones reporting "phenomenal" demand and rushing daily deliveries of Emily Wilson's 2017 translation.
- Audiobook versions of the poem surged after the film's release: Stephen Fry's reading entered Spotify's UK top 10 while Ian McKellen's narration hit the equivalent US chart.
- Spotify listening to The Odyssey has risen roughly 680% since the film opened Friday, with over 80% of listeners being Gen Z or millennials, per Variety.
- Emily Wilson — whose 2017 translation Nolan has cited as one of his sources — welcomed the renewed interest in the poem but told the Associated Press that Nolan "missed themes that were essential to the poem."
- The film's UK opening was £12.6m, the country's second-biggest of 2026 behind Toy Story 5, though only three UK venues — the BFI, the Science Museum in London, and Printworks in Manchester — are showing it on 70mm Imax projectors.
Why it matters: A $264m opening translated directly into measurable cultural spillover: 700% UK print-sales growth and a 680% Spotify lift, with publishers scrambling to restock Wilson's translation. The audience skews young — over 80% of new audiobook listeners are Gen Z or millennials — making this a rare film-to-book pipeline reaching readers who would otherwise never pick up Homer.
