LISTEN: Christopher Nolan Gets Moviegoers Out in Force for the Trojan Horse
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- "The Odyssey" opened to $264 million worldwide, with Imax delivering more than 50% of opening weekend receipts for the $250 million Universal Pictures production.
- Christopher Nolan is one of the very few directors who can get audiences into theaters regardless of genre, Variety's Rebecca Rubin said, calling him "really solidified himself as a brand at the box office."
- Opening weekend audiences skewed about 55% men, and notably 50% of attendees were between ages 18 and 34 — unusually young for a sword and sandal epic.
- Despite the cast skewing older (Matt Damon as a Gen X star, other leads as millennials), Nolan incentivized all age groups to attend, which Rubin identified as the difference between a decent and phenomenal opening.
- Rubin called the opening "most impressive" because an R-rated sword and sandal epic rarely achieves numbers this large at the stated budget level.
- The film is Nolan's follow-up to 2023's "Oppenheimer," his first project since that Best Picture winner.
Why it matters: Imax's outsized share (more than 50% of opening receipts) delivers a critical hit for the large-format exhibitor, while the 50% under-34 turnout for an R-rated epic suggests word-of-mouth durability that could push the $250 million film well past its break-even — Universal's gamble on Nolan's brand-name draw just produced one of the strongest R-rated openings in recent memory.
